Kumasi Jay Gwynne
Take-home essay answering this question: Create a strong argument for Humanities as a mandatory
course. Now make a strong argument against Humanities being mandatory. Now tell me what you think
about the humanities requirements at Humber as of today, and why. Be sure to connect your opinion to
the points you made in your two strong arguments for and against
John Stuart Mill believed in government intervention. Specifically, he believed the government
must ensure an enlightened education in Universities. This education gave individuals an opportunity to
learn more and to thus make better choices. Education, according to Mill, should be well rounded.
Individuals should be exposed to a wide variety of subjects. Mill would likely be distressed in this day
and age over the fact that we are getting away from a general broad based education and are increasingly
focused on the details of our specific career path only, to the detriment of well-rounded learning.
Humber College is a career oriented college with many 1-2 year diplomas or certificates and
highly specialized degrees. I suspect this would be fine with Mill as long as we were receiving a more
generalized education to complement our specialized training. This would enable us to be knowledgeable
on a wide variety of subjects outside of those that are a part of our career path. I see Humanities 24 as
trying to bridge this gap. Many students do not see the class as being relevant to anything. Even if
students could care less about Locke or Mill, they are missing the fact that classes like this are important
not only for their content but for how they shape our thinking. Humanities 24 is trying to teach students
how to think (but not what to think). It teaches students to become critical thinkers and to understand
different points of view. This enables students to, in time, form their own informed opinion on the
subject matter or on any matter really. I fail to see how this is unimportant in any given career. Having a
co-worker, in any job, that can’t accept different points of view or can’t think critically, can be frustrating.
The history of ideas is also relevant. Our society is shaped on the basis of fairly lofty ideals. It is
important to understand where this came from. Some of the thinkers that many students are more familiar
with, for example, Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and Ghandi, were shaped, in part, by some of the
thinkers that came before them that many students see as being irrelevant. Groups like the Black Panther
Party believed strongly in political education. Building upon our vast intellectual history is important. To
build on something, we need to understand what we’re building upon. If someone writes an entire essay
about humans being insecure and fearing death in the state of nature and does not know Hobbes exists
they are just wasting their time. It’s already been written, and likely in a far more eloquent manner. We
need to understand the history of ideas so we can consolidate and advance our own thinking, both for
ourselves and for society.
A class like Humanities 24 also demands essay writing. This is something many students are not
getting in their other classes. Often career based training is test based, and multiple choice at that.
Humanities 24 is trying to teach us that being able to talk a good game is not enough. We must be able to
organize our thoughts and express ourselves in writing to defend our viewpoints. We communicate so
much through writing now. When was the last time any of us called someone for something small instead
of texting them? I realize this is a different type of writing, but the point is that writing is going nowhere
even as technology advances, and students must be skilled in this area.
The fact of the matter is that if this course was not mandatory, many students would not take it.
This means that they would, likely for the rest of their lives, never be exposed to a rich intellectual history
that is actually far more relevant than they may think. And by not being exposed to this history, they are
losing out on important thinking and writing skills. Some students, after being forced to take the class,
may actually enjoy the material. How are we to know what we enjoy if we do not try varying things?
Mill was concerned with this. How can we advance society without looking behind us at what came
before? There is something to be said about having ones boundaries pushed. We may resist, but
boundary pushing expands our knowledge base. As a society, we all suffer when there is a lack of
original, daring thinking. We suffer if there is an unwillingness to expand our horizons beyond what we
already know or are good at. Many students have a lot of opinions, but are unable to defend them and
give very little thought to opposing viewpoints. Humanities 24 is imperative, not only for the student, but
for society as a whole.
Locke would not agree with this . Making a course mandatory, he would see as an intrusion into
one’s personal private life. A lot of students would agree with Locke on this point. They do not want
someone in a position of power to dictate what they think they should know. I think there is merit to this
point. Although I wouldn’t go so far to say this is authoritarian, it definitely ruffles feathers when other
people decide what is best for an individual without knowing any of the details of that individuals’
existence. Herding everyone into a Humanities class like we are all identical people with identical needs
may not be appropriate. It seems the person best suited to make choices about their own education and
life, is the student.
Additionally, we need to understand the framework within which Humanities 24 exists. Humber
College is not the University of Toronto for a reason, and people are attracted to Humber for reasons that
are probably different than the reasons people are attracted to U of T. Humber College exists, in part, to
help people advance their skills in a particular area, over the shortest period of time, and for the purpose
of career advancement. Many Humber students are older and/or have families to support. Who is anyone
to say that an individual is better served taking a mandatory Humanities course than spending those 3
hours with their family or working for those hours in an effort to get by? Who is anyone to say
Humanities trumps art courses or science courses, which are not mandatory? Are those subjects of lesser
importance to the individual and to society? When you look at it this way it does seem as if the
Humanities requirement is somewhat random.
Humanities 24 is also not as worldly as Mill would have wanted it to be. It is a course of mostly
white western thinkers with the classic people of colour thrown in on one day, for good measure. This
may be off-putting to many students for obvious reasons. Humber College is multicultural and there is a
rich history of thinkers of colour that continually does not get studied in humanities courses. Making
such a course mandatory is problematic. The course isn’t a well-rounded survey of relevant thinkers
across the world. It is more specific than that, but you would not know that from the course name. The
course text, as well, is very Cliff Notes-ish. Dumbing things down doesn’t usually advance the thinking
of anyone. Students should at least be given the opportunity to explore some of the complexities of
individual thinkers before it is deemed too complicated to teach Humber students.
Students are often career focused not because they don’t care about learning other things but
because they are struggling and their career has to be their priority. It would be nice if we all had the time
to sit around and philosophize but the reality is many of us are low-income, newcomers to Canada and
second career students. The realities of the lives of these people make forcing them to take an unwanted
course unjust. These students are taking out big loans and should not be forced to spend their hard earned
money on a class that may not be right for them.
Ultimately though, what it really comes down to is the fact that you can’t force someone to learn,
be engaged or care. You can force someone to take a course, but not to do the readings, study for tests,
remember anything, participate, or stay awake and focused in class. After you get a student into class
there is very little that professors can do to ensure that the students learn anything.
Initially, I felt confident in thinking that yes, Humanities 24 should be mandatory. After outlining
the case against it being mandatory, though, I found myself leaning in the direction of not making it
mandatory. Strong arguments can be made both ways. Pushed into a corner I have to go back to my
initial feelings that Humanities 24 should be mandatory. I think a school like Humber that is career
focused MUST include some general education requirements. No one should graduate from any program
without knowing how to think (understand concepts and theories), critique, defend, and write. These are
not skills only used in the course, they are skills that can be applied and used in life and in students’
careers.