Special Feature - Why Study Humanities?

Many of the core disciplines of Arts & Humanities – such as classics, philosophy and theology – have been at the heart of Western civilisation for centuries. In ancient times the Romans regarded these subjects as the ‘Liberal Arts’, a system of intellectually liberating skills that differed from the job-specific skills taught to slaves. While not in any way comparing those studying career-specific courses such as law or medicine with slaves (although the poor souls undergoing exams in those disciplines may beg to differ!), what was true of the Arts in Ancient Rome is largely true today. Studying these disciplines provides excellent mental preparation for making your way in wider society, not just in terms of work, but also personally and culturally.

Many courses are available for study in Arts & Humanities and at first glance, the school leaver may fail to see the slightest connection between them. However, there are interchangeable skills involved in the various disciplines, not least the highly valuable ability to critically interpret. In every subject of the Arts, students are required to do more than simply learn the facts and figures in the course material – they need to analyse and critically interpret. For example, a given article, book, poem, play or historical account will be read and studied with the following questions in mind: who wrote it? For what reason? Is there a bias element to the work? What is the author’s background and in what context was the piece written?

Most of these questions will not have a single, definitively correct answer, as the ‘real meaning’ of something is often open to interpretation. The Arts & Humanities will teach you the skills to thoroughly research a topic and come to reasonable, evidential conclusions. It will also enable you to defend your proposals through highly-developed skills of communication, and the ability to clearly and reasonably defend your position. The subject material of most Arts & Humanities courses is undoubtedly fascinating stuff, and may well be of use in your later educational or professional career, but the central aim is to instill in students the habits of approaching information with a critical mindset, and the ability to manage and apply that information well.

It is these ‘good habits’ that employers are seeking to harness when they take on an Arts graduate. No two jobs are exactly the same, and initial training will not provide employees with the complete answers to every single problem they will encounter; after all, life has a habit of throwing problems at us that don’t fit neatly into pre-defined areas! In these situations, the skills of critical interpretation, information management and communication that you gained in your studies of the Arts & Humanities, will assist you. The fact that the core skills gleaned through an Arts programme are useful across many careers is reflected by the many and varied jobs graduates take – management, journalism, accountancy, tax consultancy, town planning, librarianship, civil service, local government, banking, teaching – the list is endless.

Of course, it is not just in your working life that the ability to critically interpret will prove useful. Every day in our personal and social lives, we are bombarded with massive quantities of information, from personal emails to political broadcasts. Having a critical understanding of the news and the media empowers an individual to become an active participant in society; you will not be a passive recipient of propaganda, but an informed and thoughtful individual, who can tell snake oil from sincerity! Primarily however, your personal life can benefit from a course in Arts & Humanities by starting what could prove to be a lifelong love affair with an aspect of culture’s rich tapestry – be it literature, drama, poetry, history or philosophy.

Arts courses in Ireland are available in general and specific formats. In general programmes, students receive a solid grounding in three or four subjects in their first year, before dropping to two or sometimes one subject for the remainder of the degree. In the case of specific Arts programmes, students are committed to one or two subjects from start to finish. General programmes are often a better choice for students, as they offer much greater flexibility. The points requirement for Arts courses dropped in many colleges in 2006 to around the 350 mark, with a smaller requirement (250 points) sufficient for enrolling in some private colleges.