When I asked that question of my physics professor, he had this to say: If you go to a party and try to talk physics, the chances are that you will go home alone.
Or “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”
Oh! That is creepy! I just read this yesterday!
I recommend it.
The old Abbot and Costello joke comes to mind regarding current college “students”.
Abbot: Didn’t you go to school stupid?
Costello: Yea. And I came out the same way.
You may well be right about the first part, about not offering the education the author advocates. If you are right about the second part, that is unspeakably sad. The point of a liberal arts education was to make you a better person and citizen.
A healthy symbiosis between teacher and student demands curosity and discipline on the part of both.
A STEM education is essential for most jobs in 2023.
But if you know only STEM you will never be more than a worker drone. To be in management you need to understand people. History, literature, and art are essential for that.
I’ll bet not one “equity” or “gender” studies student will ask this question. And they should.
In many places the “liberal arts education” no longer exists. A corrupt clownish inferior version masquerades in its place.
Much of or a least a foundation of your “liberal arts education” should come from the “high school experience”. It does not for the same reason stated above.
I have been teaching Music Appreciation in college to nurses for at least a decade, and I was teaching a history of ethics to nurse wannabes for at least two decades before that.
It’s been my job to get them to believe two things: first, that Beethoven/Aristotle will help them be better nurses, and second, that Beethoven/Aristotle will help them to live fuller lives as educated beings. For the students that cared, this has been my calling. For the students that didn’t givadam, so be it, they were no worse off, and my bills got paid. It’s like the sower in the Lord’s parable.
The original seven liberal arts were the trivium - Grammar, Logic and Rhetoric - and the quadrivium - Geometry, Arithmetic, Astronomy and Music. Since then it seems like the math and science parts have been elbowed aside.
There’s tons of wisdom available. Every atheist should be tricked into reading the Bible just based on wisdom.
Hillsdale College.
“Liberal education is not about helping you sound impressive at snooty parties.“
But c’mon, it helps!
I graduated from William and Mary in 1977 with a degree in ‘physiology of Marine Science,’ essentially the best undergrad marine biology curriculum on the east coast. It was very heavy on cell physiology, pathways and systems and organic chemistry.
At the same time W&M REQUIRED all students to complete a “liberal education.” So courses in foreign language, literature, history and sociology were required to graduate.
It was a genuinely balanced college education.
Since then W&M has gone full Progressive/Woke and is no longer and educational institution worth considering.
Colleges are pricing themselves out of the market. I don’t blame students for asking why they need to pay for stuff they don’t value. Plus, wokeness has ruined the liberal arts anyway.
Yeah... I recall those days in high school and university where it was the same discussion... “how on earth is ____ relevant to my future life?” or “how will this help me to get a job in the field I want?”
I have a friend who went to high school in the 1960s.... a really bright dude who had great self-learning skills and he was always ahead of the teachers. In grade 9 high school, a ‘typing course’ was mandatory for anyone in the arts and science programs. As things unfolded, my friend became an independent computer specialist and as he often says, his grade 9 typing course became the most valuable thing he learned in high school.
Student: “I’m never going to need to use this math and physics stuff”
Teacher: “True, but the smart kids will”.
Nothing could be FARTHER from reality or reason
Movies are terrible these days because all the current writers know about are comic books and video games. They are literary imbeciles.
Today we have virtuous students graduating who are not educated to know their virtue is a sham.