liberal-education
Original: liberal-education on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1:
Woman: There are many arguments about the importance of a liberal education, but they can never tell you why it's important.
Man: I trust you. You argue. Talk about "well-roundedness" or "the human spirit" or they don't realize college will help you get a job.
Panel 2:
Man: Yeah, those are bad arguments. This is very straightforward. Say you have a liberal education? Because everyone in the modern university is living in his opposite, and it sucks.
Panel 3:
Man: Universities are run like businesses whose primary product is certificates. Generation among people who already have the certificate. The thing is great. Accusation while generating certificates for people who might one, day secure more grants.
Panel 4:
Man: The people who buy the certificates pay fortunes because they need the certificate to get a job. Thus, the university is dealing a very pragmatic role in their existence, and a costly one. And it sucks. They don't enjoy spending money on certificates, and they're going to enjoy even less having anything to do with the thing being sold, which appeals to philosophy or whatever. "Well-roundedness."
Panel 5:
Man: Most of the questions I answered for students are about how I spend my own time on my own day. Some of them go directly to the certificate. Most of them say the certificate so I can get more bonus, and to my paper. So I need to spend my time serving papers so the other students can pass the class, get the certificate, and get jobs.
Panel 6:
Man: So, you see, we all know why we're doing what we're doing, and that mystery, no fuzzy talk, no estate, nothing about the human spirit or whatever.
Man: And it sucks.
Panel 7:
Man: Now, imagine a place, an old dank pub. It's hard to get to. It's full of weirdos. Most people don't even want to go in. And you certainly don't get credentials for descending the stairs. The people who do go have met there for thousands of years, purely for fellowship. They are always and only there in earnest.
Panel 8:
Man: Now, imagine a place, an old dank pub. It's hard to get to. It's full of weirdos. Most people don't even want to go in. And you certainly don't get credentials for descending the stairs. The people who do go have met there for thousands of years, purely for fellowship. They are always and only there in earnest.
Panel 9:
Man: The sheer age of the pub and the continuous occupation means there are ongoing conversations. Unbroken, going back to people who thought the sun didn't exist. Even people who've simply died now. Hundreds of years ago. So that means the motion of the planets and chances over story of want space is going to drink in there. Someone over there, gabbering about the crowd about proper poetry or complexity classes or whatever.
Panel 10:
Man: You can't tell me the way the second place is superior without while talk about the human spirit or a life. Well-lived or well-roundedness, but you know that the first place makes you tired while the second place would be far less tedious. You don't even have to be down there at all. You just have to know it exists. You'd want to bury it and write its name on a stone.
Panel 11:
Man: The best argument for a liberal education is that it makes a place in the world that's like the first place. And no more like the second place. Because that place, that imaginary pub you know exists or not in old books, you know it's better.
Panel 12:
Woman: Sorry, that was a bit of a rant.
Man: No, I'm just wondering if I can buy course credit for this conversation.
Votey:
The man: Also these days the pub mostly serves amphetamines.
Woman: There are many arguments about the importance of a liberal education, but they can never tell you why it's important.
Man: I trust you. You argue. Talk about "well-roundedness" or "the human spirit" or they don't realize college will help you get a job.
Panel 2:
Man: Yeah, those are bad arguments. This is very straightforward. Say you have a liberal education? Because everyone in the modern university is living in his opposite, and it sucks.
Panel 3:
Man: Universities are run like businesses whose primary product is certificates. Generation among people who already have the certificate. The thing is great. Accusation while generating certificates for people who might one, day secure more grants.
Panel 4:
Man: The people who buy the certificates pay fortunes because they need the certificate to get a job. Thus, the university is dealing a very pragmatic role in their existence, and a costly one. And it sucks. They don't enjoy spending money on certificates, and they're going to enjoy even less having anything to do with the thing being sold, which appeals to philosophy or whatever. "Well-roundedness."
Panel 5:
Man: Most of the questions I answered for students are about how I spend my own time on my own day. Some of them go directly to the certificate. Most of them say the certificate so I can get more bonus, and to my paper. So I need to spend my time serving papers so the other students can pass the class, get the certificate, and get jobs.
Panel 6:
Man: So, you see, we all know why we're doing what we're doing, and that mystery, no fuzzy talk, no estate, nothing about the human spirit or whatever.
Man: And it sucks.
Panel 7:
Man: Now, imagine a place, an old dank pub. It's hard to get to. It's full of weirdos. Most people don't even want to go in. And you certainly don't get credentials for descending the stairs. The people who do go have met there for thousands of years, purely for fellowship. They are always and only there in earnest.
Panel 8:
Man: Now, imagine a place, an old dank pub. It's hard to get to. It's full of weirdos. Most people don't even want to go in. And you certainly don't get credentials for descending the stairs. The people who do go have met there for thousands of years, purely for fellowship. They are always and only there in earnest.
Panel 9:
Man: The sheer age of the pub and the continuous occupation means there are ongoing conversations. Unbroken, going back to people who thought the sun didn't exist. Even people who've simply died now. Hundreds of years ago. So that means the motion of the planets and chances over story of want space is going to drink in there. Someone over there, gabbering about the crowd about proper poetry or complexity classes or whatever.
Panel 10:
Man: You can't tell me the way the second place is superior without while talk about the human spirit or a life. Well-lived or well-roundedness, but you know that the first place makes you tired while the second place would be far less tedious. You don't even have to be down there at all. You just have to know it exists. You'd want to bury it and write its name on a stone.
Panel 11:
Man: The best argument for a liberal education is that it makes a place in the world that's like the first place. And no more like the second place. Because that place, that imaginary pub you know exists or not in old books, you know it's better.
Panel 12:
Woman: Sorry, that was a bit of a rant.
Man: No, I'm just wondering if I can buy course credit for this conversation.
Votey:
The man: Also these days the pub mostly serves amphetamines.
Alt text
A long multi-panel SMBC comic. A man rants at length to a woman about the value of a liberal education. He argues that universities are run like businesses whose product is certificates, that nobody enjoys paying for them, and that everyone secretly knows it's all about getting a job, not the human spirit, "and it sucks." He then asks her to imagine an old, hard-to-reach dank pub full of weirdos where, for thousands of years, people have gathered purely for fellowship and unbroken conversation stretching back across centuries. He says the first place (the credential machine) makes you tired while the second place (the pub of pure inquiry) is what's actually valuable, even if you never go there. The best argument for liberal education, he concludes, is that it makes a place like that imaginary pub exist in the world. The woman says, "Sorry, that was a bit of a rant." The man replies, "No, I'm just wondering if I can buy course credit for this conversation." In the votey (a small final panel), a close-up shows the man with glasses saying, "Also these days the pub mostly serves amphetamines."
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.