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> classical or liberal arts education a luxury for the idle rich My understanding is that this is exactly the original meaning of the term 'liberal' in liberal
by glial 3y ago
> classical or liberal arts education a luxury for the idle rich
My understanding is that this is exactly the original meaning of the term 'liberal' in liberal arts. Liberal => free => not a servant => has time for leisure. The word 'school' has its origins in the word for leisure. Ideally, liberal arts are the set of skills appropriate for a free person in a democratic system. They should help this person learn to govern themselves, and by extension, each other.
But yes, a liberal arts education is expensive.
Edit: see also "Leisure: The Basis of Culture" by Josef Pieper
- ElevenLathe 3y agoThis is my understanding as well. I think the attitude of "these money-grubbing Americans don't care about history or poetry" comes from people who (fortunately, I don't begrudge them this) live in wealthier societies than the US (I obviously don't mean GDP or anything like that, but real societal wealth). It's basically a "let them eat cake" attitude from somebody out of touch with how harsh life in the US really is if you're not in the top quintile of income or wealth.