CNN recently broadcast a program called Beyond the Politics, which looked into the health of American institutions and culture in the context of the current political election cycle. The health of higher education, and within it the liberal arts, figured prominently in the discussion.

Tom Wood has written a perceptive commentary on Beyond the Politics, which finds both liberals and conservatives agreeing that the nation is floundering in a sea of cultural and civic illiteracy. Wood concludes, dishearteningly:

All this is … a matter of grave concern to the nation. Citizenship requires the critical skills and core knowledge that are the heart of a liberal education, however that education is obtained, either through formal education or not. Since no one has been able to suggest a way for millions of people to get this kind of education other than through the educational system we have, … [the widespread abandonment of the liberal arts is the] abandonment of the ideals of learning and civilization itself. The most depressing thought of all, though, is … that the country is getting the level of cultural illiteracy and lack of civilization that it probably deserves.