There’s more to learning than a job search

In autumn a young man's fancy (and a young woman's, too) turns to thoughts of school. Even the melancholy chirping of the crickets becomes a sad song of the ebb of summer. Flip-flops and summer tees, like Cinderella's glass slippers and silk gowns, are replaced by "appropriate" dress, and book bags bulge with pencils and notebooks (paper and electronic). If a girl loses her flip-flops now, there's no young man on the beach to search for the foot to fit. Those days have passed.

The approach of autumn ushers in anxiety in the faculty lounge, too, as debates rage over the best way to prepare the rising classes to fit into the complex world. Economic issues dominate the discussion. Once upon a time the emphasis was on preparation to learn how to think critically, how to ask the right questions. A "well-rounded" man or woman got that way through study of the liberal arts. Now the point of an education, though more expensive than ever, has little to do with critical thinking or an acquired appreciation of history, culture and government.