Why We Need the Liberal Arts. John Agresto’s new book reminds us of an essential truth.

James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal ^ | June 9, 2023 | Wilfred McClay

[karpov]

John Agresto’s splendid new book, The Death of Learning, is not nearly as depressing as its title might lead one to expect. On the contrary, it is an exhilarating read and, in the end, I find it to be hopeful. There is something refreshing about hearing the truth being told plainly, even when that truth is dismal and the diagnosis dire. At least you know what’s wrong.

And there is something clarifying in the book’s utter frankness about all the things that have gone wrong, all that has been debased and lost, and the bitter irony that so much of the worst damage has been brought about by liberal education’s putative high priests and exemplars.

On the positive side, one cannot help but be moved by the book’s directness and clarity in advocating for what is precious and irreplaceable about such an education, and why we need to recover it. Although he has had extensive experience as a college and university president, Agresto does not concern himself with the minutiae of academic administration, digital learning, tutti quanti. Instead, he spends his time thinking about the highest aims of education, how we have fallen short of them, and how we can see them restored. Bravo to that.

Equally refreshing is a certain common-sense touch that runs through the book. Agresto is a learned man but also a thoroughgoing American democrat, born into a working-class immigrant family from Brooklyn, which did not place a high premium on reading and education. He had to acquire his learning by hard labor, a process that has left him immune to the snobbery and preciousness that sometimes undermine defenses of the liberal arts.

[Southside_Chicago_Republican]

Bookmark

[Eccl 10:2]

I’m fine with the concept, but the courses need to be truthful.

And, oh yeah, they need to change the name. Something like “Foundational Arts AND SCIENCES”.

[Westbrook]

Let’s start with Logic, Ethics, and Rhetoric before moving into History and Literature.

You can’t have a proper perspective on the latter two without first having a comprehensive understanding of the first three.

[goodnesswins]

“Agresto is a learned man but also a thoroughgoing American democrat, born into a working-class immigrant family from Brooklyn,”

Maybe he is trying to rout the current Dems (groomers) from their cult, but I have a hard time reading anything from someone in their cult.

[ClearCase_guy]

My undergrad degree is in history. I do love the liberals arts. I have a huge book collection (>5000 volumes) and I can hold my own in just about any conversation regarding cultural matters.

I firmly believe that college is a bad idea.

Slight clarification: Medicine and Engineering and whatnot might still benefit from college. But mostly, any decent job should depend strictly upon On The Job Training.

If you want culture, do it on your own time, in your own way. If you allow “professionals” to do it for you, it will quickly become indoctrination.

College today is a money-grubbing industry which damages young people and perpetuates an endless childhood. People should be independent and earning money at 18. 90% of colleges should be bulldozed. College is a bad idea.

[KarlInOhio]

The original 7 liberal arts were Grammar, Logic, Rhetoric, Arithmetic, Astronomy, Music and Geometry. They were the education needed for the free man, freedom being the original meaning of liberal as opposed to the modern slavery of leftism.

I did notice an awful lot of STEM in that list, which would make the modern liberal arts teacher cringe.

[GingisK]

We need those arts without the liberals.

[CoastWatcher]

We have gender studies; and with over 240 different genders there is no time to study anything else.