Have you ever heard that ‘the Humanities are in crisis’? This crisis has been talked about for several years, but it still remains a serious problem. Last September, the deans of 80 universities in Korea delivered a statement urging the government to increase its support for the humanities. It’s shocking that the professors’ message had to be delivered via the mass media. It is a common belief that humanities are the principal source of all studies. If so, why are we facing a crisis in them? Chonnam Tribune examined the major causes and arrived at certain solutions.
    Humanities seem to be considered as non profit-making. Such a perception tends to have them regarded as surplus to requirements in the age of capitalism. However, the humanities aren’t just related to professional knowledge which is necessary for scholars but also to basic human values and to the meaning of life itself. For a long time, many CEOs have emphasized the importance of the humanities. As the world becomes more complex and globalized, more and more creativity and human imagination is required in order to maintain and enhance both individual and corporate competitiveness in our capitalistic society.
    Though humanistic knowledge and imagination have become more important especially in the digital era, the people involved in humanities in academia realize that they are in deep crisis. Good ways of revitalization are necessary. To do this, an analysis of both what has caused this crisis and what is needed to overcome it, is required.

The Reality of Humanities
    The humanities include such studies as philosophy, history and literature; major studies in themselves and the source of so many others. Various causes of their crisis can be diagnosed. On September 15, a declaration outlining the many grievances of humanities scholars, by Korea University’s professors highlighted the following cause. The professors insisted, “Due to indiscriminate market principles and an over-belief in practical efficiency, the very existence of humanities have become threatened.” This is an urgent matter which cannot be left unaddressed as it causes ripple effects in other areas.
    The humanities crisis seems to have its origins in the 1960’s, when practical studies were needed in Korean society in order to reconstruct our economy and develop industries. However, few people realized that any crisis existed until the mid-7990s when our country’s economy and society entered a stage of hereunto unprecedented growth. In the industrial age, sole faith towards economic growth, market principles, practicality and effective study prevails and most people tend to only pursue things which has tangible benefits.
   Consequently, the field of the humanities suffered and many even considered them unnecessary. Their proponents, on the other hand, regard them as essential liberal arts from which we can search for human-worth and the meaning of life. This dualism originated from the social trend that most people thought the material was better than the intellectual. They were educated to think vaguely about the humanistic, [but] precisely about the material. The more and more economic industries developed the lower and lower became the humanistic standards of our society. Dualistic attitudes towards the humanistic such as literature, history and philosophy surfaced with the IMF crisis. Many people complained that the humanities didn’t work in reality, especially in the financial field. At that time, the economic crisis was so big that it looked ridiculous if someone insisted on the importance of the humanities because people could think that they were so abstract and impractical without any real benefits.
   However, the value of the humanities cannot be measured by money or economic benefits. The humanities are essential for us like sleep and good food, so we don’t have any choice but to study them in order to deeply understand human value and elevate the standard of living.
    Then, what about the government’s support for study of the humanities? It’s completely abysmal. Last year, Seoul National University (SNU)’s budget of support for its humanities program was two million won, which is one fifth that of the engineering college. The government allotted only 0.73% of total financial support for research and development, to the humanities. According to the Korea Research Foundation 2005 report, the research budget for the humanities is about eight hundred billion won, but about on trillion one hundred twenty billion won for engineering. These figures show that government support is concentrated on practical studies. The number of research places allocated to these two faculties was also disproportionate with engineering being granted 23,944 places and the humanities only getting 5,688. The government should correct such imbalances between the humanities and other practical studies.
     The Humanities are like the root of a tree, with other practical studies like its fruit. If the root is undernourished, its fruit will not be good. Consequently, the government’s financial support for the humanities should be substantially increased. If the government doesn’t try to revitalize the humanities because we don’t see any immediate tangible benefit from them, the competitiveness of our society as well as our industry will be weakened.

