The question is important for every country offering university education in this field, especially at a time when demand in humanities majors is in decline. In 2013, the American Academy of Arts & Sciences produced a 61-page report,  The Heart of the Matter, which aimed to identify critical actions needed to maintain excellence in humanities and social science. The report begins with a statement which brings us back to the basics of education.

Who will lead America into a bright future? Citizens who are educated in the broadest possible sense, so that they can participate in their own governance and engage with the world. […] The humanities remind us where we have been and help us envision where we are going, reads the report. In this context, Professor Chrysostomos Nikias, President of the University of Southern California, surprised everyone when, in 2010 and while holding faculty appointments in electrical engineering, proposed freshman seminars on ancient Athenian democracy and drama. Defending his proposition before the university’s scientific committee, Nikias said the seminar would be a valuable lesson for critical thinking. His idea was endorsed and is still active.

Accepting the honour of becoming an Emeritus Professor at the Technical University of Athens (his Alma mater) last May, Nikias stressed that “education should be much more than having data registered inside the brain”. In traditional education, freshmen are the chained people in Plato’s allegory of the Cave; they never look straight at the sun.