Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

In Defense of the Liberal Arts
Townhall.com ^ | December 16, 2010 | Victor Davis Hanson

Posted on 12/16/2010 4:52:16 AM PST by Kaslin

The liberal arts face a perfect storm. The economy is struggling with obscenely high unemployment and is mired in massive federal and state deficits. Budget-cutting won't spare education.

The public is already angry over fraud, waste and incompetence in our schools and universities. And in these tough times, taxpayers rightly question everything about traditional education -- from teacher unions and faculty tenure to the secrecy of university admissions policies and which courses really need to be taught.

Opportunistic private trade schools have sprouted in every community, offering online certification in practical skills without the frills and costs of so-called liberal arts "electives."

In response to these challenges, the therapeutic academic Left proved often incapable of defending the traditional liberal arts. After three decades of defining the study of literature and history as too often a melodrama of race, class and gender oppression, it managed to turn off much of the college audience and the general reading public. And cheek by jowl, the utilitarian Right succeeded in reclassifying business and finance not just as undergraduate university majors, but also core elements in general education requirements.

In such a climate, it is natural that once again we are hearing talk of cutting the "non-essentials" in our colleges such as Latin, Renaissance history, Shakespeare, Plato, Rembrandt and Chopin. Why do we cling to the arts and humanities in a high-tech world in which we have instant recall at our fingertips through a Google search and such studies do not guarantee sure 21st-century careers?

But the liberal arts train students to write, think and argue inductively, while drawing upon evidence from a shared body of knowledge. Without that foundation, it is harder to make -- or demand from others -- logical, informed decisions about managing our supercharged society as it speeds on by.

Citizens -- shocked and awed by technological change -- become overwhelmed by the Internet, cable news, talk radio, video games and popular culture of the moment. Without links to our past heritage, we in ignorance begin to think our own modern challenges -- the war in Afghanistan, gay marriage, cloning or massive deficits -- are unique and don't raise issues comparable to those dealt with and solved in the past.

And without citizens broadly informed by humanities, we descend into a pyramidal society. A tiny technocratic elite on top crafts everything from cell phones and search engines to foreign policy and economic strategy. A growing mass below lacks understanding of the present complexity and the basic skills to question what they are told.

During the 1960s and 1970s, committed liberals thought we could short-circuit the process of liberal education by creating advocacy classes with the suffix "studies." Black studies, Chicano studies, community studies, environmental studies, leisure studies, peace studies, woman's studies and hundreds more were designed to turn out more socially responsible youths. Instead, universities too often graduated zealous advocates who lacked the broadly educated means to achieve their predetermined politicized ends.

On the other hand, pragmatists argued that our future CEOs needed to learn spread sheets at 20 rather than why Homer's Achilles does not receive the honors he deserved, or how civilization was lost in fifth-century Rome and 1930s Germany. Yet Latin or a course in rhetoric might better teach a would-be captain of industry how to dazzle his audience than a class in Microsoft PowerPoint.

The more instantaneous our technology, the more we are losing the ability to communicate with it. Twitter and text-messaging result in an economy of expression, not in clarity or beauty. Millions are becoming premodern -- communicating in electronic grunts that substitute for the ability to express themselves effectively and with dignity. Indeed, by inventing new abbreviations and linguistic shortcuts, we are losing a shared written language altogether, much like the fragmentation of Latin as the Roman Empire imploded into tribal provinces. No wonder the public is drawn to stories like "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Chronicles of Narnia" in which characters speak beautifully and believe in age-old values that transcend themselves.

Life is not just acquisition and consumption. Engaging English prose uplifts the spirit in a way Twittering cannot. The latest anti-Christ video shown at the National Portrait Gallery by the Smithsonian will fade when the Delphic Charioteer or Michelangelo's David does not. Appreciation of the history of great art and music fortifies the soul, and recognizes beauty that does not fade with the passing fad.

America has lots of problems. A population immersed in and informed by literature, history, art and music is not one of them.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: vdh; victordavishanson
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-66 next last
To: Redleg Duke

Most fast food employees can barely speak English much less talk about the Humanities.


