Mark Edmundson's On The Uses Of A Liberal Education

Summarization

Mark Edmundson’s essay really resonated with me. His essay “On the Uses of a Liberal Education,” explains that at Universities, college students and teachers who are at these universities, focus on how much the students like the classes, rather than the information found in the class. For example, he explains this when mentions giving his students the course evaluations. Some of the comments were, “the teacher was interesting”, or, “he was funny”. Not one student commented on the information they got in the class. He describes how students have become like customers. The teachers accommodate them and are willing to do anything that meet their needs. This is consumerism. Colleges are concerned with attracting the wealthiest

This is what an example of a consumerist attitude looks like. The idea of consumerism, put simply, is to get more bang for your buck.

I think that part of this problem is that students go to school because it is what is expected of a high school graduate. Very few high school graduates attend college because they want to get an education and know what they want to major in. Edmundson does bring up a valid point when he describes giving his students their course evaluations. He believes that the evaluations are an example of how the students are consumers and whatever the students say, the professors would then change for them. The evaluations show how they are an example of consumerist society because when you buy something (at a restaurant or store) upon completion of your purchase you are asked to evaluate the service and depending on what you comment on the card, the company will take your comments into consideration and either fix the problem or try to change their service to make the next customer’s experience better. In Edmundson’s opinion, having

The multiple choices students have today in college have made the university a party environment, resulting in complacent students. Mark Edmundson raises important questions and makes valid points in this essay that are worth thinking about. If people don’t take a look at our present college system and start thinking outside the box, the college education system will continue on its downward spiral of consumerism. It is fun to graduate high school and go to college to party and to have a comedic professor, but there is so much more to college then having fun. People need to realize that by challenging student, students can then start to recognize their own potential end become better for it. Learning and utilizing the information that is being taught in college is essential. “Everyone is born with their own mind, all that is left to do is break out of the stereotypical college student mold, and use