The World Has Changed: A continuing series of Conversation snippet by Calvin Harris, H. W., M. that includes compelling conversations between colleagues, students, lovers and friends on significant educational, social, literary and cultural themes.

There will be installments from time to time, each conversation snippet represents a stage in Calvin’s artistic, educational, or spiritual worldview; they offer an unprecedented angle of vision on one Mentors teaching and Mentoring style. Be it on his personal philosophy on the importance of the Prosperos foundation; or to his work and writing viewed from being a mix raced male writer from Southern California writing on education,  race, gender, sex and activist; And the role of the civil rights movement in his work.

Journal entry – Monday Afternoon, 03 September 2018, In a Bar-B-Que  conversation with Sothern California Librarians and Singers from Long Beach, CA – First Congregational Church (UCC) –  came Calvin’s comment “Reading comes in layers: there’s the reading one does to understand the current crisis; To read to gain depth of context and understanding;  the reading for the sheer  pleasure of it; and then the reading for the soul.” Calvin Harris.

This 2018 Labor Day annual event is a gift to my soul. I treasure every hug, forehead or cheek kiss, nudge and outright push toward myself at a time when true listening and gratitude felt chaotic at other places. The words, thoughts, and discernment  coming from the participants of Tim and Carvers annual home event is something that I always cherish, that is not to say, that on some points, there would not be a correction, made in the form of a good-natured “bullshit” or a humorous  laugh uttered, but you knew you were heard and your words  were weight and evaluated using critical thinking. What a wonderful,  treasure and breath of fresh air these people are.

Social activism emerges as a major topic for this group often and the current theme for this night’s discussion was – “Where are we headed?” In relationship to Education in today’s climate.”

I love the fact that some type of historical backdrop in which to work from is always used. This time it was “The Great Recession” – as a starting point. Here, it seems is where interest in the humanities studies, the very ones that Thane the dean of the Prosperos felt where so important to his students, plummet out of favor for more ‘practical’ college studies. But today’s turmoil may have reawakened questions on what constitutes a Higher Education and at what cost. .

We have seen higher education costs soar. College becomes less affordable.  And worse students feeling impelled to emerge with a degree that leads to an immediate job  – preferably high-paying. Rather than leading to a contextual fully rounded person.

That means degrees of the past, in the humanities such as – English, philosophy, foreign languages, history, etc. – are out, in favor of Course studies, leading to access jobs in booming industries such as healthcare or gerontology as well as STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), which are seen as the ticket to financial stability and success.  Students have every right to pursue a passion to work in health care, STEM, or any other vocation that calls to them. The question is, are these Jobs their real passion?

Students can’t be blamed for wanting to be financially safe while making sure they’ll be able to pay off the years of student loan debt that many of them will carry off campus for a decade or more.

Something else that college students may have learned from, the lessons of the Great Recession of 2008.

Majoring in the humanities has fallen dramatically. History majors by 2017 were reported as little more than 1 percent of college students listed according to a Department of Education survey.

In response, a defense by history departments took form to point out why those with history degrees don’t do all that badly finding work at wages competitive with those with other degrees – and often in interesting positions beyond academia.

Occupational and technical job skills are likely to be the service jobs of the future and may need retooling.  Studies in the “thinking skills” as the humanities can last a lifetime.

Alice Taylor, who teaches medieval history at King’s College London reminds us that – “Historians are trained to treat what they read critically. This means not just reading, looking at or listening to a source – whether a newspaper report [or] a medieval charter … but questioning it,” Taylor,  goes on to say: “A history degree trains you to ask questions of your material: Where does it come from? Who wrote it, designed it, wanted it? Who paid for it and why? … In a world where fake news can influence elections, the methods of the historian – what history degrees train their students to acquire – are needed more than ever before.”

As Prosperos Students we know how important this is.  It seems others are starting to pay attention.  Yale University, the top major declared by members of the class of 2019 is history; that hasn’t happened for a generation.

The Christian Science Monitor’s Editorial Board on 04 September 2018 wrote “The trend lines in higher education seem clear – Why the sudden change? No one knows, but theories abound. With American culture in an uproar and political divisiveness rampant, students may be seeking a way to view events from a broader perspective. How did we get here? Have similar situations happened in the past? How did society deal with them then? … “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes,” the saying goes. Knowing what has happened before doesn’t provide all the answers, but it’s a start.”

Or as Winston Churchill, a historian who made so much history himself, put it: “The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see.”

As Prosperos we need to be aware that sometimes this long-range view is not just a valuable skill greatly needed by the upcoming generation, but by all citizens in all times.