I grabbed Mark C. Henries’ A STUDENT’S GUIDE TO THE CORE CURRICULUM to find out what my life is all about.
The liberal arts, the core curriculum, and the humanties are all dying now because education has turned into Learn-A-Practical-Skill. Instead of producing well-rounded citizens who have heads filled with idealistic and deep thoughts even when in comas, we have shallow careerists. Henrie is in the business of advising young people how to get a solid, classical education in these trying times.
I studied religion, philosophy, literature, music, art, history, and political science. And I can tell you two things:
1 ) The liberal arts are highly nutritious and filled with the kind of insoluble fiber that keeps things moving along; and
2) The liberal arts are boring.
Henrie says that if you study the core, you will become a “gentleman”, or at the very least a “civilized man”.
Anything that tends toward the gentlemanly is innately boring. You are better off pursuing studies that will either make you some money or else make you a savage. Anything else is misguided.
The problem is that the liberal arts were originally intended for the idle rich. The humanities gave others in that class a secret handshake, a kind of shared useless background of esoteric knowledge. Knowledge that showed, well, bored trust fund idleness.
Look up “Plato’s Cave” or anything about “transubstantiation” before you start your higher education. You’ll apply to an engineering school the next day, despite Henrie’s best efforts.