Why the Humanities Are Needed?
    In this more globalized, competitive world, many students pursue practical studies related to employment. However, students should keep in mind that practical studies are based on the humanities. The humanities are foundations of practical knowledge that enable students to be better equipped for getting jobs. Learning true knowledge, searching for the meaning of life itself, is more important than getting some certificate in this knowledge-based digital society. The first goal of the humanities is to understand human-beings, out mental spirit and our community. Furthermore, they provide us with insight to criticize what is wrong in our society and to find appropriate solutions. By applying the humanities-based knowledge and imagination, we can reflect on and reconsider existing social structures and adapt ourselves and our society when required.

Humanities Are not Locked in a Vault!
    “The humanities are far removed from reality.” Do you agree? Alvin Toffler, a famous American futurologist and best-selling author who majored in literature and history provides us with a wide range of knowledge, wealth of experience and insight that transcends places and ages, His books have their groundings in the humanistic field. The success of the “Harry Porter” series written by J.K. Rowling is another example. This fantastic novel, based on human imagination, is well tied to capitalism as it has been adapted into so many other money-making forms like, film, CD, DVD, etc. From these examples, we see that humanities are capable of being adapted to reality.
    In the knowledge-based age, groundings in the humanities are more crucial than ever before. The humanities accord us lessons and wisdom on mankind and his environment. If we want to understand present society and predict future ones as accurately as possible, we need to concentrate on understanding the humanities. We need to remember that the basis of all exercised is physical training.

Movement toward Basic Studies, the Humanities
    World-renowned universities such as Harvard, Columbia and the University of Chicago have included the humanities subjects as essential to liberal arts courses. In the United States, about 217 colleges provide basic liberal arts-centered education with majors in the humanities and social science. The primary objective of these strong liberal arts programs is to cultivate students’ critical sense and the humanistic creativity in becoming future global leaders.
    How about our country? Some deans of the humanity faculties from national universities had a meeting last semester, and strongly suggested the abolishment of prevailing college system to the Ministry of Education & Human Resource Development (MEHRD) insisting this system disturbs the development of studies in the humanities. They also urged as increased budget to support the humanities. As a result, the MEHRD said this budget would be increased by about 10 billion won next year. Together with the change in the government’s support policy, each university has to try to promote humanities. Of course, Chonnam National University (CNU) is preparing to reform its liberal arts course and its Research Institution for the Humanities continues to hold its series of lectures, “The Story of the Humanities” over several years now.

Conclusion
    As mentioned above, the plain fact is that the humanities are source of other studies and of better life for human beings. Other applies studies can be developed on the basis of understanding human nature. However, humanities have been neglected in our economic growth-centered society while practical study and economic effectiveness have been emphasized. Consequently, most people tend to only pursue material things.
     Now is the time to change this social trend in order to revitalize the humanities. We cannot leave the crisis continue undisturbed any longer. Knowledge is a core element in increasing individual and corporate competitiveness and the source of competitive power has shifted from material and capital resources to knowledge resources. Thus, studying humanities takes on a heightened significance.
    Consequently, we should recognize that humanities can improve the quality of human life, and so make efforts to promote the humanities. In a knowledge-based society, more intellectual than physical capacity is required. It is said that progress is the result of the endless conflict between human reason and instinct, and the most powerful engine in this battle is the humanities, which are the storehouse of true human values and the ultimate meaning of life. By studying the humanities, people can understand the world of human beings, develop creative ideas and expand the power of the imagination. Humanities have never been a useless faculty of study, and they certainly are not today. They are the resource capable of initiating the spirit and imagination required by our society. Even though you don’t gain any immediate profits from studying them, you shouldn’t ignore humanities. Instead we should focus on the benefits they can provide for life.
 

By Shin Hwa-jeong, Senior Reporter
Choi Young-mi, Tribune Reporter
You Jung-sang, Student Editor
Park Yun-mi, Senior Reporter
Photo by Park Yun-mi, Senior Reporter