Bring back the liberal arts

Re: “A teaching moment: With democracy under attack, schools must offer civics,” Jan. 17 commentary

The decline in civility, decency, and prudence along with an increase in cultural ignorance comes as no surprise. We now live in a society were fewer people read cogent newspapers and magazines. Most obtain news, i.e., what affirms their biases, from social media— Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and the like.

I say no surprise because our schools’ curriculum focuses less on history, the social sciences, and humanities and more on the trades and practical skills. We have become a nation obsessed with falling behind our economic competitors in global markets.

It’s not just local schools that have shifted emphasis from general studies or authentic education to training. Our major universities have morphed into glorified vocational schools at the expense of the liberal arts.

Lost is what writer Ernest Hemmingway called “crap detecting,” an earthy term for reflective and critical thinking with the ability to separate facts from opinions.

Civic education, along with economic, geographic, and scientific literacy, cannot end at the schoolhouse door. It needs to be reinforced and retaught throughout one’s lifetime. Otherwise, it will result in confusion, chaos, and dysfunction, as we now witness. To paraphrase Socrates. “The whole city must educate.”

Richard Van Scotter, Longmont Editor’s note: Van Scotter is a retired social studies educator and co-author of “The Idea of America: How Values Shaped Our Republic and Hold the Key to Our Future.”