The Neoliberal Arts By William Deresiewicz Summary

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In the article “The Neoliberal Arts: How college sold its soul to the market,” William Deresiewicz describes how our modern day era of neoliberalism has impacted education. William Deresiewicz makes many valid points about our current education system. For example, he states how a larger percent of students are now majoring in fields that provide you with financial stability compared to that of fifty years ago. In this article there are some ideas I agree with and some I don’t. One idea that I disagree with is the idea that colleges themselves have sold their soul. William Deresiewicz tells us that it is neoliberalism and the way it impacted society pressure students to major in fields that typically provide more money. Such as business or STEM fields. In my opinion, the role of a college is to provide a higher education for those who want to pursue a certain career. Just because students prefer STEM and business fields doesn’t mean that colleges have sold their soul to the market. Many students want to major in STEM and business fields so colleges provide more classes to accommodate them. That doesn’t mean colleges have given up on liberal arts. Colleges still provide liberal arts majors and there are …show more content…

William Deresiewicz comments on this statement by claiming that only the commercial purpose now survives as a recognized value. This statement makes me think about my friend, Jacky, who’s a college freshman this year. Jacky told me that his goal in life is to move to California and become a social worker. It’s already been around two weeks since college started for Jacky and he claims he hates it. In order to make his dreams come true, he has to take the required classes.This to me shows that he doesn’t seem to be into the whole college experience but he’s in it for the degree in order to fulfill his

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