41 posted on 12/16/2010 7:09:12 AM PST by Borges
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin
The daughter of a friend of mine has a PhD in philosophy. She works as a veterinary assistant.
42 posted on 12/16/2010 7:15:03 AM PST by Excellence (Buy Progresso, take off the label, write "not halal," mail to Campbell's soup company.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

The Liberal Arts were never intended to be vocational training.


43 posted on 12/16/2010 7:22:08 AM PST by Oratam
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mad_as_he$$

Folks who get a real Liberal Arts degree with all it entails are ready to tackle most anything. They have learned to think and to reflect and have the context and the data to think productively. They can go from a real Liberal Arts school to any technical school or business school for an advanced degree and will be way ahead of their State U classmates. That said, there are very few Liberal Arts degrees that are worth the time to keypunch them in. A school that promotes Great Books curricula is a better shot than most but even with that, one must familiarize oneself with what the school actually offers before one commits.


44 posted on 12/16/2010 7:51:12 AM PST by arthurus (Read Hazlitt's "Economics In One Lesson.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Apple Pan Dowdy; All

Many of you missed my point with my original post. I have a liberal arts degree. I also teach high school Latin.

I forgot the /sarc tag.:)


45 posted on 12/16/2010 8:14:01 AM PST by shag377 (Illegitimis nil carborundum sunt!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies]

To: rarestia
Um, wrong. You're omitting a word that was in your original comment. Here, I'll help:

Hard science and math degrees only mean you can manipulate numbers.

ONLY manipulating numbers doesn't imply problem solving. There isn't a good engineering school in the country that you can get through by "ONLY" manipulating numbers. Ditto science.

46 posted on 12/16/2010 8:41:24 AM PST by piytar (0's idea of power: the capacity to inflict unlimited pain and suffering on another human being. 1984)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 40 | View Replies]

To: piytar

...to solve problems.


47 posted on 12/16/2010 8:42:38 AM PST by rarestia (It's time to water the Tree of Liberty.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies]

To: rarestia

To elaborate: Problem solving involves a LOT more than manipulating the numbers. It involves identifying the real problem to be solved - often quite different from what the person assigning the matter thinks it is - determining what factors are important, quantifying them, then yes manipulating the numbers, then implementing a solution in line with those numbers.

Would that our politicians took such an approach!


48 posted on 12/16/2010 8:47:51 AM PST by piytar (0's idea of power: the capacity to inflict unlimited pain and suffering on another human being. 1984)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 40 | View Replies]

To: piytar

I’m an engineer. I understand your point.

I’m embarrassed that one little adverb got in the way of my point.


49 posted on 12/16/2010 8:49:51 AM PST by rarestia (It's time to water the Tree of Liberty.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 48 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Liberal Arts should be a part of the overall education, not the whole.


50 posted on 12/16/2010 8:50:47 AM PST by dfwgator (Welcome to the Gator Nation Will Muschamp)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mad_as_he$$; shag377
The author disregards the economics of the higher education liberal arts degree. Is it worth incurring overwhelming student loan debt to study this field...especially given the state of our economy and job market?

The coffee server will likely spend many, many years paying down that debt....

51 posted on 12/16/2010 9:00:53 AM PST by stainlessbanner
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: stainlessbanner

True. I do not know if she will ever be able to.


52 posted on 12/16/2010 9:06:46 AM PST by mad_as_he$$ (V for Vendetta.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 51 | View Replies]

To: mad_as_he$$
Sad but true. I have never understood the hard Liberal arts Degree. A guy I work with has a daughter that has a PhD in “Early European Lit” - working at Starbucks - seriously. with $100,000 in school debt.

The liberal arts curriculum was originally for the education of the children of the upper class. They didn't need to work, they needed to be able to conduct interesting conversation at parties. The purpose of a classic liberal arts is to prepare one for a life spent in talking to people and persuading them toward your point of view.

53 posted on 12/16/2010 9:33:32 AM PST by PapaBear3625 ("It is only when we've lost everything, that we are free to do anything" -- Fight Club)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: rarestia

Point taken.

I used to be an engineer. I’m now in an entirely different field involving business, negotiations, and writing.

