In Defense of a Liberal Education

Fareed Zakaria, In Defense of a Liberal Education, W. W. Norton & Company; 1 edition, March 28, 2016.

The liberal arts are under attack. The governors of Florida, Texas, and North Carolina have all pledged that they will not spend taxpayer money subsidizing the liberal arts, and they seem to have an unlikely ally in President Obama. While at a General Electric plant in early 2014, Obama remarked, "I promise you, folks can make a lot more, potentially, with skilled manufacturing or the trades than they might with an art history degree." These messages are hitting home: majors like English and history, once very popular and highly respected, are in steep decline. 

"I get it," writes Fareed Zakaria, recalling the atmosphere in India where he grew up, which was even more obsessed with getting a skills-based education. However, the CNN host and best-selling author explains why this widely held view is mistaken and shortsighted. 

Zakaria eloquently expounds on the virtues of a liberal arts education―how to write clearly, how to express yourself convincingly, and how to think analytically. He turns our leaders' vocational argument on its head. American routine manufacturing jobs continue to get automated or outsourced, and specific vocational knowledge is often outdated within a few years. Engineering is a great profession, but key value-added skills you will also need are creativity, lateral thinking, design, communication, storytelling, and, more than anything, the ability to continually learn and enjoy learning―precisely the gifts of a liberal education. 

Zakaria argues that technology is transforming education, opening up access to the best courses and classes in a vast variety of subjects for millions around the world. We are at the dawn of the greatest expansion of the idea of a liberal education in human history.

優點 (Chapter 3 Learning  to Think)

Writing: Cite the words by Jeff Bezos and Norman Augustine.

Teach you how to think and Presentation (in speech)

 Teach you how to learn

此章也說明 PISA 排名不高的美國、瑞典、和以色列，表現良好的原因，例如 non-hierarchical work culture and merit based, operate like "young" countries with energy and dynamism, open societies, confident. 

大學教了沒 (Our Underachieving Colleges) 有更完整的論述。

田孟心，打破學業工具論》張忠謀：通識課是可以帶走、影響一生的盛宴，天下雜誌710期，2020-11-03

當專業知識的生命週期愈來愈短，新技能不出5年就慘遭時局汰換，放眼國際，哈佛、東大等世界名校都已將通識學分提升至畢業門檻的三分之一。可見「學科」早已不是高教的核心指標，台灣該如何翻轉這股傳統的「營養學分」刻板印象？

鍾張涵，成為有能力反思的獨立思想家　張忠謀：我投通識教育一票，天下，2020-11-09

他在自傳中描述，他在哈佛一年級就是上「通識教育（博雅教育）」，僅3門課可修專業領域，其餘課程必須選修其他領域。當年他選修了英文和人文學，從此開啟人生對西洋文化、莎士比亞、古典名著、交響樂、芭蕾和戲劇等多元興趣，有了豐盛的智慧與心靈生活，「我隨身帶著這個盛宴，也隨時享受這盛宴給予我的知識、興趣和體會。」...

我今天講的通識教育，是100至200年前，只有歐美約百分之二十幾的少數人能進大學的年代，當年科學和工程尚未發達，所以大學教育都是通識教育。哈佛將通識教育稱為general education（通才教育），也有人譯為liberal education（博雅教育、全人教育），我較偏愛後者的翻譯。...

我想分享一段哈佛文理學院院長柯偉林（W.C.Kirby）擲地有聲的文字，是對博雅教育最好的論述：

我們致力於博雅教育，此教育可多方面解放個人：透過提供基礎知識、反思、分析、藝術創造力，以及精準賞析科學概念和實驗精神的機會。博雅教育強調教養勝過訓練，抵制早期專科範疇的專門和專業化。專業教育是許多優秀大學的驕傲傳統，但這不是哈佛大學的使命。

我們的學生將多數時間投入特別的核心精神學習，我們希望他們以好奇、反思和獨立思想家的身份畢業，致力於為更廣闊的世界服務，並為他們提供終生的學習機會。

這段論述強調：哈佛是培養學生成為充滿好奇心、有能力反思的獨立思想家，並能致力於為世界服務，具備終生學習精神。

有學生詢問，假如我是哈佛大學顧問，有兩位新生入學，一位是拜登、一位是川普，會建議他們修那些課？我認為他們應該修習政府、經濟、數學（微積分）和歷史。

但無論是要退休、想創業或其他人，我會建議：要做你有興趣的事，並盡其所能地做得長遠。