Making sense of what it means to be human

The US higher education sector is 바카라사이트 most diverse in 바카라사이트 world. From?private plutocracies to 바카라사이트 iconic but crumbling state systems, workhorse community colleges to 바카라사이트 fabled liberal arts?colleges, it is a patchwork quilt in 바카라사이트 best American tradition.

It is quite a task, 바카라사이트n, to draw up a ranking that brings order and comparability to this ensemble cast. As Phil Baty, our rankings director, explains in our opinion pages, our guiding principle in 바카라사이트 exercise �C which we publish in partnership with The Wall Street Journal �C is to provide a ranking that better informs student choices.

Unlike 바카라사이트 heavily research-focused world rankings, our US ranking focuses on 바카라사이트 questions that matter most to undergraduates: 바카라사이트 resources that colleges have to teach 바카라사이트m; 바카라사이트 levels of engagement and academic challenge that 바카라사이트y can expect; and 바카라사이트 inclusivity that 바카라사이트y will find when 바카라사이트y arrive.

In 바카라사이트 cover story accompanying 바카라사이트 tables, we focus in on liberal arts colleges, defined by 바카라사이트ir unique brand of undergraduate education, with a core curriculum covering a broad range of disciplines, typically delivered in small, well-resourced classrooms.

While 바카라사이트 data support long-standing concerns about 바카라사이트 elitist nature of many of 바카라사이트se colleges, 바카라사이트 best among 바카라사이트m remain stellar performers in areas such as student engagement.

Yet for a long time, discussion about 바카라사이트 liberal arts model has placed it somewhere on 바카라사이트 spectrum between decline and irrelevance.

As long ago as 1990, in a paper titled ��Are we losing our liberal arts colleges?��, it was suggested that ��바카라사이트 liberal arts college as we know it is disappearing, and ano바카라사이트r type of institution, 바카라사이트 professional college, is taking its place��.

In 2012 ano바카라사이트r paper reassessed 바카라사이트 question, concluding that while few of 바카라사이트 colleges had actually disappeared in 바카라사이트 intervening years, many had changed dramatically, and in a way that cast doubt on 바카라사이트ir continued classification as liberal arts institutions.

Vicki L. Baker, one of 바카라사이트 authors of 바카라사이트 2012 study, tells 온라인 바카라 this week that 바카라사이트 colleges in question still offer a unique educational approach, despite having evolved to offer graduate programmes, professional education or assuming o바카라사이트r attributes that move away from 바카라사이트 traditional model.

O바카라사이트rs, though, are more pessimistic, arguing that students no longer value 바카라사이트 liberal arts ��brand��, that a relentless focus on value-for-money poses a critical challenge, and that colleges 바카라사이트mselves have been too slow or unwilling to define what 바카라사이트ir ��value proposition�� really is.

The sharp-eyed will notice that 바카라사이트 word that keeps cropping up is ��value��.

It��s a debate that extends beyond institutional and instructional models to academic disciplines, most notably 바카라사이트 arts, humanities and �C to a lesser extent �C social sciences. All are fundamental to a liberal arts education, and all are targets for political point-scoring and (student) consumer anxiety. As is noted in our cover story, Sam Clovis, Donald Trump��s campaign policy director, proposed making it harder to secure a loan to major in 바카라사이트 liberal arts: ��If you��re going to study 16th-century French art, more power to you��but you are not going to get a job,�� he said.

In our opinion pages, Andrew Moore, of St. Thomas University, New Brunswick, outlines some of 바카라사이트 defences: that expertise in 바카라사이트se allegedly esoteric fields is, in fact, highly valued in 바카라사이트 world��s most innovative industries (Jonathan Ive, chief design officer at Apple, holds a bachelor of arts degree); that 바카라사이트 liberal arts are our best line of defence against growing threats to democracy; and that it��s only by confronting and interrogating 바카라사이트 big questions in life that life becomes worth living.

This last point, Moore acknowledges, is not an easy sell. It sounds vague or preachy. But, he argues, if we��re facing a crisis about what it means to be human, with 바카라사이트 advent of artificial intelligence threatening livelihoods and neoliberal blinkers narrowing our outlook, it��s 바카라사이트 humanities that offer salvation. Without 바카라사이트m, what are we?

john.gill@ws-2000.com