Material Girl | If science saves our bodies, the humanities save our souls

But the times, they were a-changin'.

In the summer of 1991, I moved off a Southern Riverina sheep farm to study a Bachelor of Arts - Communications at far-flung, newly-formed Charles Sturt University - Bathurst campus.

And if Bathurst seemed out of the way, the university gym was positively remote.

It was known as Siberia for both its placement on the campus and the minuscule mercury level within.

Fear not! Arts students knew better to stay away.

As my LinkedIn profile will attest, I focused on other extracurricular activities instead: O Week Leader, Film Appreciation, Wine and Cheese Appreciation, Bathurst 1000 Appreciation (sold T-shirts to over-appreciative motor enthusiasts on Mount Panorama).

IN OTHER CORONAVIRUS NEWS:

The latter aside, I naturally gravitated to hospitality and the arts within the university community.

It was the stuff that fed both your body and soul. (As part of my tertiary education I also learnt that Tooheys Dry quenched your thirst! Up until that point I didn't even know that Tooheys was actually a thing and had assumed that all Australian beer was bland like VB!!)

Sadly, the hospitality sector and the arts have been savaged at home and abroad during the coronavirus crisis.

Now the arts is ready to take another hit as the federal government works its way out of a recession.

The government has announced an overhaul of the university fee system, slashing the price of courses it says are more likely to result in a job and raising fees for courses in the humanities.

The changes will mainly apply to future students, with no students studying now to pay any extra fees for their whole degree. However, students now enrolled in a course that will get cheaper, will pay less from next year.

Twitter has been abuzz for days with arts graduates expertly - and poetically - sticking up for the humanities #MyArtsDegree.

@vanbadham: I studied dramaturgy, literature, communications, history and politics within my beloved arts degree, all of which have proved somewhat more than useful in a career that demands relentless analysis of politicians and ideology. Is that the problem, maybe?

@MichaelWestBiz: #MyArtsDegree was in history and languages. Now running a growing digital media business exposing corruption in government and big business ... and stupidity.

@Tom_Swann: My philosophy degree taught me how to learn quickly, criticise an argument and pull apart bullshit. It has been extremely "job relevant", thank you very much.

@JaneCaro: I studied for #MyArtsDegree at Macquarie University in the late 70s. I have since published 12 books, including 3 novels & won a Walkley. My Eng Lit major taught me empathy & the value of words. It taught me to think critically & read widely. Gifts beyond price.

I studied history, economics, literature and linguistics as part of my BA - Communications degree in the early 1990s. (You'd be surprised how often Noam Chomsky comes up in conversation!)

With universities likely to struggle for years to make up the astronomical losses from the COVID-19 pandemic, no one expects a free education.

But doubling the cost of an arts degree cannot amount to good policy.

Doctors, nurses, teachers and farmers have been invaluable in this pandemic but not everyone is cut out for those roles, no matter the fee incentive. Given that arts degrees lead to myriad careers, the government doesn't even know what future jobs it's risking by pricing people out.

No doubt the scientists do keep us alive but the artists give us something to live for.

We simply need both.

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