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Synopses & Reviews
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outsourced, and specific vocational knowledge is often outdated within a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.
Review
"Brilliantly and provocatively argues that the university is much more than a vocational school. The flight from the liberal arts is leaving us impoverished. Zakaria's book couldn't have come at a more valuable moment." The New York Times
Synopsis
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.
Synopsis
CNN host and best-selling author Fareed Zakaria argues for a renewed commitment to the world's most valuable educational tradition.
About the Author
Fareed Zakaria has been called "the most influential foreign policy adviser of his generation" (Esquire). He is the Emmy-nominated host of CNN's Fareed Zakaria GPS, contributing editor for The Atlantic, a columnist for the Washington Post, and the best-selling author of The Post-American World and The Future of Freedom. He lives in New York City.