A passionate defense of the humanities from one of today's foremost public intellectuals In this short and powerful book, celebrated philosopher Martha Nussbaum makes a passionate case for the importance of the liberal arts at all levels of education. Historically, the humanities have been central to education because they have rightly been seen as essential for creating competent democratic citizens. But recently, Nussbaum argues, thinking about the aims of education has gone disturbingly awry both in the United States and abroad. Anxiously focused on national economic growth, we increasingly treat education as though its primary goal were to teach students to be economically productive rather than to think critically and become knowledgeable and empathetic citizens. This shortsighted focus on profitable skills has eroded our ability to criticize authority, reduced our sympathy with the marginalized and different, and damaged our competence to deal with complex global problems. And the loss of these basic capacities jeopardizes the health of democracies and the hope of a decent world. In response to this dire situation, Nussbaum argues that we must resist efforts to reduce education to a tool of the gross national product. Rather, we must work to reconnect education to the humanities in order to give students the capacity to be true democratic citizens of their countries and the world. Drawing on the stories of troubling--and hopeful--educational developments from around the world, Nussbaum offers a manifesto that should be a rallying cry for anyone who cares about the deepest purposes of education.
Her argument is centered around how a more deliberate and intensive focus on liberal arts within public schools can produce better democratic citizens. As a liberal arts student, this idea seemed charming--but upon further investigation and contemplation, it's an extremely fallacious belief (and not an argument at all). She makes lots of contradictions. For example, she acknowledges that what someone learns and knows can have little effect on how they act--but then she continues to argue otherwise. [I'm also a musician and have worked with lots of dancers; I also study philosophy; and let me tell you, artists and thinkers can be just as close minded, noxious, and a selfish as any STEM student.] She idolized democracy without acknowledging some of its most fundamental flaws. She fails to go in depth on the influence and dangers of technology in schools. Overall, this book is no more than a utopian, narrow minded day dream. Don't waste your time unless you're studdying bad arguments.
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