Faced with the demands of the new global economy, Japan and the United States have reached the conclusion that the humanities have little value in higher education. That's a mistake they will regret in the years ahead.
The humanities have never been intended as training for a specific vocation. Instead, the study of languages, literature, the arts, history, philosophy and religion exists to provide students with the critical thinking skills needed for personal growth and participation in a democratic society.
No one understood this better than former Rhode Island Sen. Claiborne Pell, who in 1965 established the humanities endowment bearing his name. It declared that "a high civilization must not limit its efforts to science and technology alone but must give full value and support to the other great branches of man's scholarly and cultural activity in order to achieve a better understanding of the past, a better analysis of the present and a better view of the future."