Lecturer sparks ire after branding arts ‘easy’
Subject snobbery was on display at the University of Canterbury recently when a lecturer’s teaching slide claimed: ‘‘If engineering was easy, they’d call it arts instead.’’
Luke Goode, associate professor in media and communication at the University of Auckland, tweeted a photo of the slide on Wednesday, saying: ‘‘Dear Canterbury Uni NZ Arts colleagues: apparently this is how your Engineering colleagues think it’s appropriate to talk about you and your students to their new students.’’
A university spokesperson said the lecturer’s comment was ‘‘lighthearted’’ and intended to ‘‘reinforce the point that students would have to work hard’’. Privately, the university is understood to be taking the matter seriously and had discussed it with College of Engineering staff.
Deans of the college did not respond to requests for comment. A joint statement released by College of Engingeering pro-vice chancellor professor Jan EvansFreeman and her College of Arts contemporary professor Jonathan Le Cocq apologised for the comment. They said the slide, taken out of context ‘‘fosters a misconception about the value of our disciplines and the relationship between them’’.
‘‘Everyone recognises that the humanities and social sciences are important in engineering as we move into 5G communication and towards artificial intelligence.’’
Several University of Canterbury students said it was common for lecturers and students of all discipli
Goode said the slide was no doubt intended as harmless banter, but it still reflected the antiintellectualism and ‘‘ideological war on critical thinking’’ rife in New Zealand.
Some thought Goode had overreacted – ‘‘Why would you be offended by this?’’ one tweet read – while others agreed with him, arguing art was vital to society.
‘‘Total props to both fields, just different applications is all ... both fields are vital to society,’’ one person tweeted.
Another said: ‘‘We need to stop as much of the inter-disciplinary scorn as possible.’’
Goode said New Zealand society valued science subjects higher than non-science subjects.
‘‘I’m sorry if any person or institution felt singled out for criticism. It was just an example of a much wider problem of the way non-science subjects are devalued in our society.
‘‘The arts include diverse subjects across the humanities, social sciences and languages. But the controversy revealed how widely the arts is misunderstood as just the study of art.’’
He said it was dispiriting to see prejudice being encouraged among students.
‘‘Unfortunately the tweet generated much futile bickering about which academic subjects are ‘harder’ and which students are ‘smarter’.
‘‘The real issue I was trying to raise was the importance of mutual respect for the different skills and contributions of all subjects.
‘‘Dialogue and collaboration across disciplines is vital for creating a smarter society. As academics, myself included, we should all be working harder to facilitate that.’’
A student who was present in the lecture theatre, but asked to remain anonymous, said the lecturer had made it clear the slide was a joke.
‘‘It was said very much in jest, and as a nod to the friendly rivalry between the different disciplines ... [he said] he would not have been able to pass a BA as easily as he passed engineering.
‘‘The whole scenario has been blown way out of proportion and no-one’s to blame – this sort of thing is said all the time, by many different students, lecturers and staff, of many different degrees, about many other degrees.’’
Wellington man Mike Campbell studied both engineering and the arts at the University of Canterbury in the 1980s, and said the combination of the two helped him land a high-paying job in the civil service.
‘‘I’m on an extremely good salary [$110,000+], and back when I got the job, one of the things they told me after the interview was that the fact I had a history degree – a background outside of engineering – was actually the deciding factor,’’ he said.
‘‘I don’t think society would be wise to get rid of either of them. I wouldn’t say one is more important than the other.’’