{"id":3426,"date":"2009-09-30T05:05:46","date_gmt":"2009-09-30T10:05:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/utnews.utoledo.edu\/?p=3426"},"modified":"2009-09-28T13:51:07","modified_gmt":"2009-09-28T18:51:07","slug":"newsweek-editor-offers-insight-on-liberal-arts-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/09_30_2009\/newsweek-editor-offers-insight-on-liberal-arts-education","title":{"rendered":"Newsweek editor offers insight on liberal arts education"},"content":{"rendered":"

To Jon Meacham, life is at once trying and fantastic. Flawed and perfect.<\/p>\n

\"Jon<\/a>

Jon Meacham chatted with Dr. Rosemary Haggett, Main Campus provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, right, as Dr. Nina McClelland, interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, listened.<\/p><\/div>\n

Meacham, who delivered the fifth lecture in the Edward Shapiro Distinguished Lecture Series, said the value of a liberal arts education is in how it helps us realize and understand that duality.<\/p>\n

Comparing a liberal arts education to an E.B. White quote about democracy being the \u201cdent in the high hat\u201d and the \u201cmustard on the hot dog,\u201d Meacham said understanding this inherent contrast unlocks the human ability to learn from mistakes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe the liberal arts offer a kind of redemption from the sins and omissions of the past,\u201d Meacham said. \u201cIt offers us a way of knowing and thinking so that perhaps we can right the wrongs and leave the world a little better place than we found it.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer of former President Andrew Jackson, Meacham knows about the mistakes of the past. As editor of Newsweek magazine, he knows about the realities of the present. And from the issuance of the Magna Carta in 1215 all the way up to the election of Barack Obama in 2008, a common thread weaves it all together \u2014 individuals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe actions of individual men and women determine our course,\u201d he said. Society doesn\u2019t progress or advance, he noted, without the catalyst of individuals knowing and understanding how those before them have failed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe story of a man who was born a man and becomes a monument is more meaningful and instructive than the story of a man who was born a monument,\u201d Meacham said.<\/p>\n

Because a liberal arts education is the way individuals learn which mistakes, sins and omissions to correct, Meacham said, it\u2019s important to spread the ability to obtain such opportunities as far and as wide as possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe classical liberal arts education is in danger,\u201d he said. \u201cFamilies are looking anew at what they\u2019re getting for their money and their time. But this cannot be allowed to become the exclusive providence of the already affluent.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about living a<\/em> good life,\u201d he added. \u201cNot the <\/em>good life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meacham, who wrote the 2009 Pulitzer Prize-winning biography American Lion,<\/em> spoke on Thursday, Sept. 24, in a full Student Union Auditorium.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pulitzer Prize-winning author and Newsweek editor Jon Meacham talked about the importance of a liberal arts education when he gave the Edward Shapiro Distinguished Lecture.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3426"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3426\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}