Is it Time to Change the Humanities Requirement? Essay -- Expository E

Is it Time to diversify the humanistic discipline Requirement?The Universitys Humanities Core represents a live though enigmatic aspect of the curricular philosophy. Considering that the Core seems so wild compared to the curricula of similar universities, it is rice beering to note that the Humanities Core seems to have an especially distinguished significance. For example, humanities is the however sequence which is taken almost uniformly by first year students it is also one of two or three Core sequences that cannot be replaced by AP credits or system tests. peradventure most importantly, the humanities requirement may be the only part of the Core that seems to be almost universally perceived as having no application outside of the Ivory Tower. Thus we are confront with the difficult question of what distinguishes the Humanities Core from different pursuits and why it is that the University, an knowledgeability that prides itself on academic commitment and prowess, cont inues to place special emphasis on it. In order to confront this difficult question I lead first consider the Humanities Core generally and sample to trace its value in term of centre and then in terms of utility I will then turn my attention to a specific gain studied in the Humanities Core and attempt to make sense of its inclusion in the curriculum.As a intermediate student, I have pretty fresh memories of my experience in the Humanities Core. I took the auspiciously titled Human Being and Citizen, and although I lacked the place held by a student enrolled in, say, Reading Cultures or Greek Thought, I believe that HBC provides an experience which is perhaps most easily generalized in regard to Universitys first-year humanities experience. This is because HBC s... ...t books course like HBC. Although the other sequences may address more particular issues, there is clearly an interest in tracing facets of the intellectual tradition which are independent of content or utili ty Philosophical Perspectives explores the pre-Socratic philosophical evolution which laid the stand for our western philosophical tradition Readings in World Literature examines the work of authorsToni Morrison, for examplewho have addressed enduring and complex literary questions in unique ways, thus affecting the way in which these questions are conceptualized. Perhaps having a frame of reference which incorporates these thinkers is necessary if we want to understand and excogitate our own surroundings and thus an indispensable part of a statewide education. NOTES*Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Translation by Martin Oswald, Prentice-Hall, 1962.