First published 2015
Fareed Zakaria takes on politicians and business leaders who attack liberal education as wasteful spending. The CNN host and author confronts governors from Florida, Texas, and North Carolina who refuse taxpayer funding for liberal arts programs. He also challenges President Obama's 2014 comment at a General Electric plant that skilled manufacturing pays better than an art history degree. Zakaria draws from his upbringing in India, where skills-based education dominated thinking. He builds his case by showing how liberal arts teach essential abilities: clear writing, persuasive expression, and analytical thinking. The author flips the vocational argument by pointing out that manufacturing jobs face automation and outsourcing, while specific technical skills become obsolete quickly. Even engineers need creativity, lateral thinking, design sense, communication skills, and storytelling ability to succeed. Technology now makes the best liberal education accessible to millions worldwide, creating unprecedented opportunities for this type of learning.
Genres: politics, education, non-fiction, academic
Vibes: thought-provoking
Tropes: social-commentary
Setting: Florida, India, North Carolina, Texas
Period: 2014
208 pages · Hardcover · W. W. Norton & Company