Dear Readers,
In an educational environment where test prep is the norm and humanities classes are sidelined in favor of promoting math and science, those of us who teach or promote literature, history, philosophy, and the myriad other humanities-based subjects are facing a real crisis of relevancy. The humanities have been widely relegated to elective status, and our students at times have difficulty finding “real world” applications for the critical thinking and writing skills we promote in our classes. This struggle for significance is understandable, however, as students largely write in an intellectual vacuum, where the only audience is their teacher and the only purpose is to earn a grade. Dialogue Humanities Review, our new online scholarly journal for middle and high school students, seeks to change all this.
Developing Dialogue Humanities Review over the past two years has been a labor of love, but it has proven to be worth the struggle. Our goal is to give students a forum to display and discuss their best humanities-focused essays, and the ten authors in our inaugural publication have taken a big step towards establishing the kind of dialogue we’re hoping to foster. If students discover that engaging, enthusiastic discussions about fields of study that have been deemed too subjective or “untestable” are not only possible, but are also down right fun, perhaps we will see a renewed interest in the humanities-based topics that we as educators are most passionate about.
It is with great pleasure that we present the inaugural issue of Dialogue Humanities Review. We hope that you read it with enthusiasm, and join us in celebrating the scholarly endeavors of these excellent young writers.
Sincerely,
Jessica Rafferty