Karl Marx and Donald Trump: What Connects and Differentiates Them
Karl Marx and Donald Trump: What Connects and Differentiates Them
The improbable ideological synergies
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Williams College, one of America’s best-known liberal arts colleges, charges 68,000 dollars per year - more than the average yearly income in the US.
Despite its cost, the popularity of the liberal arts system is growing. Many new universities across the world - such as Ashoka and Krea in India or Ashesi in Ghana- are using the liberal arts model of requiring students to take classes across STEM, social sciences and the humanities and giving them time to decide on their majors. Even universities that require students to pick a major before joining, are increasingly encouraging them to gain skills in other fields.
What role does liberal arts play in the future of education? Should students be required to take classes in a variety of disciplines, or be allowed to focus on the fields they like? And how practical is it to expand the liberal arts model to millions of students across the world? Utkarsh and Dhruva draw on their experiences at universities such as Harvard, Oxford, Ashoka and INSEAD to debate the value of the liberal arts.
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What connects Karl Marx and Donald Trump?
When we refer to facts or truth, at least some people ask, ‘Whose facts and whose truth are we referring to?’ This deeply skeptical view of information can be traced to intellectuals such as Michel Foucault and Edward Said, as well as to the flat-earthers and conspiracy theorists from the 2016 era. But it goes further back in time and can be understood in the context of the oppressor-oppressed narrative.
In classical and biblical times, oppression was often framed morally, as seen in the Exodus story, where divine justice liberated the oppressed. Ancient societies, such as Greece and Rome, also reflected power hierarchies, particularly through slavery.