Laura Huerta Migus emphasizes the importance of the humanities to the government.
Just about every humanities student has heard the age-old question: “What are you going to do with a humanities degree?” Many people don’t understand the value of studying the humanities, but Laura Huerta Migus, deputy director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), believes that the humanities could be the answer to many societal problems going on today. Migus presented her lecture, “The Role of the Humanities in Civic Engagement and Democracy” at the Humanities Center Colloquium on February 1, 2024. In her lecture, Migus discussed how the IMLS views a humanities education as a way to strengthen the nation by creating an empowered electorate.
The IMLS is an independent executive branch agency and works as one of the biggest funders of libraries, archives, and museums. In Migus’s position, she works to make museums accessible to people across the country. In order to do so, she has studied how Americans feel about connecting with their communities and participating in government. The data she has uncovered has made her realize how essential a study of the humanities is in creating an engaged populace.
Every five years, the government issues the National Assessment of Educational Progress to students across the country. These assessments measure knowledge, intellectual and participatory skills, and civic dispositions. The knowledge section asks questions about politics and government, the establishment of our political system, and the roles of citizens in American democracy. The second section asks students to apply their knowledge to issues in civics by describing judicial processes or defending positions on public issues. The third section surveys students’ opinions on the importance of participating in their community government processes. In 2022, more than 30% of students scored below proficient, the highest percentage since the assessment came out in 1998.
One particular insight prompted Migus to consider the power that study in the humanities could have on decreasing the number of students scoring below proficient. She saw a “direct correlation between low civic learning level and low sense of self-efficacy and empowerment in being able to be an agent of change in their own lives and in their country.” When students don’t learn about effective ways to engage with their community, they don’t feel like they have the power to participate in government.
In September 2022, the White House issued an executive order that asked independent agencies such as the IMLS to increase their focus on promoting the arts, the humanities, and museum and library services. Migus expressed that the government made this a priority because through studying the humanities, “we learn how important a nuanced understanding of language, culture, values, and history are for crafting effective public policy, and perhaps more importantly, how a lack of attention to these nuances can result in ineffective and harmful policies.” Study in the humanities also introduces other important skills to students, including critical thinking, flexibility, and adaptability. The humanities allow us to think critically about the ideas and discourse we consume every day and encourage us to participate in our communities. Migus believes that increasing funding in and accessibility to the humanities will strengthen the nation by creating thinkers who are more willing to make a change in their communities.
Migus said, “One of the most important elements of a strong democracy is an educated and empowered electorate.” Since studying the humanities can improve a person’s ability to understand government policy, connect to others in the community, and realize their power to make a difference, then promoting the humanities can be one of the most important ways to educate and empower the American electorate.
Migus ended her lecture with an invitation: “I’d like to invite all of you—even as students, as scholars, as teachers, as educators—to see the work that you’re doing as part of a way of strengthening our thinking infrastructure because, more than anything, what is going to take us to the next wave is being a nation of thinkers.”
To see who’s presenting next at the Humanities Center Colloquium, click here.