Since the Hutchins years, Chicago has followed the liberal education tradition in its emphasis of skill over material. Like alumni of other schools, but even more strongly, Chicago s alumni prize those skills and value the college years that brought them. But we may be at a turning point for such attitudes. Higher education in America requires less and less work from college students. Most of our university competitors deliver their education in large lecture courses, requiring occasional papers, easily thrown together in a few late evenings and read by graduate students rather than faculty.
Students spend much of their time on extracurricular activities.
Seniors spend their entire last year finding their post-graduate jobs. Grades average A- or better and three quarters of students receive honors. That reality is costly but effective. Our alumni love it and echo our own faith in it. But unless we are both careful and courageous it may be difficult to defend real liberal education.