In college, I took a class called The Letters of Paul. I took it for two very good reasons:
1. I was (and am) named Paul.
2. The prof, Cal Roetzel, was (and is) cool.
I didn’t figure it was an especially practical course. It was for fun, for the challenge, for the cultural knowledge, for the pleasure of doing it.
WHAT LIBERAL ARTS EDUCATION IS FOR: A THREAD
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@inthehands Your 2nd point used to be what higher education was all about back in the day.
@inthehands The sheer discipline of further study changed I think about 30 years ago. It was diversified and broadened, and then with that came the idea that universities had to become not places of learning, but profit centres, and so your degree had to have market value rather than intellectual value.
@sullybiker Still us, in many places! But it feels like we have to fight pretty hard to get the word out a lot of the time.