The liberal arts are under attack. The governors of Florida, Texas, and
North Carolina have all pledged that they will not spend taxpayer money
subsidizing the liberal arts, and they seem to have an unlikely ally in
President Obama. While at a General Electric plant in early 2014, Obama
remarked, I promise you, folks can make a lot more, potentially, with
skilled manufacturing or the trades than they might with an art history
degree. These messages are hitting home: majors like English and
history, once very popular and highly respected, are in steep decline.
I get it, writes Fareed Zakaria, recalling the atmosphere in India where
he grew up, which was even more obsessed with getting a skills-based
education. However, the CNN host and best-selling author explains why
this widely held view is mistaken and shortsighted.
Zakaria eloquently expounds on the virtues of a liberal arts
education--how to write clearly, how to express yourself convincingly,
and how to think analytically. He turns our leaders' vocational argument
on its head. American routine manufacturing jobs continue to get
automated or outsourced, and specific vocational knowledge is often
outdated within a few years. Engineering is a great profession, but key
value-added skills you will also need are creativity, lateral thinking,
design, communication, storytelling, and, more than anything, the
ability to continually learn and enjoy learning--precisely the gifts of
a liberal education.
Zakaria argues that technology is transforming education, opening up
access to the best courses and classes in a vast variety of subjects for
millions around the world. We are at the dawn of the greatest expansion
of the idea of a liberal education in human history.
