The humanities remain essential to any genuine education not because they directly address the question of the being of the world (this is the work of science), but because they are faithful to the question of what is other that "what is."  Religion, art, fiction, music, film, theater, poetry, etc., are all essential because they protest the vanity of the world and aim to induce the birth of the new.

Adam S. Miller, Rube Goldberg Machines, pg. 110

If one of our Elders is capable of giving us a lecture upon any of the sciences, let it be delivered in the spirit of meekness--in the spirit of the holy Gospel.  If, on the Sabbath day, when we are assembled here to worship the Lord, one of the Elders should be prompted to give us a lecture on any branch of education with which he is acquainted, is it outside the pale of our religion?  I think not...Or if an Elder shall give us a lecture upon astronomy, chemistry, or geology, our religion embraces it all.  It matters not what hte subject be, if it tends to improve the mind, exalt the feelings, and enlarge the capacity.  The truth that is in all the arts and sciences forms a part of our religion.

-Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses (1:334)

The years of college may be compared to a motor trip across a large continent.  While "riding" the student gets a sample of the land's extremes in temperature and elevation, the differences in its soil and vegetation; and with each mile traveled he gets an idea of its immensity; but he doesn't see and feel everything.

But even if he misses many of the details along the highway itself, hemay consider the journey a success if he has obtained an idea of the continent's worth-while features, if he knows what areas he would like to explore later, a nd perhaps the particular place where he would like to make his home.  It is not a success if he thinks, when the trip is over, that he knows the country; or if he takes a side road and spends so much time exploring that he can't finish the big trip.  Nor is it a success if he drives so fast that he meets no people, sees nothing but gray pavement and the cars he passes, and gets an over-simple picture of what the country is like. 

-Lowell L. Bennion, Religion and the Pursuit of Truth (pg. 6)