In crisis, we crave the humanities

This article in Inside HigherEd makes the point that even in the midst of a crisis, the humanities — fields of study that explore human history, society, art and language and literature, spiritual and moral knowledge — nourish us. In fact, if the current trend in voluntary education is accurate, the humanities may be even more important. As Matthew Rascoff and Emily J. Levine note, “When humanity is in crisis, humans crave the humanities.”

They are responding to the trend in online education venues such as Coursera, which has seen a tremendous spike in enrollment during the coronavirus shutdowns. The most popular course is “The Science of Well-Being,” rather than one focusing on a more narrow, job-training course.

The article is worth reading. For now, I wanted to point to another writer who notes the same phenomenon as an inherent piece of what it means to be human: C.S. Lewis, in his essay “Learning in Wartime”:

Plausible reasons have never been lacking for putting off all merely cultural activities… [The insects] have sought first the material welfare and security of of the hive, and presumably they have their reward. Men are different. They propound mathematical theorems in beleaguered cities, conduct metaphysical arguments in condemned cells, make jokes on scaffolds, discuss the last new poem while advancing to the walls of Quebec, and comb their hair at Thermopylae. This is not panache; it is our nature.

“Learning In War-Time,” in The Weight of Glory

Rascoff and Levine draw a parallel between the coronavirus and the Spanish flu a century ago, but Lewis is talking here about how even in war — a different kind of crisis threatening humanity — we still crave meaning.

All three of these writers remind us that learning is not bound by school, grades, or professional preparation. Our deep curiosity about the world and each other persists and grows, even in a crisis, even without a schoolmaster or mistress.

There’s something encouraging about that.