I often see engineers denigrate liberal arts (as in real classical liberal arts, not leftist brainwashing liberal arts that deserve denigration IMHO). Things like “those fluff subjects have no use in the real world,” etc. The stories of how they blew off their GEC (General Education Requirement) classes and still blew the curve inevitably follow. Of course, many of these engineers couldn’t write about anything but their areas of expertise even if their lives depended on it. Also, even their writing in their areas of expertise often is barely comprehensible. So I do agree with your original point to some extent.

I likewise often see non-engineers denigrate engineers. Things like “all those engineers do is play with their toys and crunch numbers,” etc. Stories about how all engineers are one dimensional nerds inevitably follow. This from people who often cannot do anything beyond basic math or understand basic problem solving. Of course, just about everyting in the modern world wouldn’t exist without the input of engineers, but they don’t realize that. The reality is that without engineers, our nation is done. Over. Kaput. We’ll fall behind in all areas of tech, icluding but not limited to military tech and infrastructure. This is a real problem that we are really facing: Far too few college students have the skills to get through engineering, and even fewer can teach themselves engineering as you apparently have.

We need both types of people, and more people who understand BOTH sides of the equation. Unfortunately, engineering is often more left-brained while liberal arts is often more right-brained. Few people can be both, so getting people to understand the value of both is probably the best we can do for now.

That’s why I reacted the way I did: Took your first comment to be an example of denigrating engineers. Apparently that’s not what you meant, so as I said, point taken.


54 posted on 12/16/2010 10:17:29 AM PST by piytar (0's idea of power: the capacity to inflict unlimited pain and suffering on another human being. 1984)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 49 | View Replies]

To: piytar

Beautifully stated, piytar. I just wanted to make sure you knew that I was one of those rarities. I couldn’t have said what you said any better. I don’t denigrate engineers, I am one, but as an English grad student, I hear stories all the time about engineers who only know their work and can’t relate it to any other concepts or subsets of engineering or other business modalities. Education should be far more comprehensive than what is being taught in the ivory towers of the modern leftist university.


55 posted on 12/16/2010 10:22:12 AM PST by rarestia (It's time to water the Tree of Liberty.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 54 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin
...how civilization was lost in fifth-century Rome...

All the fault of Appius Claudius and the Decemvirs. Once the plebeians could read the Twelve Tables, it was downhill all the way. Unless he means the fifth century A.D.

56 posted on 12/16/2010 2:17:45 PM PST by Verginius Rufus
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin
But the liberal arts train students to write, think and argue inductively, while drawing upon evidence from a shared body of knowledge.

And revel in the accomplishments of a creative genius who presents a urine soaked crucifix as art. Bah Humbug! ^3

57 posted on 12/16/2010 2:33:44 PM PST by Don Corleone ("Oil the gun..eat the cannolis. Take it to the Mattress.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Houghton M.

I enjoyed reading your post 4.

At one time it was high school graduates who never learned the pleasure of reading books. Today many of the college graduates have joined that group. Sad.


58 posted on 12/16/2010 5:29:20 PM PST by OldPossum
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: IronJack
The concept of a university education was that it acquainted its bearer with the UNIVERSE of human ideas, not just a narrow sampling of trade crafts. In an increasingly illiterate society, we need MORE time in the arts and humanities, not less.

Iron Jack, there are a lot of Freepers on these college major threads that believe that if you don't have an engineering degree you have wasted your time in college. Their minds are firmly sealed to any arguments to the contrary. I personally don't like them, but we must be polite.

59 posted on 12/16/2010 5:35:40 PM PST by OldPossum
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: OldPossum

There are arguments both ways. Some of the ancillary courses required at universities today are either a complete waste of time or little more than leftist indoctrination. I don’t blame anyone for resenting such requirements.

However, the notion that universities should be trade schools is also abhorrent. If that’s the educational experience you’re after, there are vocational-technical schools that will give you what you want. But if you want a university degree, be prepared to learn outside your immediate sphere, across the landscape of human knowledge.


60 posted on 12/17/2010 5:25:41 AM PST by IronJack (=)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 59 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-66 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson