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Why a Great Book Education is Not So Practical

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Why a Great Book Education is Not So Practical
Why a Great Books Education is Not So Practical!

In today’s society a specific education is required for the majority of careers. Medical doctors must complete years of school not only dealing with general medicine but also handing specific parts of the body, situations and even age groups. Most high risk and high paying jobs require years of job specific training to further in the field and it’s for a good reason.

In Crabtree’s “Why a Great Books Education is Most Practical!” he argues that it is most practical to have a great books education over some more job specific training integrating technology and sciences. He states that the education that includes picking an undergraduate major then moving directly into the workforce or attending a graduate school to further education “is not suited to the economic environment currently developing” (212). On the other hand, in Jacoby’s “When Bright Girls Decide That Math is a Waste of Time” she urges parents not to dismiss math and science classes and avoid “intellectual handicaps” (630). Solely, a great books education is not practical, merging Crabtree’s idea along with job specific training and math and science courses would provide a well-rounded education for today’s society and workforce.

In today’s workplace, knowledge in science and technology is inevitable in order to grasp a career. A great books education is more of an “old time” education where English classes were required to read classic literature, but as times have changed those practices have phases out. A great books education is useless to a computer programmer or engineer. Although Crabtree states that the field of medicine has been called into question due to “an excess of doctors in the United States right now” (213) it is vital that doctors always be trained to the highest level of scientific and technological degree possible because of their high-risk occupation. Since students mostly attend college to prepare for a specific career,

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