Liberal Education

intrinsic vs instrumental, liberal education, michael oakeshott, philosophy of education, stanley fish

Stanley Fish in the New York Times blog invokes Michael Oakeshott in considering the debate between education seen in purely instrumental terms vs. education as having intrinsic value as an introduction into the postulates of our culture. Only the other night I caught a news item where everyone was talking in terms of a university education increasing the earning potential (even though the figures are hotly contested). Talk of an education was conspicuously missing.