Summary of "On The Uses of a Liberal Education

Edmundson begins his essay with a description of his feelings on teacher evaluations. He explains that he is fearful of what they will think and admits that he sometimes teaches to try and gain the good reviews from students. He then elaborates on the fact that he does not want to be described as "enjoyable." He wants them to be challenged and changed by his course. He places a lot of emphasis on the fact that American culture is very consumption driven and that the liberal arts education and the university system as a whole has taken a change for the worst. He than provides an anecdote about a student he had named Joon Lee. He compares Lee to students of today and explains that there are very few students who share the passion Lee had. He is worried by the lack of passion and fire that students now possess. He blames this problem on the importance of TV. He says all must run perfect on TV so confrontation in really life is avoided in real life. He thoroughly believes in the buy in order to be philosophy and feels that students buy in order to be "cool." He states that students will not ask challenging questions and teachers will not correct students just to avoid the awkward period associated with calling someone out. Edmundson also has a problem with the way that universities are becoming so consumer driven and explains that they now have a "club med" like atmosphere. Universities have now become marketers and have to sell their school not based on education but based on the amenities they provide students. Because of the consumer based mentality the humanities majors have to fight for students. This leads to grade inflation and easier classes in these majors, which should not be the case. Teachers must change their styles now in order to gain tenure and cannot step outside the box to learn. This clearly angers Edmundson who feels education has become too mainstream. Teachers even go as far as to not correct students who are factually wrong because they are afraid to disappoint the students. The teachers who do confront and challenge students are labeled as difficult and are punished for trying to further educate their students. He argues that students are treated to soft and are looked at like consumers and are treated with a "servile" attitude by the staff, leading them to become ignorant. He also explains that certain novels are not read due to political correctness. Teachers are afraid to read novels like "Things Fall Apart" because of the controversial ideas they bring out. He than transitions into the idea of genius and being unique. He writes that this idea is being eliminated slowly and that there is no genius because we all want one thing money. We are all trying to become the ideal person and are afraid to step out of the box and become genius. He is worried that in our future, there will be no genius. He says we are uninterested in being different and even references Prozac and the "depressed" nation that we live in. He goes as far as to call our outcome bleak. He concludes by placing the burden on the individuals to strive to be challenged and engaged in the classroom. He ends by saying his teaching style will definitely change and he will not worry about the evaluations, he will be the exciting and controversial professor needed in order to provide a solid education.