In Defense of a Liberal Education

New
Paperback
2016
$18.23

The liberal arts are under attack. Degree courses like English and history, once very popular and highly respected, are in steep decline. In the US President Obama recently urged students to keep in mind that technical training could be more valuable than a degree in art history.

In this urgently needed book, Fareed Zakaria argues that this turn away from the liberal arts is a mistake. A liberal education teaches you how to write, how to speak your mind and how to learn-immensely valuable tools no matter what your profession. Technology and globalisation are actually making these skills even more valuable as routine mechanical and even computing tasks can be done by machines or workers in low-wage countries. More than just a path to a career, a liberal education is an exercise in freedom. Above all, it is an expression of the most basic urge of the human spirit-to know.

Synopsis

The liberal arts are under attack. Degree courses like English and history, once very popular and highly respected, are in steep decline. In the US President Obama recently urged students to keep in mind that technical training could be more valuable than a degree in art history.

In this urgently needed book, Fareed Zakaria argues that this turn away from the liberal arts is a mistake. A liberal education teaches you how to write, how to speak your mind and how to learn-immensely valuable tools no matter what your profession. Technology and globalisation are actually making these skills even more valuable as routine mechanical and even computing tasks can be done by machines or workers in low-wage countries. More than just a path to a career, a liberal education is an exercise in freedom. Above all, it is an expression of the most basic urge of the human spirit-to know.

$18.23

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 208
Edition: Reprint
Publisher: WW Norton & Co
Published: 29 Apr 2016
ISBN 10: 039335234X
ISBN 13: 9780393352344

Media Reviews

In Defense of a Liberal Education 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 ti -- Malcolm Gladwell

Author Bio

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.