By Robin Kolodny

I am sick to death of giving the same talk to parents, students, and the
administrators at my university about the value of the liberal arts. How
can there be value, they ask, if there is no clear job after graduation?
What will the students be trained to do if they study social sciences
and humanities? No one is satisfied with our answer that we will teach
students to read, write and think critically. Will critical thinking pay
the rent?

The parents are scared for their children's economic future, and so they
scare their children. The workplace has changed, and that makes everyone
uneasy. It's hard to imagine having to reinvent yourself in the adult
career landscape as is now clearly the case. Technology alone means
skills taught today cannot hold up over the increasing lifetime of an
average American adult.

But now, thanks to Donald Trump, I can sweep aside the old story because
if one thing is abundantly clear to me, it's that Donald Trump did not
have a liberal arts education.

How do I know? Because the one thing that liberal arts guarantees to do
is to reveal how subjective the world actually is. If you have had any
social science or humanities class, you know that "good" and "evil" are
never pure characterizations. You also know that not every problem has a
clear answer and, often, solutions carry unintended consequences.

Liberal arts majors know that every situation in the social world has a
history — sometimes hidden, sometimes not — that constrains the set of
solutions we can pursue. They also know that while markets produce great
ideas, products, and employment, they also can fail miserably. When
markets fail, the public sector can (and should) compensate. The
non-profit sector also generates some of the best ideas for working with
markets, governments, and communities.

Trump, however, comes from a different place entirely. Things are
"great" or "terrible," people are "liars" or "the best." Solutions are
simple (build a wall) and the consequences are always anticipated (get
good-paying jobs for Americans). Black or white, success or failure,
good or bad — Trump's world is full of clear choices and easy answers.
He represents the biggest problem in business school education. Each
person and thing is an asset or a liability, and the goal is to reduce
liabilities.

Trump would fail just about any political science class I have ever
taught. Democracy sounds like an easy concept. People have rights,
people are equal, and so whatever the majority wants is best for most.
Sometimes, this leads to oppression of minorities. Where's your equality
then? And while everyone has equal rights in the U.S., whether you can
actually use them or not depends on your class, race, gender, and ethnicity.

The importance of those factors also depends on the situation. Even when
we apply scientific methods to the study of social phenomena, we have a
great deal of trouble identifying one specific cause for any event. If
we think we know the cause of anything, we'd have to have clear and
convincing evidence to prove it.

We are paying the price for buying into the idea that higher education
should train our children instead of educating them. They hear the
message that being personally responsible means casting yourself in a
mold valued by today's marketplace. Whatever gets in the way of that
mission is "fluff" and "a waste."

We built Trump supporters. We told them that studying history,
literature, sociology, and philosophy won't "get you anywhere." After
all, the purpose of these fields is to challenge what you think are
"truths," and that is not what employers want.

What I want is much murkier indeed. I often say that I do not teach
political science, I teach students. I teach students, because I want
them to be good citizens, and good citizens know that democracy requires
thoughtfulness, empathy, and action. You can learn about this in a
liberal arts course near you.

—

Robin Kolodny is a professor of political science at Temple University
and author of "Pursuing Majorities: Congressional Campaign Committees in
American Politics.​"

On Fri, 6 May 2016 11:01:58 -0400, Keyser Söze wrote:

By Robin Kolodny

I am sick to death of giving the same talk to parents, students, and the
administrators at my university about the value of the liberal arts

They will be able to write very witty notes on your cup at Starbucks.

On 5/6/16 11:50 AM, wrote:
On Fri, 6 May 2016 11:01:58 -0400, Keyser Söze wrote:

By Robin Kolodny

I am sick to death of giving the same talk to parents, students, and the
administrators at my university about the value of the liberal arts

They will be able to write very witty notes on your cup at Starbucks.



That's just...stupid.

On 5/6/2016 11:52 AM, Keyser Söze wrote:
On 5/6/16 11:50 AM, wrote:
On Fri, 6 May 2016 11:01:58 -0400, Keyser Söze wrote:

By Robin Kolodny

I am sick to death of giving the same talk to parents, students, and the
administrators at my university about the value of the liberal arts

They will be able to write very witty notes on your cup at Starbucks.



