37 pages • 1 hour read
Fareed ZakariaIn Defense Of A Liberal Education
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2015A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Summary
Background
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Key Figures
Themes
Index of Terms
Important Quotes
Essay Topics
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BetaChapters 5-6Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 5 Summary
Western thinking promotes the idea that “knowledge is dangerous” (137), a non-existent concept in non-Western societies. Ancient and modern thinkers suggest that humans are inherently curious. Early agricultural societies pursued “practical” knowledge, while the Greeks first sought “to understand the world in an abstract sense,” giving rise to philosophy, the “love of wisdom” (139). Philosophy was science’s “precursor.” Philosophy deals with what humans do not yet fully comprehend or know, while science deals with what is known. The former produced the latter. Indeed, the ancients called scientific inquiry “natural philosophy.” Human curiosity and knowledge acquisition generate power that can be used to cause harm, but they have mostly contributed to the common good. For example, life expectancy has consistently risen since the turn of the 20th century thanks to scientific innovations.
The liberal arts have also contributed to the world’s betterment. For instance, civil and human rights movements have improved the lives of racial and ethnic minorities, women, and LGBTQ+ people. Abuses like enslavement and domestic violence are no longer broadly accepted because “of broad, humanistic ideas, the bedrock of a liberal education” (144). Economic policies across the globe no longer benefit an elite minority, and many of the world’s nations are democratic: “Governments have come to adopt best practices from the social sciences” (146). Societies that permit freedom, in contrast to those run by fascist dictators, for example, are more likely to persist and flourish. The humanities have thus positively shaped the modern world.
Chapter 6 Summary
Liberal arts education expands one’s worldview by introducing ideas and knowledge that one might otherwise not access: “This may not help make a living but it will help make a life” (150). One becomes an informed citizen, neighbor, and friend.
Nevertheless, critics suggest that even high-achieving students educated in the liberal arts are “limited in crucial ways” (151). They accuse today’s youth of being self-centered and lacking intellectual interests because of their obsession with adding lines to a resume. They achieve goals but have little understanding of their long-term applicability. These critiques are not new. Young people have faced similar criticisms since the days of ancient Greece. However, past critics often disdained the rebelliousness of youth, while contemporaries suggest that young adults “aren’t willing to challenge conventional wisdom” (154). Zakaria argues that these students did not construct the system that has given rise to a lack of intellectual curiosity. They are products of standardized testing and a “highly competitive job market in anxious economic times” (155).
These young adults are also less prejudiced than their predecessors. Data shows that in recent years, students have highly valued goals like becoming leaders in their communities, helping the disadvantaged, and contributing to scientific achievement. Millennials, born between 1980 and 2000, face accusations of being lazy and selfish, but there is little evidence to support such claims. Millennials make more charitable contributions than any other age group. The lack of wage increases that match rising working hours and levels of productivity are the true problem.
Campus activism has decreased since the 1980s; however, this shift “reflects a broader social trend” and is not specific to the college environment (162). Young adults direct their efforts elsewhere, like through work with non-governmental organizations. Contemporary students spend less time engaged in philosophical debates with their peers, but this is also a product of the age: “We have noisy partisanship in Washington, but over fairly routine political differences” (164). Young people are thus shaped by the political, social, and economic contexts in which they live. Many report that a major life goal is having a family, an ordinary but significant aim, yet no one, regardless of age, devotes “enough time and effort thinking about the meaning of life” (169). Everyone, in Zakaria’s view, would thus benefit from more liberal arts education.
Chapters 5-6 Analysis
Zakaria’s final chapters return to The Value of a Liberal Arts Education coupled with a defense of today’s college students. He has an optimistic outlook on both. For example, Zakaria points out that Westerners frequently view knowledge as powerful and potentially dangerous. Nevertheless, the knowledge gained from humanistic studies has improved the world, according to Zakaria. Humanist thought contributed to the decline of practices that humanity once widely accepted, like serfdom, enslavement, domestic abuse, anti-gay bias, and racism. Many of the world’s people live under democratic rule, and most national economic policies benefit more people than in the past. He contends that the Western educational tradition has contributed to knowledge’s spread, which has bettered the globe. This hence ends the text on a largely positive note, with the aim of inspiration instead of gloom.
Meanwhile, criticisms of college students for their lack of intellectual curiosity and focus on building their resumes follow historical trends of attacking youth culture. Today’s college students are products of socio-economic and political forces beyond their control. Zakaria contends that we live in a time far more peaceful than the past. He also suggests that American politics are less polarized today than in previous decades, which explains the lack of campus activism witnessed in the 1960s during the protests against the Vietnam War or the movement in the 1980s to encourage universities to divest from investments that supported South Africa’s apartheid regime. Critics hold that today’s youth are self-absorbed and not involved in critical thought about national and world issues and thus blame liberal education. Others rail against the liberalism found on college campuses. Zakaria, however, contends that students are products of the relatively peaceful time in which they live and the bipartisanship witnessed in Washington, DC.
