The Humanities and Educational Administration: Rationales and Recommendations

In recent years, concern has been expressed that emphasis upon scientific and technological progress may have resulted in the relative neglect of the humanities, both in societal culture generally and in preparation for positions of social leadership. At present, the role of the humanities in educational administration preparatory programs is, by and large, negligible. A review of the literature suggests that there are at least three rationales which would support the introduction of humanities content into such programs: (1) to generally “liberalize” the student through broad exposure to humanistic content; (2) to train the administrator in purpose definition and value sensitivity through focused reading of philosophy and literature; and (3) to develop creative capacities in the prospective leader through the study of literature and other arts. It is recommended that attempts should be made to incorporate humanities content into preparatory programs in educational administration, that initial efforts should stress the latter two of the three above rationales, and that the endeavor should be undertaken in a preparatory institution by a three‐man team consisting of a humanities scholar, a professor of educational administration, and a school administrator.