The humanities and social sciences are certainly in crisis (“Dilemma of the humanities“, Mail & Guardian, June 24). As a primary stakeholder myself — an existing postgraduate — I think two facets of the crisis need exploration.
One is the extent to which faculties of the humanities and social sciences position their programmes in relation to the marketplace. The other concerns the real motivations of students who apply to study in these fields.
I recently completed my master’s in public policy dissertation, which was titled “Can Humanities and Social Science Faculties Give Utility Value (Economic) to the South African Developmental State?”. My study centred on the eThekwini region and the University of KwaZulu-Natal, but I think its findings have national resonance.
The first facet of the crisis is the oversupply of undergraduates in arts and social sciences. In 2007 the University of Cape Town policy research unit published its research on graduate unemployment trends. This showed both that unemployed humanities and social sciences graduates were in the majority and that the primary victims here were black, coloured and Indian students.
Their parents had made financial sacrifices and expected to see employment for their children in return. This, then, is the first crisis — faculties that do not “place” their academic offerings in relation to country’s employment trends.
But my research also suggested that students themselves are to blame. Some enrolled in these faculties as a last resort and were perhaps ignorant of what they were setting out to study.
The second part of the crisis is that faculties do not adequately consider how or whether their curricula have any tangible utility (that is, economic) value relative to the country’s skills needs. My overriding finding was that there is a disjuncture between market needs and the graduates these faculties are producing.
So can we honestly continue to support and fund faculties that do not turn their students/clients into economically productive agents? I hope the ministerial task team led by UCT Professor Ari Sitas, which is due to report shortly, will produce a way forward that takes us far away from the ivory tower mentality.
We should not adopt United States academic Stanley Fish’s view that “the humanities cannot be justified except in relation to the pleasure they give to those who enjoy them”. But we can learn from the US’s liberal arts model, in which humanities students can major in science, engineering and commercial subjects.
We should cut intake numbers and promote cross-disciplinary work, which will include bringing science and maths into the “culture” of the humanities and social sciences. That is my preferred model. But we must first admit we are in crisis and commit to holistically changing the modus operandi of these faculties and their students.
TK Pooe was until recently a postgraduate student at the University of KwaZulu-Natal