The conservative war on liberal arts education and citizenship

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Over at LG&M, Erik Loomis writes that "the decline of the liberal arts in higher education [is] an important facet of the conservative war on any institution in this country that might create free-thinking people," quoting Katie Billotte at Salon:

Education is a political act. For over half a century, the conservative movement has waged a political war on liberal arts education. They have waged this war because they know that without the skills we are provided by a liberal arts education citizens must abdicate our power. They know, like the Greeks and Romans did, that only those with the ars liberalis can do the job of citizens. That is why we must not allow the liberal arts to be further attacked, economically or ethically. A democracy without citizens will not long survive and citizens are only those who have mastered the ars liberalis.

It's an excellent piece, a defence of liberal arts education and participatory citizenship against the ongoing onslaught of right-wing ideology.