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Crisis in liberal arts
Confident teachers boost students’ literacy skills Campus Notes
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Crisis in liberal arts CONTRARY to C.P. Snow’s belief enshrined in his 1959 lecture, The Two Cultures, that science would reunite a world divided by the Cold War, it seems that unbridled violence and warfare have become part of everyday existence. Science must be put on a podium and subjected to critical scrutiny like the humanities. If artists and writers are chastised for their ideological stand, why stop at the threshold of natural sciences which have their roots in conflict and tyranny. Has not biological research brought about ethical and moral bankruptcy? The cosmopolitan culture initiated by science has not, in any way, invigorated the arts or brought the world together. Let us take a fleeting look at the status of liberal arts in the academia and begin by interrogating: Why should one study history, literature, philosophy, music, art, general science, sociology or any other subject outside of our major? When asked, “What is Liberal Arts?”, parents and children show complete ignorance. Some explain away the pursuit of humanities as synonymous with radicalism; others feel it is an airy and insubstantial area of academic leisure that has no market value. A colleague from the sciences is of the absurd opinion that humanities is a “parasite on sciences” as all funding is fetched by the latter. But I guess, a scientist is difficult to convince! One can only argue that greater justice can be brought to the field of the liberal arts programme if those, who are part of it, do a better job of explaining what is really meant by liberal arts or humanities. Maybe this could be one method of overcoming the so-called crisis. This challenge has to be faced head-on by the academic world so that it becomes imperative to ask: What really is the crisis? The Chronicle of Higher Education (March 5, 2010) lays down “three reasons for this crisis: 1) College students are preferring to major in pre-professional programmes such as business and management rather than traditional liberal arts disciplines such as English and History; 2) Tenure-track positions in the humanities are being steadily replaced by the use of adjunct instructors, usually drawn from the ranks of graduate students; 3) Colleges and universities have lost their commitment to general education requirements that stress liberal arts, allowing a cafeteria menu of electives to substitute a common core of standards”. The damage apparently is being done to the history of ideas that painstakingly explore philosophies of both East and West, enabling students to relate “big ideas” to “big events”. For instance, Greek Tragedy could clear some mist in problems related to criminal law, or Plato and Gibbon made relevant to the understanding of diplomacy. But the single-minded approach of a scientist leads very frequently to an utter absence of reflection on more important aspects of human value or the repercussions of new discoveries or inventions in society. Literary categories and aesthetic concerns have a bearing on social issues and this can have a positive outcome by bridging the humanities-and-social science divide. The course on “Culture, Ideas and Values” at the University of Berkeley is an ideal example of a wholesome curriculum that straddles more than one discipline. “Wisdom Studies”, another course run at Cambridge, has recently become a significant area of study which examines problems in social policy or ethics of knowledge and its applicability with long-lasting reforms. In order to have an over-all developed personality to confront contemporary crisis, it becomes important not only to study the great works of European origin from Homer to Freud, but also introduce students to the Bible, to Plato, to Machiavelli and Marx as well as the writings of women, of minorities, the Gita or the Latin American novel along with the study of African art and literature. One cannot deny the importance of a project that takes up slavery in Aristotle’s Ethics and compares it with Aime Cesaire’s Tempest, or gender bias in Antigone and Madame Bovary. The traditional practice of the pursuit of knowledge for the sake of knowledge has almost come to an end. Universities, in keeping with the demands of a new economic order, have become professionalised centres of transmission, churning out students who are more in tune with the machine-like capability of handling jobs. The traditional complexion of a university like Nalanda or Shantiniketan has gradually disappeared. In such centers of higher learning, education was regarded as a process of reflection in the midst of a struggle to create a new social order. It was a process of liberating people towards active participation in the historical process. The quest for scientific knowledge was not considered to be enough. Nor was catering to a job market the primary motive. Instead, dialogue across disciplines became integral to academic culture where ideas were more important than the squirrel-like specialisation presently obsessing the academic. I am not against the general knowledge of science; I am against the lop-sided emphasis given to science and the struggle towards a yuppie culture at the cost of the liberal arts that adequately equips graduates to take up jobs with a concern for cultural and political analysis. I stand against the gloomy picture that has been drawn of the academia, especially those in the humanities. No doubt there is widespread cynicism, combined with the decline in the job market and feelings of regret, envy, and frustration. But we need to be worried about the future of liberal arts, for on its survival depends the future of any civilisation. Research in the liberal arts will go a long way in introducing an era of renewal and revision, becoming an essential counterblast to the yuppie bourgeoisie culture that the world is overwhelmed by.
