Only Humanities Education Will Save Us from Extinction

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to show how the humanities offer a solid support to understand and face social and personal decisions as well, especially looking at Chile although, we know, these situations are not only local. Also, to provide suggestions of help, in education, through the humanities, so that future citizens escape the disastrous results of the studies of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) which indicate that a large number of Chileans (53% of adults, but 84% of the country) do not understand what they read, becoming functional illiterates, moving away from the understanding of their social, cultural and historical environment. The above reinforces the idea of a country that can be had. This situation, which has occurred systematically, for different reasons, is what has led, for decades, to a situation of abuse, on the one hand, and weariness and anger in a large part of society, on the other. This is neither new nor local; on the contrary, social discontent has been occurring in different countries for at least thirty years.