In defense of a liberal education
"CNN host and best-selling author Fareed Zakaria argues for a renewed commitment to the world's most valuable educational tradition. 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 t...
| Main Author: | Zakaria, Fareed (Author) |
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| Format: | Books Print Book |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
New York, NY :
W.W. Norton & Company,
[2015]
|
| Edition: | First edition. |
| Subjects: |
| Summary: |
"CNN host and best-selling author Fareed Zakaria argues for a renewed commitment to the world's most valuable educational tradition. 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American routine manufacturing jobs continue to get automated or outsourced, and specific vocational knowledge is often outdated within a few years.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." -- From publisher's website. |
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| Physical Description: |
204 pages ; 22 cm |
| Bibliography: |
Includes bibliographical references. |
| ISBN: |
9780393247688 (hbk.) 0393247686 (hbk.) |
| Author Notes: |
He was the managing editor of Foreign Affairs before becoming the editor of Newsweek International in 2000. He writes a weekly foreign affairs column in the publication and also has a weekly show on CNN called Fareed Zakaria GPS. Prior to that he worked as a news analyst from 2002 to 2007 on ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos and hosted the weekly show Foreign Exchange with Fareed Zakaria on PBS. He is the author of several books including The Future of Freedom, The Post-American World, and In Defense of a Liberal Education. (Bowker Author Biography) |