"humanities" as a subject [microform] / Richard Kuhns

Since most of the school curriculum is devoted to specialized disciplines, humanities courses provide the opportunity for creating in students an awareness of the unity which exists among philosophy, history, and the arts. Intensive study and class discussion of individual works becomes impossible, however, when too many books are crowded into a humanities course. As a consequence, the works remain remote artifacts to be "appreciated," but bear no relevance to the lives of students who prefer current literature and other media. Humanities courses can best be devoted to examining the philosophical and literary issues of a limited number of works, for it is in these areas that the works of the past are relevant to today's students. The intensive study of structure and style can be left to specialized departmental courses. Through the active engagement of the student in studying, discussing, and arguing the philosophical and literary issues, the works of the past can become accessible to him and a part of the shaping forces of his life, rather than dead monuments to be honored but never touched. (this article appeared in "Journal of aesthetic education," vol. 1, (autumn 1966), 7-16.) (dl)