When I was an undergraduate in the 1960s, nearly every student began with a common core curriculum. Required courses typically included the history of Western civilization, composition, rhetoric, British or American literature, and a range of liberal arts electives such as philosophy, psychology, history, and music appreciation. Completing these core courses entailed about two years of study before students settled on a specific major. Later, as a college professor, I encouraged freshmen to first major in “Undecided,” sampling as many fields as possible before choosing a life-long career.
The reasoning was simple. Traditionally, most students enter college at 18. At this age how many of us truly know what we want to do for the rest of our lives? I certainly didn’t.
Deliberately designed to help resolve this challenge, a broad liberal arts foundation exposes students to a wide range of ideas and disciplines, allowing young minds to follow their curiosity and discover new interests as they mature intellectually. It is not uncommon for students to change majors – sometimes two or three times – as their thinking evolves.
Where Is Education Headed?
Imagine a classroom 20 years from now. Students sit silently while an artificial-intelligence program writes their essays, answers their questions, and even explains their careers to them. All their courses concentrate on a narrow aspect of training particular to their career, but never consider broader ethical aspects of why they are doing this. Ironically, some have returned to college because their previous careers already have been replaced by AI, as it is rapidly encroaching on occupations once thought secure – data-entry clerks, bookkeepers, customer-service representatives, paralegals, translators, radiology screeners, basic accountants, call-center agents, copywriters, journalists, graphic designers, software coders, and even some financial analysts – quietly demonstrating that much of the routine intellectual work long performed by humans can now be done faster, cheaper, and increasingly well by machines.
At the exact moment AI is beginning to think for us, many schools are abandoning the very subjects that teach human beings how to think for themselves. Liberal arts colleges such as Howard University and West Virginia University have found it necessary to close various humanities programs due to budget pressure. Sweet Briar College nearly closed in 2015 due to financial problems (later saved by donors). Mills College ended independent operations in 2021. Birmingham-Southern College in Alabama closed in 2024 after financial difficulties. These institutions focused heavily on classical liberal education.
Increasingly, for their own survival, many large universities now operate like businesses, responding to market demand for career training while gradually reducing liberal-arts requirements. Administrative priorities are often guided by enrollment and competition for students. Championship athletic programs and expansive recreational facilities – pools, racquetball courts, and fitness complexes – have become common features of campus marketing. Yet beneath this shift lies a deeper question: are public schools and universities slowly exchanging the education of citizens for the training of workers?
Enter the One-Dimensional Man?
In “One-Dimensional Man,” Herbert Marcuse argues that modern industrial societies – both capitalist and communist – subtly control individuals by shaping their desires, thoughts and beliefs. Advanced technology, mass media, and consumer culture create a comfortable but conformist society in which people become “one-dimensional,” losing the ability to think critically or imagine alternatives to the existing system. Instead of overt repression, social control operates through satisfaction and consumption, making individuals feel free while quietly limiting genuine freedom and opposition. Marcuse believed that this process weakens critical thought and reduces human potential by absorbing dissent and flattening deeper philosophical or political questioning.
We’ve Been Warned, but Is Anyone Listening?
We have been warned before. Across the centuries philosophers, historians and statesmen have cautioned that when education abandons the liberal arts, the consequences reach far beyond the classroom. Consider the following:
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” – George Santayana
“A university training is the great ordinary means to a great but ordinary end…. – John Henry Newman
“[L]iberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people.” – John Adams
“[T]he direction in which education starts a man, will determine his future life.” - Plato
“[T]echnology alone is not enough—it’s technology married with the liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields the results that make our hearts sing.” – Steve Jobs
“If a nation expects to be ignorant and free … it expects what never was and never will be.” – Thomas Jefferson
Liberal arts education is not opposed to job preparation – it strengthens it. Employers consistently say they need graduates who can think clearly, communicate effectively, analyze complex problems, and adapt to change. These abilities come from studying history, literature, philosophy, and the social sciences. Technical skills may change with technology, but the intellectual habits formed through a liberal education endure throughout a lifetime of work and citizenship. We are at a watershed moment in education; will we be prepared to enter this brave new world as thinking citizens or soulless zombies?
Barry Nowlin is a retired English professor from the University of South Alabama. He presently works as an Uber driver for his two grandkids.
The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News. To comment, please send an email with your name and contact information to [email protected].
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