What makes an educated person? Is it the desire to learn? The ability to be a critical thinker in any situation? Perhaps.
For me, an educated person has the capacity to be a critical thinker—and an optimist at the same time. An educated person has developed a curious mind, thinks critically, has empathy, and an optimistic view.
On our show we talk with Connecticut's Wesleyan University President Michael Roth, author of Beyond the University, about why a liberal education matters more than ever. He argues this even in a decade of joblessness and high debt for young people or their parents.
Roth is part of a chorus of liberal arts degree defenders responding to another chorus of commentators who have come forward to say they think a liberal arts degree is a waste of time and money in an age of specialization. According to Roth's book, our society has been having this debate for centuries.
The New York Times Op-Ed piece “The Wilds of Education” by Frank Bruni
Join the conversation by email, on Twitter, or on Facebook.
GUEST:
- Michael Roth is president of Wesleyan University.
MUSIC:
- “Gne Gne,” Montefiori Cocktail
- “Central Nervous Piston,” El Ten Eleven
Lori Mack and Jonathan McNicol contributed to this show.
