The War on Education
Several states are defunding university humanities and social science programs. They want to convert higher education into factories producing cogs for businesses and industries owned by the state’s wealthy overseers.
If you have a shred of gumption, resist them. Universities are not handmaidens of the rich. They should serve the public, especially students
Education is more than mastery of narrow skills preparing students for a single career. A sound liberal education prepares students for life and work. Here are elements of that education:
- History helps us see who and what we are, to see how when, and where we collectively advanced. . . and declined.
- Philosophy encourages curiosity, broadens mental horizons, and bolsters our ability to critically assess competing ideas.
- Literature expands vocabularies, enhances understanding, and heightens imagination. Often it inspires us.
- Art widens our perspectives.
In these ways a sound liberal education prepares citizens to be free, imaginative, incisive, inclusive, empathetic, and productive.
Grads with this broad background are more likely to be respectful, efficient, and responsive physicians, attorneys, journalists, bookkeepers and counsellors. Their knowledge and skills empower them to contribute to their respective communities and to make informed choices.
These are features the right-wing loathes. They want us to ignore our histories and squelch critical thinking less we see through their lies and ignorance. They abhor free citizens who understand life is more than financial security or bowing to the rich.
Corralling the impulses of free citizens is the hallmark of autocratically inclined politicians. They lack any compunction about lying. Indeed, that is how they gained and maintain control of us. We must expose them and their lies; we must educate citizens to see, think, understand, and criticize. A quality liberal education will not make students our clones. It will help them choose and improve. It will set them free. That is no mean feat.