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Confident teachers boost students’ literacy skills A new research suggests that confident schoolteachers have a more positive effect on a child’s learning abilities. However, in some cases students only saw gains when their teachers also had classrooms that emphasised emotional support for the children, the study found. “Emotionally responsive relationships between teachers and children may be the way by which the self-efficacy of teachers can have a positive influence on children’s literacy,” said Ying Guo, co-author of the study and a postdoctoral researcher in education at Ohio State University. The research involved a large, multi-state study that included 67 teachers and 328 of their students. Participants were followed over the course of 30 weeks. Teachers were assessed through a questionnaire that asked questions like “How much can you do to get through to the most difficult students?” and “How much can you do to keep students on task on difficult assignments?” Trained coders analysed teacher-student interaction from videotapes collected during an approximately two-hour standardised classroom observation and students were given tests of language and literacy skills at the beginning and end of the 30-week period to assess improvement. The results showed a relation between high self-efficacy of teachers and increased literary skills in students. However, children only showed gains in vocabulary knowledge skills when they had a classroom that offered emotional support in addition to having a teacher with high self-efficacy. “Classroom quality is important, and students seem to learn more when they have emotional support in the classroom,” Guo said. — ANI
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Campus Notes HARYANA Agricultural University will explore the possibility of extracting vegetable oil from Simarouba tree. The experiment, if successful, will help increase vegetable oil production in the country. The Union Science and Technology Ministry has approved a project and sanctioned Rs 20 lakh as financial assistance for a period of three years for the purpose. Work on the project will be carried out by the Department of Biotechnology and Molecular Biology of the university by a team of scientists including Pushpa Kharab and Ravinder Singh Dhillon. The team will be headed by Santosh Dhillon. The research work on Simarouba tree also called Paradise and Kala Jaitoon will be taken up under a research project entitled "Genetic Diversity Analysis and Identification of Gender Specific DNA Markers in Simarouba". The scientists plan to identify Simarouba varieties with high oil content. The team will also focus on molecular characterisation, oil quality and identification of gender of the plants at nursery stage.
Dean retires
Dr S.S. Pahuja, Dean, College of Agriculture, Haryana Agricultural University, retired after putting in more than 38 years of service. Dr Pahuja joined as Research Assistant in the Aquatic Weed Control Scheme of the Department of Agronomy in September, 1971, and was selected as Assistant Agronomist (Weed Control) in December, 1975. Dr Pahuja was transferred to teaching after doing Ph.D. He was promoted as Associate Professor in September, 1984, and as Professor in September, 1992. Dr Pahuja became Head, Department of Agronomy, in November, 2006, and was appointed as Dean, College of Agriculture, in January, 2008. He was given the ICAR Best Teacher Award for 2000-01 by the President of India.
US fellowship for student
Sandeep Rana, a student of Haryana Agricultural University, has received a fellowship to study in the US. Under the fellowship, he will pursue postgraduate studies at the University of Arkansas. Rana is pursuing M.Sc course in the Department of Horticulture of the university. Rana will get tuition fee waiver and free health insurance apart from $15,000 per annum as assistantship. He will work under the guidance of Dr Jason K. Norshworthy of the Department of Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences.
Memorial lecture series
Haryana Agricultural University will start memorial lecture series on the late Prime Minister Charan Singh on his birth anniversary on December 29 later this year. Besides work on the establishment of Charan Singh Chair in the university will also be taken up soon, it was officially stated here.
Don named Fellow
Dr Ram Singh, Professor of Entomology, Haryana Agricultural University, has been nominated as a Fellow of the Plant Protection Association of India in recognition of his contribution to entomological sciences. He has four books and 150 research papers to his credit. He is a member of editorial boards of several national and international research journals. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society, London. —
Contributed by Raman Mohan
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It is often said that the future of knowledge surely lies in the sciences. The irony is clear when seen in the background of a dark century of extremes and cultural decline. We have gradually moved into a Byzantine afternoon when science and material gain become the only attractive motivations of the “young upwardly-mobile professional” culture.