The Battle to Save Humanity
by
Jolene Klose
The lone warrior races
across a blood soaked battlefield, narrowly dodging the fire from the robot
army that chases him. His efforts seem futile against the superior intelligence
and power of the machines. Yet he is determined to survive, determined
to win the war against mankind and save humanity. If this scene sounds
familiar it's because it's been used over and over in popular movies. Man
versus Machine, the fight to prove there is more to life than calculated
reason and technological advances. But what is that defining factor between
Human intelligence and artificial intelligence? I believe that people are
separated from machines solely by our ability to feel and express ideas
and emotion through a plethora of forms such as music, visual arts and
written works. Furthermore, future generations must be well educated in
the fields of humanities in order to preserve the essence of human spirit.
Children today are subjected
to a public school system that often refuses to acknowledge the value of
arts education. Music, theater and art classes are the first to be cut
from the schedule in order to fit in more math or science classes. High
schools look down upon students enrolling in existing programs as well,
especially with the new rise of cluster programs in public schools. What
classes remain are left to fight for precious funding, often forcing the
students to participate in many ongoing fund raisers just to keep the classes
alive. Parents too, discourage their children from participating in such
programs for fear they will interfere with their actual education. They
feel that art or music classes are useless to their childrens’ education
and rate the activities much the same as playing video games or reading
comic books.
Parents and students alike
hear the word "Humanities" and turn their heads. It’s such a stuffy sounding
word. Parents hear a subject that doesn’t bring a college education or
a five-digit salary to mind. Students hear another boring class and more
books on their required reading list not worth the effort. I implore everyone
to take another look at the word. The root of "Humanities" is human. I
can’t imagine what could be more interesting or useful than learning about
ourselves as a species. Not just what we have done, but how we have thought
and how we have felt. The Humanities, in essence, are a study of human
history through the ideas and values of different time periods. If history
is taught so future generations can learn from the mistakes of the past,
then the humanities must be taught so future generations can understand
how the values of society around them were formed. Therefore history and
the Humanities should have equal importance and necessity in education.
Humanities, by definition
of The Western Humanities, Volume II is, “The study of Greek and
Roman languages and literature; later set off from the sciences and expanded
to include the works of all Western peoples in the arts, literature, music,
philosophy and sometimes history and religion; in Post-Modernism extended
to a global dimension.” (G-4). It is the study of human creation
and expression. The study of humanities began in Italy in the 1300s, known
as Studia Humanitatis. “They defined this term, which may be translated
as humanistic studies, as a set of intellectual pursuits that included
moral philosophy, history, grammar, rhetoric and poetry.” (Western Humanities,
p 278) The Italians began studying humanities as a form of looking back
to Greek and Roman ideas for inspiration. Mankind was just removing itself
from the Dark Ages and searching for new ways to break free of the old
mold. In the same way, students of today need humanities to save them from
the impending Dark Ages before us when expression and beauty will be replaced
by technological innovation and effiencey.
As imperative as teaching
children of the past achievements is to encourage them to create their
own. Not every person is a musician, artist, poet, or philosopher, but
every child deserves the chance to develop her own ideas and morals. If
a child knows only the here and now, then she will have a narrow view of
the world and make uneducated decisions based on her personal experiences.
Encourage her to question the world around her and create beauty in her
own vision and she can better achieve a greater global view and make stronger,
more thought out decisions. In his speech "On the Dignity of Man," Pico
Della Mirandola supports his belief that mankind can become anything from
brute to near deity depending on the life he pursues. Pico feels that,
given the opportunity, man would surely aspire to be the best he can be.
“Let a certain holy ambition invade the mind, so that we may not be content
with mean things but may aspire to the highest things and strive with all
our forces to attain them: for if we will to, we can.”
