Gen. Ed.: Light, Getting Lighter

Glenn Ricketts

Undergraduate Gen. Ed., Liberal Arts, distribution requirements, whatever you choose to call it, is in bad shape these days, has been for quite a while. We’ve documented this dismal trend in numerous studies over the years, among which our report What Does Bowdoin Teach? is the most recent addition. Spending lots of money, as we’ve seen repeatedly, doesn’t necessarily buy you anything of substance, unless you happen to be looking for the narrow niche courses so heavily preponderant in much of American undergraduate liberal arts programs. 

In this vein, there’s an interesting take (“Good Thing I’m Not a History Major”) on contemporary non-education in the liberal arts over at Public Discourse, the Witherspoon Institute’s online journal. The author, Michael Hepner, has a keen sense of what’s wrong and some interesting thoughts on what to do about it.

  • Share

Most Commented

March 24, 2025

1.

A Reckoning for Higher Education?

Are American colleges and universities finally getting their comeuppance?...

March 31, 2025

2.

Keeping Watch

Columbia's descent into chaos is by its own hand. Actions to right the university must be swift and tough....

January 27, 2025

3.

Exclusive Documents: UC-Boulder Breaks Civil Rights Law to Advance Racial Preferences

New FOIA documents grant a window into how the University of Colorado-Boulder, in the name of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, discriminates on the basis of protected class and upholds a co......

Most Read

May 15, 2015

1.

Where Did We Get the Idea That Only White People Can Be Racist?

A look at the double standard that has arisen regarding racism, illustrated recently by the reaction to a black professor's biased comments on Twitter....

April 15, 2025

2.

Fighting Harvard and the Other Cultural Warlords

The academic bureaucracies and professoriate are so deeply committed to their radical program of replacing American society with their own vision of a new order that we have no real choice b......

October 12, 2010

3.

Ask a Scholar: What is the True Definition of Latino?

What does it mean to be Latino? Are only Latin American people Latino, or does the term apply to anyone whose language derived from Latin?...