Values in Conflict (The University, the Marketplace, and the Trials of Liberal Education)

An impassioned defence of the liberal arts.

Values in Conflict is a clarion call to policy-makers, business leaders, and the public at large to rethink the current direction of the contemporary university. Paul Axelrod demonstrates that liberal education, the core of higher learning, is threatened by the constricting pressures of the marketplace and shows how political and economic pressures are redefining higher learning. Axelrod demonstrates how, in the race for riches - symbolized by endless rhetoric about the need for Canada to become globally competitive, technologically advanced, and proficient at churning out "knowledge workers" - our schools and universities are being forced by government policy to narrow their educational vistas. The decision-making autonomy that universities must have to provide cultural, intellectual, community-service, and training functions is being eroded. Values in Conflict explains why this is happening - and why it matters.