Universities and Democratic Culture: General Education in a Digital Age
David M. Berry In an age where misinformation spreads rapidly through social media algorithms and democratic discourse faces unprecedented challenges, it seems to me that many universities have increasingly retreated from a key part of their educational mission. Under pressure from government, league tables, parental and student concerns about graduate jobs as a result of media narratives that focus on employability, higher education institutions have increasingly positioned vocational training as their key purpose. This represents a loss of the university's responsibility to produce graduates who are not merely technically competent, but capable of participating meaningfully in civil society and democratic life – the ability to see the whole as well as the parts. This is not just an aberration but represents a utilitarian force that has always operated on and against the essential mission of the university (Cole 2012, Rothblatt 1997). Indeed, from the 1980s Silver argues that, the...
