The Human Journey: A New Vision for Education in the Humanities, the Social Sciences, and the Arts
by Gian Pagnucci
(Article DRAFT 2023-2025)
The Humanities, Social Sciences, and the Arts are more vital and relevant than ever before. Research shows that most people now change career paths at least 4 times during their lifespan. To navigate that change, students need to be taught to be:
- Knowledge Leaders
- Creative Problems Solvers
- Expert Communicators
In an age where social media is king, the effective writing, design, and delivery of information is critical. This is what we teach in my discipline of English as well as more broadly in the humanities. We do this by teaching students how to effectively employ rhetorical skills. We also teach students how to apply those rhetorical skills to data that has been collected and interpreted using social science research methods. Students in the humanities and social sciences are taught the critical knowledge of how to persuade audiences and how to understand those audiences through both qualitative and quantitative research methods.
While STEM remains a valuable part of education in the 21st century, educating students for the human journey they will take is even more important. Life is a journey, but our plans do not always lead where we hoped they would take us. We must educate students so that they can better shape that journey and are also able to survive the journey’s many ups, downs, and obstacles. Education in the Humanities, Social Sciences, and the Arts is how we can help students to thrive as they undertake The Human Journey.
In 2022, I published a short postcard poem, Quest, with Red Flag Poetry. The poem talks about learning not as outcomes but as a search. Not everything worth learning can be measured on a standardized test. And not everything we need for life can be taught in a laboratory. I include that poem below because I hope it captures, in the way no mathematical equation ever can, some degree of what it really means to learn.
The Humanities, the Social Sciences, and the Arts are able to carry people through life. They teach us to appreciate culture, to be curious, and to be kind. It is through reading about and studying other people that we learn empathy and gain understanding. In our post-pandemic world, we need connection, we need creativity, and we need compassion. This is how we will teach students to find success and, more importantly, joy on The Human Journey.
Quest
In a movie,
you’d have a hat
or a shield
or a magic sword.
But here, today,
we’ve just got this pen
and a notebook
and a handful of words.
Tomorrow,
maybe,
we’ll find the secret answers.
But here, today,
we just have the quest.
That’s what learning is,
not the test but the looking.
(Gian Pagnucci, Published by Red Flag Poetry, January 2022)