“An open-ended exploration of knowledge is seen as a road to nowhere.”

Zakaria objects to the way that many contemporary Americans regard a liberal arts degree as useless, arguing that they overlook The Value of a Liberal Arts Education. Many Americans see skills-based education as more useful because they can directly correlate it to a career, but Zakaria believes that these assumptions are based on erroneous ideas about what a liberal arts education can provide.

“The great danger facing American higher education is not that too many students are studying the liberal arts.”

Zakaria provides data showing that the study of the liberal arts has been in decline throughout the past few decades. Thus, the argument that some critics make against the liberal arts as overstudied and useless is unsupported by the facts.

“‘Is it a vital interest of the state to have more anthropologists?’ Florida’s Rock Scott asked, ‘I don’t think so.’”

Leaders across the political spectrum have denigrated the liberal arts and perpetuated the myth that liberal arts degrees are useless. Former Florida governor Rick Scott, for example, suggested that anthropology degrees are useless because he could not understand their application to a specific career in service of the state. Zakaria, by contrast, argues that politicians like Scott should recognize The Role of Education in Democracy instead of focusing only on specific jobs-based objectives.