Higher Education is being erased. Does it matter?

[no_hypocrisy]

7. I believe it does.

I graduated from a private college that used to to based upon the "classics" and liberal arts.

Without worrying about which career I would be trained for, I enrolled in German, Italian, Spanish, European Civilization, Art History, D.H. Lawrence, Logic, Photography, and a plethora of music courses for my major.

I was given syllabi for each course with the understanding that my responsibilities were due no later than the date given and a lost syllabus would not be replaced. I was expected to prepare for class and to actively participate.

I presented both a music recital AND an 82-page (typed!) thesis with a defense before half a dozen faculty.

Graduation was not a given. You had to earn it.

But perhaps most importantly, I learned to think. I mean think rationally and critically.

All the majors were exacting and that includes religion.

When we left, we were imbued with the Latin phrase noblesse oblige because in fact, we were now privileged with education denied to many.

I hate the idea of colleges being transformed into training schools. You may learn a skill, but you will lack understanding in so many things from history to politics to psychology and more. You will have been denied your full potential.