Gee, No Kidding

SANTA FE – Part celebration, part intervention, a conference on the future of the liberal arts at St. John’s College last week offered high praise and harsh advice for an embattled tradition. Speakers on Friday said that while the future of the democracy depends on a broadly educated public, advocates need to return to a less politicized, more siloed vision of the liberal arts for them to survive.

Speaking as one who majored in English before it became heavily politicized, I think it would take at least a generation for any changes in the field to be realized.  Given that only 3% of college students major in English these days, the field will not last even 20 years.

Rather like mainstream Protestantism, which also became grossly political, it is probably beyond the tipping point.  If so, it's a remarkable case of cultural suicide.