On culture, arts and education

I'm a bit old-fashioned in my attachment to spoken word and BBC Radio 4 is one of my favourite providers of intelligent talk I can be totally consumed by for hours on end. It wasn't any different when I listened to Alain de Botton's point of view, published here, in which he managed to express both his deep reverence and severe reservations about the modern academia, especially the humanities. He made a compelling case for liberal education, preoccupied with a human being, more emotional and more relevant to people's everyday concerns, attacking at the same time the aloofness of academic research and mores. It was a well-rounded, passionate call for changes, even though you can get a feeling that some of his ideals are a really long shot.