In today’s Pope Center piece, Duke Cheston writes about a conference he attended last month at Wake Forest University, where the subject was the poor perception of the liberal arts these days. The speakers presented some interesting ideas, but apparently did not think to ask whether the liberal arts are not well regarded because, to a large extent, those departments have become politicized. It used to be the case that English majors could be relied upon to write and analyze clearly, but now many English courses are far more focused on celebrating radical theories than on careful thinking and writing. That probably has a lot to do with the declining interest among employers for hiring students with liberal-arts backgrounds.