Perspectives on Liberal Arts

After seeing Labaree's perspective on the change present in higher education, I think it would be interesting to see David Labaree and Caroline Bird discuss about higher education.

Both Bird and Labaree provide particular perceptions of the "dysfunctional" higher educational system. Labaree and Bird part different ways in their respective arguments though. Labaree makes two alternative arguments about the relation between the professional and liberal approach of higher education . He "harmonically" merges his counter arguments in his conclusion by showing that the professional dominates the goals of higher educaton while the liberal dominates its content. Bird claims that college is a total waste of time and money. She also argues that college doesn't prepare you for the corporate world. Bird states that a college diploma is practically worthless to employers. Employers are paying extra money for empty credential.

Both Bird and Labaree would agree that student's main purpose of a college education is to get a "good" job later on, and they both recognize that the system is dysfunctional. Even though there is some harmony between both of their arguments, they ultimately disagree with each other. Bird says that a college education is a total waste of your time, while Labaree encourages a college education, even though the system has its flaws.

I think Bird and Labaree would be an odd but entertaining pair to have a discussion. It definitely would be interesting to see Labaree agreeing with Bird, and then making a counter argument in order to try to convince her. I think Labaree would win the argument but since Bird seems to be close-minded, she would not accept a single argument Labaree makes.