Lecture by Rosemary Feal (MLA Executive Director): "Humanities Required?"
252
Speaker(s): Rosemary Feal (MLA Executive Director)
In this talk, Rosemary Feal starts with the question "Are the humanities required?" by presenting the results of a recent MLA project on college language requirements. She then reviews trends in humanities study in higher education, reflects on federal and state support for language and literary studies, and analyzes the cultural moment in which higher education is situated today. More than ever, the United States needs educated people proficient in the humanities, but the path to acquire advanced competence in language and literary studies has significant obstacles in it. Feal will describe those obstacles and point to some new directions.
The Humanities Education Focal Group explores issues concerning teaching and learning in the humanities, including research on student learning, innovation in pedagogy, the role of new technologies in humanities instruction, and professional issues for humanities teachers at all educational levels.