Here’s a hypothetical: Legendary French political philosopher and eccentric personality François-Marie Arouet, or Voltaire, dropped out of college, citing an inability to pay his tuition as the reason. When questioned further about his decision Voltaire immediately proceeded to rant for over an hour about the tuition hike in a nearly unintelligible French accent. One segment of his seemingly nonsensical rant, which touched on topics ranging from the individual’s right to freedom and privacy to the need for democracy in a stable society, was actually understood. “I don’t know why those snooty swine raised my tuition. All I wished to do was study the human condition and make people aware of the injustices committed by overbearing governments, but I guess that was too unimportant!” Voltaire then stormed out of the interview room, knocking over several pieces of furniture on his way out.
Because Voltaire did not finish his studies, the world will never benefit from his thoughts on government, religion and human nature. We will be without his famous works of literary satire, like the widely read Candide, and without his comedic yet profound insights on everyday life, which have influenced modern governments in countless ways. His observations on the Holy Roman Empire being neither holy nor Roman and not even an empire will also be missed.
Imagine for a moment, that this story were true. Imagine, for just a moment, if someone like Voltaire hadn’t been around to influence the development of modern society and philosophy. Imagine what our world would be like now if there was no Socrates or Plato. What if John Locke, Adam Smith, Confucius and Thomas Paine were never around? Or, perhaps a little closer to home: Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, John Adams and James Madison?
That concept probably seems pretty farfetched; as well it should. There should always be room for those who want to study humanities and devote their lives to such endeavors. I know that that belief is probably even more dearly held here at Connecticut College because it is such a prominent liberal arts school; but that belief is being challenged elsewhere in the country.
In Florida, Governor Rick Scott commissioned a task force to study the public university system and figure out ways to make it more efficient and effective. Well, the study is over and some of the things the task force is suggesting are, in a word, extreme. The task force wants to place a priority on students planning to study subjects that fall under the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) category) by lowering the cost of higher education for them. But that reduced cost comes at a price, and that price is paid by prospective students who, like many of us here, want to study one of the humanities (languages, literature, history, philosophy, religion and visual and performing arts). The theory behind this is that studies in the STEM fields lead to “high return, high skill and high performance” jobs.
What are they saying by suggesting these tuition changes? They’re saying that the scientist is more valuable than the author and the philosopher. That is antithetical to the ideas of individual freedom and opportunity first drawn up by the people who founded our country and our way of life; most of whom, by the way, would have studied the humanities. The scientist is important; you’ll hear no argument from me there. But, no offense to mathematicians, you guys didn’t invent democracy.
I find it particularly insulting that someone could so arbitrarily place me that low on the totem pole. I write both to entertain and to convey my own opinions about matters that interest me. If I have an impact on either of those fields, I consider myself to have been successful. What right does a Floridian educational commission have to tell me any differently?
Dale Brill, the chairman of this misguided task force, said of humanities students, “You better really want to [study the field that you choose]. Because you may have to pay more.” I do really want to study it, and I shouldn’t be barred from doing it just because Dale Brill doesn’t think I contribute to society. Everyone has their own interests, Dale, and your proposal may well bar the next Coldplay or Vincent Van Gogh from sharing their talents with us.
There are thousands of political and social arguments I could make against this tuition hike, and I’m sure each of us has our own. That’s really what’s at the core of this whole issue: individuality. The right and the privilege to pursue whatever it is that interests us and makes us happy. Someone who wants to be a nuclear physicist should pay the same amount of money to attend college as someone who wants to study ancient Inuit tribes.
The truth is that art and science have always coexisted and worked in tandem. Artists give us new things to enjoy and scientists give us new ways to enjoy them, and both help the forward progression of society with groundbreaking technologies and insightful philosophies.
Do you have a smart-phone? Take a moment to think about this: who made that? Who created the technology that allows us to do so much with such a small device? Now think about this: who created everything – the music, the movies, the games, the books – that fills it up? •
