Chantelle Single

Why Arts and Humanities matter

To learn about life and to grow as an individual we need Art and Humanities to enlighten

us with information so that we can think and understand the readings with deeper

importance. Through the studies of arts and humanities we learn to consider the larger arguments

of life and the bigger side of set arguments. Therefore, it educates us to better ourselves and to

make the world a better place. Through this we learn the importance of diverse cultures, as well

as how to understand their arts.

Understanding the history and concepts behind a work of art and humanities is crucial to

comprehending the artwork itself. Like we have learnt through Clement Greenberg article that

there is such a thing as high and low work. Another of the reasons why art and humanities are

important is that they have practical applications in our daily lives. Through some of the readings

and debates we had in class, as a potential educator, I can clearly realize how much of an impact

John Dewy has had on education over time. As Davenport said, the greatest approach to

challenge oneself is to develop relevant philosophical questions for discussion with peers to

think analytically and think differently. Helps us to understand who we are as people, our

identities, and how we attain our life goals. Davenport also said that we take reading for granted

and should read and ask ourselves what it is that the author wants us to know. Humanities help

people to create their own unique ways of self-expression and are expressions of our humanity's

deepest longings. Humanities develop adaptable minds that can reason through ambiguity and

produce novel solutions.

 In some ways, it aids us in discovering and comprehending the world we live in today.

John Burroughs brings to our attention the fact that we do not take a mint to just look and

appreciate all the things that are around us. We are so busy with our daily lives that it is

sometimes to hart to appreciate everything. We must establish our own opinions and meanings to

comprehend the meaning of art and humanities, rather than simply agreeing with someone else's.

Humanities are important in promoting social justice and equality. To teach us to be suspicious

of evidence and to consider both sides of an issue. The purpose of the humanities is to produce

competent citizens. We need the skills we develop in humanities to be able to think critically

about political issues and debate the country.

Humanities help us understand others better through history, culture, and languages. We

travel to find piece withing ourselves and to take time off from our life, yet when we do travel

like Pico Tyer mentions we do so that we can experience things of unfamiliar cultures. We do

not always have to physically travel to understand other cultures, we can do this trough books,

movies, and art. We as humans are not only able to find some part of ourselves when we travel

physically to another country, state, or even another city, but with our own minds. In James

Baldwins article about Paris, he makes light of a very traumatic experience, but he does this to

help us focused on thinking about identity and racism. Through the readings we have done

during this class we can see that Humanities aids in the preservation of many achievements.

When reading or receiving this information through readings we learn how to deal with this

information logically and critically. It assists us in dealing with day-to-day issues and brings us

closer together by extending our perspectives on life and society.

 Art and humanities are important to develop one's critical thinking. Humanities broaden

our understanding of human cultures and help us grasp what brings us together and what sets us

apart. When life throws you curveballs and surprises, remember what the humanities and arts

have taught you to help you be stronger and make better decisions. Learn how to get out of your

own mind and think about what the author wants you to know or think about. Humanities aid in

the resolution of major unanswered questions. I ’ve learnt a lot about myself and my own

thoughts about things because of the reading in our class. One of the things I learnt was to read

and comprehend things in a way that I have never been able to do previously. Davenport helped

me to look at reading differently because we take reading for granted. Reading gives time to

escape our mind, through reading we learn things about others and learn from others. When

reading to find different sides, we tend to think delectable and dynamically about things,

therefore reading is also a way for us to escape owe own mind and thoughts.