Who Needs Humanities

Astral Facts, May/June 2011

Astral: (Theosophy) Consisting of, belonging to, or designating, a kind of supersensible substance alleged to be next above the tangible world in refinement; as, astral spirits; astral bodies of persons; astral current.

Who Needs the Humanities?

In these days of budget cutting and all, concerns about relevant and necessary programs have emerged here in the ivory towers of higher ed.  Perhaps a reduction in the course load for the Humanities might be a good way to cut some of the "fat" from the sacred cows of education.


Of course, one thing for sure is the importance of the math and science programs.  It's not something new, for back in 1983 Susan Jacoby wrote an article for The New York Times in which she noted the "self-inflicted disability" many high school girls were inflicting on themselves by dropping out of math and science classes because they considered them "masculine" and success in those fields might exclude them from getting a date for Prom.


In other words, in a patriarchial society, one shouldn't challenge those in power.   Twenty some years later Lindsay Lohan, in the movie Mean Girls, illustrated this same principle at work when her character dumbed down to attract the hunky guy sitting next to her in math class.


In my English 101 class, we read and discuss Jacoby's article and then students need to write a paper of summary and analysis about the article.  Here's a copy of a student's paper that is quite illuminating, which I have reproduced unedited:

Bright Girls

          In the article “When Bright Girls Decide Math Is ‘a Waste of Time’” by Susan Jacoby the point she is trying to get across is that the problem teenage girls are having can be stopped if the parents realize what is happening and do something about it. Her main thesis is that adolescent girls and their parents are active conspirators in limiting their own intellectual development. One of the key ideas in the article are during the vulnerable period of mid adolescence, girls are most likely to be influenced by the traditional belief that math and science are “masculine” subjects. Susan Jacoby also says that in adolescence girls begin to fear that they will be unattractive to boys if they [are] typed as “brains”. In some cases like the Bronx High School of Science where women go to learn too they are still largely outnumbered by the men. To prove her point she shows us a 1981 assessment of female achievement in mathematics, based on research conducted under a National Institute for Education grant, they found significant differences in the mathematical achievements of ninth and twelfth graders. At age thirteen girls were equal if not better in math but four years later the boys had outstripped them. She brings up an example from her own life about how in her sophomore year she pretended to do badly in math when actually she had straight A’s last year in algebra. One of the methods she uses is casual analysis where she says that this problem is a self inflicting female issue and later in the article she says the consequences are that the girls are limiting their own career options. Throughout the article she uses contrast telling us how bad girls are doing math and then she says how the boys are doing in the same situation. Her conclusion clearly states that it is up to the parents to see to it that their daughters do not accede the old stereotypes about “masculine” and ‘feminine” knowledge. This story is still relevant today and parents need to be more aware of what classes their daughters are taking.

Isn't this a nice summary that clearly shows the issue from nearly 30 years ago?  but wait ---- it gets better when the analysis kicks in:

     This article can be applied today because it is still going on. Even I witnessed it in high school just last year. In my math class we had this girl who did really well on her tests because she know if the failed the tests then would fail the class. But during class she would be the class dummy always asking for help from some guy who pretended he knew what he was doing. In reality he just wanted to talk to the girl. Cases like these are really common today because the girls think that the guys don’t look twice at the girls who get a 4.0 in math class. So thinking like that girls pretend to be stupid in the math class or even the science classes because it still applies there too. Like in my biology class the cheerleader at my table would always be asking for help from the teacher because she didn’t want to look like some nerd doing so good in geology. Part of this problem of women acting dumb in front of guys is us guys are deciders of what is attractive or not so somehow we let the girls know that it is hot to be dumb. Especially these days most guys don’t care how educated women are as long as the guys can get some action. Unfortunately it sounds harsh but it’s true. Knowing that men think like that women don’t bother getting good education in math or science.
       In Susan Jacoby’s article she says how if the women don’t take math and science they will not have the total vision of human experience. This is not necessarily true because these days most of the men take the responsibility of knowing all the gadgets and technology. For women it’s mostly about emotion so they go after the gossip of this worlds and most of the time technology and math doesn’t interest them. Just the subject technology most women cringe from because they wouldn’t know one word that they hear about it. Usually women just depend on the guys to get all the cell phones and cars in their life. I think that women get along in life just fine without the complete knowledge of technology and math. Most of the women who are in universities getting their science degree are probably fat and ugly so they know that they won’t easily get a rich smart guy who they can depend on. That assumption is wrong that Susan Jacoby made in her article about women. I agree that teenage girls should go through all the necessary math classes so they get the basic math knowledge but the higher up math is optional.
      Concluding from this article I think parents should keep a good eye on their daughters throughout high school but after that it is their own choice whether they want to continue in math. Most women are not cut out for a career in math or science. A good solution for most situations would be to just get a guy who knows about all of that tech stuff so the women have all the time to gossip and spread rumors.

You know something?  I think maybe here we have a good case for keeping the Humanities alive.  Perhaps this writer might be the first candidate for additional courses!

 Walter Lowe

Astral Facts is a monthly presentation of Humanities Science, produced in the bowels of the Humanities Science offices.