The following excerpts from John C. Sawhill's essay, “The Unlettered University” first appeared in the February '79 ' issue of Harper's Magazine. Sawhill has served in the office of- Management and Budget, and the Federal Energy Administration‘of the United States. He is currently president of New York University and was a guest this"summer of Jimmy Carter's at Camp David. For me, Sawhill has indeed brought the issue of “the university” into perspective. A , perspective that can in fact be applied to the situation here at UPEi. Perhaps we, as a university community, should examine ourselves in the face of Sawhill's arguments. What do you think? “

Mark Iedwell

I had just finished ' teaching my mdergraduate seminar on'ethicar perspectives on energy

policy at NYU when a bright ‘

young woman walked up to discuss a philosophical questim that troubled her. Impressed by her lmcw- ledge of moral and social

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philosophy, I asked her

why she was majoring in business rather than in one of the humanities.

She replied, "How else can I get a job?"

This student'svambition reflects what has gone wrong in higher educatim today. (hoe ocnsidered an

"essential enterprise for

the improvement of American society, higher education

‘ has become the handmaiden

of successful career planning, spurning both

heading and the

rigorous pursuit of kncwledge. NQN that higher

education is viewed largely

as a passport to the job market, can we again create an institution and a curriculum that recognize the value of learning for

p its own sake?

All that we know about ’ ourselves and our world is codified in a body of learning (liberal arts) that illuminates our own struggles and those of our ancestor§, so that each succeeding generation profits in some measure - from the experience and vision of the past. ..The liberal arts enable each individual to makeuwhat

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The UPEI Sun, Thursday,-Sept. 20, 1979! Page 7

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W.E.B. DuBois described as "that fine adjustment Whid'l forms the secret ' civilization."

Liberal education implies as much an I, _.c_ attitude \tcward learning as a specific course of study. . .its importance extends far beyond the fonnal disciplines that compose its'syllabus. ...Lately, liberal educatim has fallen - or perhaps it has been pushed - into disrepute.

Undergraduate instructors are distracted from teaching by the demands of research and publication necessary for professional advancement and tenure. . . America's corporate commun— ity also nurturedrinstitut- ions of higher learning as resources for private enterprise. Business and industry are the nation's largest employers; their needs for persohnel — supported by their wealth and implemented by their seasonal visits of recruiters on campus — encourage students to sacrifice broad courses of study in a variety of disciplines to the narrow pursuits that guarantee

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them employment upon graduation. . .The disposit— ion of the students themselves has further damaged the state of the liberal arts.

Perhaps the most persuasive argument for the re-emergenoe of liberal education in inStitutions of higher learning is the fact that such studies

I inform human nature, and

are as much a part of us as our physical needs. 'Ihey allow us to grow emotionally and intellect— ually.

. . .Limited, career directed studies alone provide no lasting solutions to the multitude of difficult and potent— ially dangerous problems we confront. The univers- ities must reassort the balance between the transient interests of a particularsociety and the enduring truths of a civilization. Universities must cease doing the work of government and industry and reclaim their position as the. agency that instructs and enlightens these instituions in hm best to function for the benefit

‘ of all.

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