What is College for?

While Americans obsess about the vocational importance of college, they tend to overlook the real importance of a liberal arts education. College should provide students with an opportunity to expand their horizons and their minds (yes, Mr. Sperling). But this expansion is not some sort of vague and shapeless thing. Instead it should be focused and well-directed.

College should help students overcome their parochialism. They need to leave their families and their communities and to experience a new and broader view of the world. This is one of the problems with on-line education. If students never leave their own bedrooms, and take classes they select based on vocational interest, and are never challenged by new subjects or new ideas, this necessary expansion of their perspective cannot take place.

College should provide students with a sense of CONTEXT for their lives. Students should learn about and experience human history, natural and social science, and the great stories of literature and religion. Students should have the opportunity to establish their own sense of purpose and direction within the broader contexts that a liberal arts education provides. In a world of international economic interaction, students need to learn about different cultures. In a world of mass production and cheap goods, students need to learn about individual experience and excellence. In a world of quick fixes and impatience, students need to learn to consider carefully, to reflect, and to work steadily toward valuable goals. Liberal Arts education can help them to do so. "Skills training" (i.e. how to use Word or PowerPoint; how to balance an account sheet; how to solve a math problem) does none of these things.

College should expand the experiences, and the sense of context, and the minds, of students. Without a doubt!