Martha Nussbaum makes an assertion in her new book that not all educators believe. Her premise is that liberal arts are necessary for a strong democracy, but the shift in the educational paradigm over the past fifteen years or so is toward outcomes that can be measured on multiple choice tests. This is antithetical to the notions espoused in liberal arts classes that counter the student should construct meaning from a variety of sources, presented with the idea that while bias is always inherent, prejudice is to be avoided.
As professor of Ethics at the University of Chicago, Nussbaum no doubt knows first hand the dilemma many students face in classes where the quest is for the right answer rather than for a strong argument. This dichotomy has long vexed educators and students alike, as we play at school, when what is valuable is shunted into a corner because it cannot be quantified.
Building her own argument on the work of Bronson Alcott, Rabindranath Tagore, and others, Nussbaum believes this marginalization of the arts is indeed a "silent crisis." Her remedy? A renewed investment in the arts and in the Socratic Method, which provides a student centered approach to education that is in keeping with the educational theorists she champions, such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Johann Pestalozzi.
Nussbaum goes to great lengths to state that math and science are valuable commodities in the marketplace of education, but argues more vehemently that democracy, with its insistence on providing advantage for all, can only be bolstered with a vigorous infusion of art, music, theatre, history, and literature.
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