The Neoliberal

Arts
Emma, Miki, Karli, Sean,
Marisa

Claim/Ideas
Universities no longer provide their students with a real education.
Colleges three potential purpose
1. Commercial
2. Cognitive
3. Moral
which commercial is the only one
that exists now. (Brooks)

Moral here, does not mean

learning right from wrong. It
means developing the ability to
make autonomous choices - to
determine your own beliefs,
independent of parents, peers,
and society. To live confidently,
courageously, and hopefully.
(Brooks)

Liberal arts vs. Neoliberal arts

Neoliberal is an
ideology that
reduces all
values to money
values.
(Deresiewicz)

Liberal-art colleges do better job in

teaching critical thinking, and other
social skills. However, there are many
neoliberalism spread out.

Complete
human beings
rather than as
future
specialist

Problems are happening

everywhere; at colleges,
prep schools, public high
schools, as well as
countries outside the U.S.
(Deresiewicz)

I chose these quotes because it is more understandable by using the authors

words than paraphrasing them, and that these quotes were very important in
understanding this article. One of the reason why I paraphrased these was
because it was a long sentence. Another reason is, by paraphrasing it made
it more simple and easier to understand the idea.

Structure of text
William Deresiewicz, the author of The Neoliberal Arts, asserts that neoliberalism is a
prevalent problem in the college/university atmosphere. Its effects on the overall experience
of college has altered todays youths mindsets into a leadership oriented environment, which
does not allot for any actual desire to learn. This whole concept is relayed in a
problem/solution structured article, that encompasses how neoliberalism affects the thought
processes and general learning of college students. Deresiewicz states that colleges center
their mission statements on tangible ideas and promotes the idea of one is better than
another. Toward the end of the article he claims that todays youth has been making a slight
difference in the neoliberalism dominance but we need more. He does this to make the
concept of neoliberalism important and essential for people to understand.

Where Further Elaboration is Needed

One section in which the author neglected to put enough elaboration was paragraphs 9 through 15.
Two questions I have about this section are:
- How did President Reagan impact neoliberalism and Reaganism?
- How does real education differ from the classroom experience of the same courses in modern neoliberal
college education?
Some additional elaboration the author should have included is explaining how neoliberalism has affected the
actual process used to teach students in colleges. He should have also explained some of the history of exactly
how and when college has changed over the years rather than just comparing statistics and mindsets from the
1960s to ones from within the last few years. Evidence he should have included could be quotes from actual
college students and from graduates educated before neoliberalism to show how neoliberalism has affected the
process of education and the minds of students.

Counter Argument
As you can probably guess from the title of the article William Deresiewicz thinks
we need more people to study liberal arts in college. While I do agree with part of what
he is saying about liberal arts teaching you valuable skills like critical thinking are
important, majoring in it probably wouldn't be the best idea. Deresiewicz is mistaken,
he is overlooking the whole point of college. You go to college so you can major in
something that will help you in your future career path. On one hand the author
acknowledges this but keeps ignoring it. People who major in liberal arts are the
people who sit around and complain that there aren't enough jobs for college
graduates. While I can see where Deresiewicz is coming from, I don't think we need
anymore people majoring in liberal arts.

Summary
In the article, How college sold its soul to the market, by William Deresiewicz states
college is no longer what it used to be and has turned into more of a business rather than
teaching students traditional college aspects. This is the age of Neoliberalism. The essence
of Neoliberalism is that all values or ideas are thought to its money values. Colleges are no
longer about teaching students about critical thinking, or clear writing, it is all about
marketable and monetizable skills to students. By focusing on extracurriculars and
internships students overlook the time they spend in class. Therefore, this lead to the
increase of biology, economics, engineering, and computer science majors and a decrease
in social sciences. Neoliberalism is around everywhere, it is believed that we have reached
the end of history. Students no longer need to imagine the future, but instead keep up with
it. Ultimately, what is at stake here is the future of our youths. If we dont change
neoliberalism it will automatically set students in their place.