That's just...stupid.


Is it?

On Fri, 6 May 2016 11:52:01 -0400, Keyser Söze wrote:

On 5/6/16 11:50 AM, wrote:
On Fri, 6 May 2016 11:01:58 -0400, Keyser Söze wrote:

By Robin Kolodny

I am sick to death of giving the same talk to parents, students, and the
administrators at my university about the value of the liberal arts

They will be able to write very witty notes on your cup at Starbucks.



That's just...stupid.

Of the 94 million working age people who are just sitting out the
employment scene, your liberal arts graduates are well represented.
Most are "under employed" if they are working.
Those middle level management jobs they were qualified for just do not
exist in any great quantity. That was downsized away along with the
rest of the well paying jobs we lost in the 90s and early 2000s. Ask
Bernie. He will tell you all about it.

On 5/6/2016 11:01 AM, Keyser Söze wrote:
By Robin Kolodny

I am sick to death of giving the same talk to parents, students, and the
administrators at my university about the value of the liberal arts. How
can there be value, they ask, if there is no clear job after graduation?
What will the students be trained to do if they study social sciences
and humanities? No one is satisfied with our answer that we will teach
students to read, write and think critically. Will critical thinking pay
the rent?

The parents are scared for their children's economic future, and so they
scare their children. The workplace has changed, and that makes everyone
uneasy. It's hard to imagine having to reinvent yourself in the adult
career landscape as is now clearly the case. Technology alone means
skills taught today cannot hold up over the increasing lifetime of an
average American adult.

But now, thanks to Donald Trump, I can sweep aside the old story because
if one thing is abundantly clear to me, it's that Donald Trump did not
have a liberal arts education.

How do I know? Because the one thing that liberal arts guarantees to do
is to reveal how subjective the world actually is. If you have had any
social science or humanities class, you know that "good" and "evil" are
never pure characterizations. You also know that not every problem has a
clear answer and, often, solutions carry unintended consequences.

Liberal arts majors know that every situation in the social world has a
history — sometimes hidden, sometimes not — that constrains the set of
solutions we can pursue. They also know that while markets produce great
ideas, products, and employment, they also can fail miserably. When
markets fail, the public sector can (and should) compensate. The
non-profit sector also generates some of the best ideas for working with
markets, governments, and communities.

Trump, however, comes from a different place entirely. Things are
"great" or "terrible," people are "liars" or "the best." Solutions are
simple (build a wall) and the consequences are always anticipated (get
good-paying jobs for Americans). Black or white, success or failure,
good or bad — Trump's world is full of clear choices and easy answers.
He represents the biggest problem in business school education. Each
person and thing is an asset or a liability, and the goal is to reduce
liabilities.

Trump would fail just about any political science class I have ever
taught. Democracy sounds like an easy concept. People have rights,
people are equal, and so whatever the majority wants is best for most.
Sometimes, this leads to oppression of minorities. Where's your equality
then? And while everyone has equal rights in the U.S., whether you can
actually use them or not depends on your class, race, gender, and
ethnicity.

The importance of those factors also depends on the situation. Even when
we apply scientific methods to the study of social phenomena, we have a
great deal of trouble identifying one specific cause for any event. If
we think we know the cause of anything, we'd have to have clear and
convincing evidence to prove it.

We are paying the price for buying into the idea that higher education
should train our children instead of educating them. They hear the
message that being personally responsible means casting yourself in a
mold valued by today's marketplace. Whatever gets in the way of that
mission is "fluff" and "a waste."

We built Trump supporters. We told them that studying history,
literature, sociology, and philosophy won't "get you anywhere." After
all, the purpose of these fields is to challenge what you think are
"truths," and that is not what employers want.

What I want is much murkier indeed. I often say that I do not teach
political science, I teach students. I teach students, because I want
them to be good citizens, and good citizens know that democracy requires
thoughtfulness, empathy, and action. You can learn about this in a
liberal arts course near you.

—

Robin Kolodny is a professor of political science at Temple University
and author of "Pursuing Majorities: Congressional Campaign Committees in
American Politics.​"

Good thing Trump wasn't taught by this guy. He'd probably be on the dole
now like many of his students. What's wrong with EARNING a living, Krowsie?