Gutting the humanities imperils democracy and human rights

I find the analysis of the article to be weak. assuming the tilt towards authoritarianism correlates with decline in humanities subjects does not imply causation - even if there had been no shift towards STEM, factors like economic decline night have still been factors. [cf "Its the economy...."] critical analysis and creative thinking are central planks of all STEM disciplines, it is surprising that the author appears to be unaware of this. "soft skills" including topics such as communication, team-work, ethics and professional development are also covered. If the behaviour of graduate does not reflect the author's preferences perhaps the problem lies elsewhere. Attempting to force students to ingest material they are not interested in brings to mind an old adage about horses, water and drinking. And students have choices if on e institution tries to do such a thing the students can and will opt for alternatives.

The populist return and dominance via a combination authoritarianism, nationalism, austerity, isolationism, and neoliberalism appears to have trapped universities, academics and students. They are caught in a situation where everyone is forced to operate in an environment which contravenes the critical findings of critical scholarship across disciplines. Students will opt en masse for degrees that will pay of their debts, and will tend to defer to authority until this is achieved. Humanities' nuances on such behaviours will be lost. This does not represent a real choice for students. Without a vibrant humanities I don't see much of a future for universities outside on an 'industrial strategy', which might suit neoliberals but undermines the integrity of scholarship. The consequences for the country are now becoming clearer too.

The Humanities deficit is worrying. Part of the problem, in my view and based on experience of UK is that there isn't much of a defence of humanities mounted by universities, UUK, funding agencies (although British Academy does do a good job with its SHAPE initiative) in terms of why they are important other than offer instrumental based justifications (training graduates for employment, skills etc). I would like to see these sector leaders make a compelling, confident, and robust public defence of why humanities are important in today's world, the British Academy shows it can be done.