For Journal #8: Both Simon Clune and Howard Brody situate their discussion of the humanities–what is worth teaching, how to teach, why to teach, and what drive those decisions-in reference to consumer-driven, market-based values. Brody in particular challenges us both to resist this way of thinking and to “accommodate” it. With that same tension in mind, I want you to consider how you could market or explain the “instrumental” value of your humanities education even as you consider its “intrinsic” value. To help you frame your discussion or highlight a particular point, use quotations from both articles.

Response:

When asked to consider how to market or explain the “instrumental” value of my humanities education while also considering it’s “intrinsic” value, it is important to examine the thoughts of Brody. He states that “…the wrong sorts of evaluation tools focus solely on the instrumental value and ignore the intrinsic value, threatening the future of the humanities in higher education”. I would agree with this statement in some of my humanities courses, such as history focused ones. The main form of evaluation that I have found is through multiple choice tests with some variation in having short answer questions. However a large portion of the exams carry a large percentage of the grade in multiple choice questions. I have never found that multiple choice exams provide me with the same ability to process the information and synthesize my answers as an essay or short answer question would. Brody points out that in a market society, the one where everything was a price and can be bought and sold, the humanities are seen only with the lens of instrumental value. They can be used in society to help people achieve high paying jobs and a career. The intrinsic value is not fully understood and appreciated. Most people tend to not care about what the humanities can teach people after their instrumental value has been presented. In Clunes discussion of the tension between judgment and equality, this same kind of idea is presented. Clune states that in the market “…all desires are equal, all value is only opinion”. This is interesting to include with Brody’s statements of the market society makes the assumption that everyone wants the same thing from the humanities. This however is not the case because the humanities values are different to everyone. In my opinion the humanities have the ability to teach you something, such as fact based things, that knowledge can just earn you a degree or if you choose you will continue to learn from it throughout your life.