There are might have been a time, in the pre-industrial age, or in early civilization when craftsmanship was the equivalent of survival.
The ability to work with your hands presumably assured one’s existence. In more recent times, the evolution of craftsmanship to more complicated engineering fields is even more premium because it has provided the platform for leapfrog technological transformations for companies and nations at large.
This linear observation however does not take into account the people who led or presided over these broad changes in the political, economic and social leaps that mankind has experienced over the last century or so.
Fareed Zakaria, himself a Professor of Political Science has presented an idea that a Liberal Arts education or orientation is responsible for giving the thoughtful oversight that has made the leaps of mankind feasible. He postulates that Liberal Arts have the unique quality of teaching us “how to learn”.
It is a well-reasoned and enjoyable book and well worth a read.
Intelligence is acquired through diverse conceptual learning, which is a major feature of Liberal Arts education. For example, aspects of Greek Mythology are instructive for leadership conundrums; lessons from Philosophy can resolve internal dilemmas and cause a balanced temperament which in itself has far reaching positive implications.
Overall, Fareed Zakaria is a persuasive writer and is renowned for his prescient analyses.
4.8/5
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Draman Victor - A happy member of the Dangala Bookclub at our last meeting
