I wrote a few notes to introduce the rector of Humanitas College, where I am currently employed. Professor Doh Jung-il is a remarkable figure embodying the drive of the intelllectual to be engaged, and critical, in today’s society.
Professor Doh Jung-il, Founding Rector
Humanitas College, Kyung Hee University
Professor Doh Jung-il has emerged as one of the central public intellectuals arguing for the need for a new public sphere that is far broader than the classroom and intellectuals who are not afraid to address honestly the issues of our time. He has devoted his efforts to forming broad coalitions to support engagement in learning and volunteerism.
Professor Doh founded in 2001 the NGO “Citizen Action for a Reading Culture” an organization that has engaged a broad range of stakeholders to promote reading as an essential part of society, starting with small libraries in rural towns. He has worked tirelessly to encourage children, and adults, to read and write as a means of living fuller lives understanding our society. After years of work, the movement has finally received government funding and is having broad impact.
A graduate of Kyung Hee University with a Ph.D. in English literature from the University of Hawaii, Professor Doh has distinguished himself through the breadth of his activities, from literary criticism, to science and technology, education policy and the role of the intellectual in society. Professor Doh’s most recent project is the Humanitas College at Kyung Hee University. Humanitas College is a bold experiment in liberal arts education in an Asian context that stresses the marriage of study, artistic expression and social responsibility. Eschewing traditional academic departments and making public service and artistic expression a part of the curriculum, Humanitas College promises a new model for a humanistic education appropriate to the challenges of our age that optimistically holds that young people, through their engagement in the world of ideas, can create a new culture for a better future.
Short quote from a recent interview with Professor Do:
“When I look at the young people today, I see them as a generation wearing a gag, a generation in chains heavier than they can bear. We speak of ‘youth’ as something that should be a license for happiness and freedom, but in fact we find that unhappily for young people today the situation is such they find it difficult to articulate some dream or ambition, regardless of what we hear around us daily about “dreams.” Previously, although there were obviously some difficulties in the lives of students, within the limited sphere of the university it was possible to pass one’s time without too much worry. But now as soon as you leave school there is nowhere to go. The high walls to stop your advancement are there on every front. Breaking through is no small feat. I am now an old man from a previous generation, but I feel this state is of the greatest concern. The issue for all of us is, “How can we create a society that allows our youth to do what they would like to without such difficulty?” Creating such a reasonable society together is partially the responsibility of previous generations, but it is also the challenge with which our youth must engage.”
Emanuel Pastreich
July 18, 2011