We have interesting classifications of our institutions of higher learning. The Carnegie classification of major research universities distinguishes between R1 and R2 schools. The well-known U.S. News & World Report Rankings separate national universities from regional ones, and also from national liberal arts colleges. Alongside the state university system, the Selective Liberal Arts Colleges (SLACs) are the pillars of American higher education. While many have complained that our schools have become less interested in education than indoctrination, an equally pernicious problem is that our liberal arts colleges operate with very little understanding of what the liberal arts are or why they matter. In one of my puckish moments when I was sitting in a faculty meeting, I offered $50 to any of my colleagues who could identify the quadrivium and the trivium. Needless to say, I walked away none the poorer.
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