Review by New York Times Review
Liberal education is one of those ideas that many people support in theory but few can credibly define. Zakaria makes his case in part through autobiography, describing how he and his brother, helped by stellar SAT scores, eschewed the engineeringand test-centric culture of 1970s India to attend elite liberal arts universities in America. His deft and persuasive argument for the centrality of a rich curriculum in the sciences and humanities suggests he made a wise choice. Zakaria brings the reader swiftly and surely through the noble history of the liberal education ideal and describes with alarm how it is buckling under pressure from rising college tuition and students who are understandably concerned about acquiring marketable skills. (Zakaria is on the board of my employer, the New America Foundation, but he has no involvement with my work.) He has little patience for "kids these days" arguments, concentrating instead on the many ways that diversity of knowledge, clarity of writing, creativity and depth of thinking are critical to both a good and a prosperous life. The tension, however, between workoriented learning and the liberal arts is not always as acute as Zakaria implies. Sometimes it makes sense to acquire valuable skills first and enrich your spirit in the security of employment. But his book is an accessible, necessary defense of an idea under siege.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [April 19, 2015]
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Zakaria provides a profound and well-argued defense of a traditional liberal-arts education, in the face of a large push in the United States to devalue and defund it. He does this in part by examining his own education, in both India and the U.S., while also addressing the assumptions, misinformation, and misunderstandings about the liberal-arts education in general. Zakaria provides a strong, energetic reading for the audio version of his book. His narration also benefits from his sense of emphasis and pacing. The weight of the subject is evident in his voice, and he navigates the complex issues deliberately, helping listeners better understand the text. His light Indian accent also makes the narration feel all the more personal and connected to Zakaria's experience and knowledge. A Norton hardcover. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
As politicians in high office publicly question the value of a humanities degree, and Moody's Investor Service continues to downgrade the credit ratings of many top-ranked liberal arts colleges, it seems liberal education is under attack as never before. Into the scrum steps Zakaria (columnist, the Washington Post; The Post-American World). The book's first half consists of an educational autobiography, recounting Zakaria's pivotal decision in the 1970s to travel from India to the United States for college. This is followed by a much weaker chapter on the history of liberal education (which, as the author freely admits, is drawn almost entirely from a single source: Bruce A. Kimball's prize-winning Orators and Philosophers). Instead of joining the long line of writers who focus on the intrinsic worth of the liberal arts (i.e., that they make us more human), Zakaria adopts a more instrumentalist view. Simply put, he says, a "good liberal education" is the "best way to prepare for today's global economy." As evidence, he relies heavily on the views of various captains of industry: a former CEO of Lockheed Martin turns up frequently, as does current Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. Verdict Zakaria, who is both a Yale alum and former trustee, provides so many Yale-centric anecdotes that the text at times takes on the tone of advertising copy. Not a necessary purchase but recommended where there is demand. For those who want to know why liberal education matters, Martha C. Nussbaum's Cultivating Humanity is a far more coherent read.-Seth Kershner, Northwestern Connecticut Community Coll. Lib., Winsted © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Why Americans should continue to embrace a well-rounded education. After being accepted at Yale, Zakaria (The Post-American World: Release 2.0, 2011, etc.)who emigrated from India, a country whose educational system is deeply rooted in the concept of learning a skill or trade rather than embracing a general educationhad to decide on a course of study. Although fearful of what his Indian friends might think, he decided to major in history, a subject he was passionate about but one that was not necessarily considered useful. Zakaria implores all Americans to reconsider the idea of obtaining a liberal education, using solid evidence from Colonial days to the present to show that a liberal education is the ultimate element that separates the educational system of the United States from much of the rest of the world. America was founded on new ideas and people who didn't want to be locked into the European method of learning via specific training and/or apprenticeships. Zakaria's arguments are cohesive, and his accessible prose logically progresses as he builds his case for a type of education that opens doors that might otherwise never be discovered. "A good educational system must confront the realities of the world we live in and educate in a way that addresses them," he writes, "rather than pretend that these challenges don't exist." A liberal education gives one the tools to be able to learn anything, whether it is science-based, technology-based, or something altogether different. It emphasizes methods of writing and speaking one's thoughts through creative endeavors and the pursuit of interests that hold attention far beyond the classroom. Zakaria adroitly points out that thanks to the Internet and online classes, the opportunity to learn anything, just about anywhere in the world, is now available to the global population, so there's no reason not to take advantage. A passionate appeal, for Americans in particular and the world at large, to rethink the benefits of a well-rounded, general education. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Review by New York Times Review
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Review by Library Journal Review
Review by Kirkus Book Review
