Utah State Cutting 'Inefficient Programs' From Curriculum

I don't remember anything from college except that Hemingway killed himself.

I took a million classes and pretended to read a million books because I was an English major.

When you tell people you're an English major they smirk and make you feel like an idiot compared to their son who's going into a fine dental program.

So in the debate about cutting the humanities I'm split.

A "Save the Humanities at USU" petition is going around. here's what it says: (LINK TO PETITION)

"The Utah legislature just cut university budgets by 10% and is demanding that institutions close programs deemed "inefficient." In other states, this has been an excuse to shutter humanities and arts departments."

I understand legislators, who are sending money to state institutions, want to see ROI. They want to see graduates earn a degree that will get them a job out of college. And the old joke is that all humanities majors all end up living in their parents' basements.

I can dig it and I think there's some truth to that.

But I also think deemphasizing the humanities is a mistake. Who wants to hang out with a bunch of engineers? Sure they're the ones who made the bridge, but do you want to have a conversation with them? It's like climbing a Stairmaster.

I guess my point is, reading poetry or watching a great movie or reading Shakespeare might seem like a waste of time, but I think it's more inspiring than knowing what a hypotenuse is. And our dreamer types are valuable in some ways. Look at Kurt Vonnegut or that other guy.

Save the humanities! Save the clock tower! That's what I say.