The Australian Government has decided that in the near future, degrees in the humanities at university will be vastly more expensive, whilst science and maths (and so forth) will become a lot cheaper. I have no truck with the latter, since we need people skilled in these areas in a modern economy. But the former is an outrage, revealing the deeply philistine nature of the Federal Government.

Considering that the Arts includes subjects such as History, English Literature, Classical Studies, Philosophy, Political Science, Archaeology, Linguistics, Foreign languages etc, this is a mighty blow to the ambitions any society claiming to be a champion of Western modernity. I know that there has been concern at the influence of Postmodern ideas on tertiary curricula, and I share some of those concerns. However, much of the criticism is based on a poor understanding of postmodern thinkers and it seems likely that the fever will abate anyway.

The Humanities is critical to an understanding of ourselves, both as individuals and as members of a society. This blog is a testament to the abiding influence of ideas and writings that explain how we got to this place. There is already a radical forgetting of what is worth filling your mind with, if popular culture is anything to go by. Taking away the skills and habits that allow people to think critically will weaken this country and leave us open to charlatans of all stripes.

Both my undergraduate and postgraduate degrees came at important moments in my life and gave me the skills and motivation to learn more. I would be loath to kick that ladder of opportunity away from anyone, though it seems that there are those who cannot wait to do so.