In addition to not offering
humanities classes, or humanities based classes (art history, philosophy,
etc.), schools often try to weed out elective classes such as band, drama,
and art. They post the courses as electives, therefore causing them to
compete with foreign language classes for enrollment. Most students then
go the foreign language route, as it is often required for graduation or
college admission. This setup is deliberate, designed to discourage students
from taking the classes they want. The schools sometimes even go one step
further in trying to force all their students into clusters. Clusters are
groups of students who have the same set of teachers and often the same
students in each class. There are science clusters, math clusters,
public service clusters, but no music or performing arts cluster. If a
kid wants to take a class like band or choir, she has to be independent
and loses scheduling priority to clustered students.
The most prominent battle
today is for keeping music education in schools. The struggle was made
even more noticeable by the efforts of VH1’s Save the Music program, and
the recent movie "Music of the Heart." These aren’t the only organizations
dedicated to keeping music in public schools, but they get the most attention
due to their size and advertising. VH1’s corresponding webpage, www.vh1.com/insidevh1/save,
contains information about the program as well as factoids on the benefits
of music in school. One factoid states that “On many college campuses,
music majors have even higher reading scores than English majors do." In
fact many studies have proven that kids who play a musical instrument score
higher on standardized tests than kids who don’t. Children who enroll in
music classes do better in school because they have a higher concentration
level. Learning music is difficult; a student has to focus on many aspects
at once (such as notes, tempo, volume, and the conductor), that ability
to focus carries on when he studies other subjects like math or history.
Perhaps, with the support
of organizations like VH1, music programs will finally be recognized as
the benefits they are. However, other programs, like art history, theater,
literature and philosophy are still floundering or non-existent in most
schools. Without them, what else can be expected for the future but an
automated, mundane existence? We will live in a world dominated by machines,
our lives will revolve around computers and all our efforts will go to
keeping them functioning correctly. I could never live a content life in
that world. I cannot imagine my life without the joy and fulfillment humanities
has brought me. Envision a life without the excitement of music, or the
escape of a good book. I consider music to be the driving force in my life.
The gifts music has given me surpass any material object.
About two years ago, my
best friend began to teach me how to play the flute. Hearing my first attempts
at producing sounds from the instrument was painful; the dogs howling across
the street when I played was a clear enough indication of that. The lessons
paid off when I was accepted into the band at my high school. Band was
a whole new world for me, but the people I met there were surprisingly
friendly. The kids there didn’t see me as 5’8 female, brown hair, odd dress,
but as flute girl, fellow musician and their friend. I struggled for months;
learning to read music and making the notes on a page correspond to the
notes my fingers played. It was difficult and often frustrating, but I
pushed through it.
That spring, my same best
friend took me to see an orchestra perform at San Jose State. The
difference in seeing a concert now, as opposed to before my training was
remarkable. Instead of simply sitting in my seat and thinking, "Hmmm, nice
songs," I was fully engrossed in the performance. I marveled at the speed
the fingers of the flute and clarinet players moved and was delighted to
be able to catch tempo changes. I had gained a new appreciation for the
performance that I never would have attained without learning to play myself.
I’ve had a similar experience
with the humanities class I’m taking this semester. Learning the concepts
and motivations behind Operas and Shakespeare really made a difference
in my ability to enjoy them. The same goes for the painting I studied,
when I knew about the artist and the stories behind the work, it made the
pictures seem to come alive. This is also the first time I have enjoyed
learning history. I have never been a history person; I tend to grow weary
in the endless discussion of wars and revolutions. Humanities opened up
a new light to an old subject. Here, I experienced the history of mankind
through his ideas and achievements. The impression this made on me is far
greater than any high school World History class.
Humanities have touched
my life in ways I will be forever grateful for. It is my hope that everyone
can have the same experience. If children grew up learning about art and
ideas right along with math and science, I believe it would have a profound
impact on the human race. They should grow up learning to express themselves
as well as simply applying their knowledge. In the balance of these factors
lies the formula to a richer existence, for them and for everyone around
them.
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