An interesting article reviewing Harper's magazine (I tried to get to the original article, but no such luck without money, and I just so happen to be a student) article "Dehumanizing: When math and science rule the school" -- link to CJR, I got this via Symmetry Mag.
I have no problem with liberal arts studies -- in fact, I encourage them and enjoy them myself. The problem I have with the above is: In what way are the sciences dehumanizing? If the point is more to speak up in favor of a liberal arts education, I would be in full support. But it strikes me as particularly silly to claim that math and science are dehumanizing, setting them up as some sort of Human anti-Human dichotomous interaction where one or the other wins out, and we have to set out to find the mean between them. Was I always as interested in math and science as I currently am? Far from. But I was also a 19 year old wanna-be artist. I would expect someone in the humanities, whose grown up a bit, to realize that the conflict between the two isn't intrinsic to the subjects, but a skewing of national culture values being directed towards the things that have "Practical" value or economic returns, which is something that scientists also have to deal with.
Monday, August 31, 2009
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