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.
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Adaptability and Creativity in Education
Zakaria argues throughout the text that the combination of a strong liberal arts background, which fosters critical thinking and effective communication skills, and technical knowledge offers great opportunities for advancement in various arenas, including business and the field of education itself. He thus emphasizes the value of adaptability and creativity in education in various ways.
Zakaria regards adaptability and creativity as key elements of a robust liberal arts education, which he believes brings many direct benefits to students and private industries alike. He cites Bruce Nussbaum’s 2005 observation that the “creative economy” has eclipsed the “knowledge economy,” with a liberal education supporting the creativity necessary for innovation: “You can make a sneaker equally well in many parts of the world. But you can’t sell it for three hundred dollars unless you have built a story around it […] The value added is the brand—how it is imagined, presented, sold, and sustained” (83).
Zakaria thus also stresses that the adaptability and creativity offered by the liberal arts are highly sought qualities by many employers in today’s competitive job market. Zakaria combats the idea that liberal arts courses do not translate into marketable skills by emphasizing that the verbal communication skills, critical thinking, writing abilities, and curiosity instilled by a liberal arts education are all applicable in many diverse fields, including STEM industries.
Zakaria also believes that adaptability and creativity, when applied to the educational system itself, can help reinvigorate the liberal arts. He argues that massive online open courses (MOOCs) reflect such innovation in the field of education. Companies like Coursera and EdX offer unlimited seats in online courses offered by faculty from many of the world’s best colleges and universities on a variety of subjects, including the liberal arts. Zakaria defends MOOCs against critics who cite the low completion rates because even if only a small percentage of students enrolled complete the courses, the courses serve so many that this number is still substantial. He also suggests that colleges and universities will have to adapt to these new competitors: “They will force teachers to do better, since they will now be measured against the world’s best. They will pressure colleges to contain costs” (129). MOOCs did not disrupt American higher education as much as Zakaria, and others, predicted at the time of the book’s publication, but technology has nonetheless played a significant role in pedagogical changes.
Zakaria thus suggests that creativity and adaptability are essential components for the liberal arts, both in terms of the key skills that students develop and the ways in which higher education can adapt to the changing needs of the 21st century.
The Role of Education in Democracy
Zakaria directly links the study of the liberal arts with the origins and survival of democracy. He thus argues that education serves not only a social or economic purpose but also a political one: A population educated in the liberal arts will, Zakaria suggests, become a population better suited to the needs and demands of a democratic society.
Zakaria suggests that liberal arts education originated in classical Greece when the Athenians established the first democracy because broad-based knowledge was essential for citizens who would serve in the various organs of this new government. The Athenian tradition continued and expanded under the Romans, who coined the term “liberal arts” (from the Latin liber, meaning “free”). The seven liberal arts were the subjects that free men studied to successfully participate in the civic life of the Roman Republic. The Founding Fathers of the United States, like Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, also recognized the value of a broad-based education in fostering ideal citizens for their new republic. Jefferson specifically noted that such an education protected the newly established American democracy from falling into tyranny because its citizens would be well informed and think critically. Jefferson went on to establish the University of Virginia to help in achieving these aims.
Zakaria thus objects to the trend in higher education that centers skills-based job training over a broad-based education. Universities and colleges have continuously revised their core curricular requirements to reduce the number of liberal arts classes that all students must take and sometimes cut certain liberal arts majors entirely. The number of students majoring in liberal arts subjects has also declined over the past few decades. Zakaria suggests that these trends are worrisome, arguing that it is a huge mistake because it neglects the subjects that hone the critical thinking essential for democracy’s survival.
Zakaria also argues in favor of a “great books” curriculum, believing that a shared liberal arts foundation can help build common ground between students, thus creating a shared intellectual tradition that can instill the creativity and critical thinking that Zakaria believes are crucial for democratic citizens. However, there have been controversies surrounding the degree of inclusivity offered by the “great books” curriculum, as historically marginalized groups, such as women and authors of color, are often minimized or not represented on such curricula. Many higher education institutions have thus revised their core reading lists to reflect the multicultural and more egalitarian nature of modern-day democratic societies.
Zakaria thus emphasizes throughout his defense that the liberal arts are valuable not just for the marketable skills that they help students develop but also for the habits of mind and democratic values that they can encourage students to cultivate. With a population steeped in such habits and knowledge, Zakaria believes that democracies will have the citizens they need to truly thrive.
The Value of a Liberal Arts Education
Zakaria consistently defends liberal arts education against popular misconceptions and political attacks that assert that such education is useless in comparison to skills-based learning. Politicians from across the political spectrum critiqued liberal arts subjects as unimportant around the time of the book’s publication, so Zakaria offers his defense as a case for why the liberal arts remain valuable in their own right.
Zakaria presents the liberal arts as under attack even from the most powerful political forces in the US. He cites the former Republican governor of Florida, who argued that state funding for public schools is wasted on students who pursue degrees in subjects like anthropology. Meanwhile, Democratic President Obama joked about the uselessness of a degree in art history while promoting manufacturing jobs. The Obama administration also endorsed STEM education as an important priority benefitting the state. Millions of dollars were allocated to improving education in these subject areas. The devaluing of liberal arts subjects, like history and English, is a recent phenomenon, according to Zakaria. Until the 1980s, these humanistic subjects were seen as valuable options for those seeking fulfilling careers and supported a burgeoning middle class in the United States.
Zakaria suggests that the focus on STEM education, to the detriment of the liberal arts, is a grave mistake. He recounts the history of liberal education, going back to the ancient Greeks and Romans, who incorporated scientific inquiry into the liberal arts. Their division is a contemporary, negative development. Zakaria notes that the liberal arts provide students with core skills that are transferable across careers, including the ability to think critically, alongside cultural competencies that are absent from an education focused exclusively on the sciences. Moreover, he asserts that immersion in the liberal arts simply makes one’s life richer while cultivating more knowledgeable and compassionate citizens.
Zakaria holds up the residential college Yale-NUS as a model for liberal arts education for the 21st century. This partnership between two universities—one born out of the Western educational tradition and the other formed from the Eastern—combines the best of both worlds. Here, students study the Western canon alongside Eastern thought, which nurtures global thinkers able to reflect on their own worlds and lives in new ways.
Zakaria thus argues that, ultimately, one need not choose between the liberal arts and the sciences. Rather, a liberal education should be integrated into all curricula for the betterment of the individual and the world.
