PETER BERKOWITZ: Why Liberal Education Matters: “The true aim of the humanities is to prepare citizens for exercising their freedom responsibly.” Is that aim reflected in how humanities are taught now? No. “The drop in humanities enrollments has a lot to do with the pretentious and opaque theorizing that humanities professors have inserted between students and the study of history, literature and philosophy. Meanwhile, confused faculty and incoherent university curricula encourage students to equate liberal education with studying whatever they please. Education for freedom requires more systematic training.”