Coals to Newcastle
Jeremy, responding to Steve Talbott, mentioned caution when advocating 'vocational' education over a 'Liberal Arts' education...
As a long standing advocate of 'Liberal Arts' education I wanted to add the following winnowed from Wikipedia... Liberal Arts
Providing 'general knowledge' AND 'general intellectual skills' are the very substance of a free society. When people can think for themselves and act accordingly then true freedom can be achieved. Perhaps more important, as Jeremy points out, is the need in a free society for in depth personal resources that can only be purveyed by and acquired through a 'Liberal Arts' education.The term liberal arts has come to mean studies that are intended to provide general knowledge and general intellectual skills rather than more specialized occupational, scientific, or artistic skills.
The term liberal in liberal arts is from the Latin word liberalis, meaning "appropriate for free men", and they were contrasted with the servile arts.
Delivering coal is a skilled trade. Carrying coals to Newcastle requires some small insight.
P.S. Let Marshal McLuhan's medium be the message.
thinkig is free it costs nothing
ReplyDeleteTo be sure thinking is free... I rather assume that the quality of thought is more the issue at hand.
ReplyDeleteA liberal arts education can also be had at a similar cost. The point in that quote is based upon another point that the present education system is largely vocational training instead of focused on *education*. The goal is now a degree, not the depth of knowledge in between. If this were not the case, diploma mills would not exist.
ReplyDeleteI'd suggest actually reading the book which the quote came from. ;-)