Claims Alan Bloom's "Closing of the American Mind" and E.D. Hirsch's "Cultural Literacy" lead readers to believe that young Americans are extraordinarily stupid and that in their ignorance we can read the decline and fall of the American way of life. Presents support which resists rather than foments such panic. (NH)

Discusses how the study of the humanities may help to stem the growing illiteracy in all the professions. (DD)

Describes the political dynamics, hierarchy, and rituals of a typical college humanities department. Proposes reorganizing this academic structure, replacing the "humanities" with a philosophy of liberal education. (MM)

Cites the growing influence of new technologies as a major force in the rise of a cultural studies that tends to marginalize literature. Contends that reading must be distinguished from theory and that genuine acts of reading disable or disqualify the theory that may have been the motivating presupposition of the reader. (PA)

Discusses various theories of literary criticism and recommends that critics take their work seriously. (AEA)

Discusses the state of humanities instruction in community colleges and offers suggestions for ways to bolster that curriculum form. (FL)

Notes that in English and the other humanities, good grantsmanship has its source in project directors and participants who are as devoted to ideas presented in novel formats as they are to instruction in conventional settings. (FL)

Argues that students should be encouraged to want to know more than is necessary merely to accumulate credit hours, pass tests, and hold jobs. Discusses how St. Petersburg Junior College has reworked its curriculum to emphasize the humanities. (SRT)

Claims poststructuralism offers vocabularies and arguments that might help administrators analyze academic practices. Argues the theory (1) offers a critique of faith in immutable truths that is usefully remembered in practicing administration; (2) provides an important reminder of the waywardness of language; and (3) is useful in its…

Lists the qualities that instruction in the humanities contributes to effective business managers and recommends that businesses broaden their hiring practices to include humanities majors. (AEA)

Discusses the effects of the computer and telecommunications revolution on the humanities and compares the modes of conception and analysis that are inherent in the computer and in the humanities. (AEA)

Discusses the state of the humanities in the two-year college. (FL)

Contends that academia needs to move beyond separate departments and disciplines as they have been understood over the past century. Advocates facing up to the gravity of the environmental situation, looking for a sustainable vision that will unite individuals in a community effort, and seeking literary insights into the problem. (PA)

Describes a conference entitled Teaching for the Public Good: The Future of the Humanities in Public Higher Education. Considers what effect the humanities can and should have on public higher education now. Outlines the objectives of the conference. Discusses what is meant by public education. Considers the responsibility of humanities educators…