The editorial addressing the future of Cornerstone One exposes a failure to understand why we are paying dearly in tuition to attend Simpson College rather than attending a trade school or getting a degree online; certainly these alternatives would save a significant amount of money. The thing that makes Simpson students more competitive in the job market – their ability to think critically – is precisely what would be eliminated if Cornerstone One is annihilated, as The Simpsonian suggests. There is no reason to pay so much in tuition to learn to a skill, but the quality of education available at Simpson is certainly greater than that. Studying Western Traditions is essential for understanding “the real world.” Apart from this grounding, we cannot grasp of what it means to be a member of society, contemporary America, the moral basis for movements to achieve social justice, or foreign relations. Liberal education is what gives Simpson College the reputation it has. To eliminate that quality is moronic. The accusation that Simpson leaves students ill-prepared to enter the real world shows a horrifying lack of thought. The primary purpose of a liberal education is to prepare students for participation in a free society. To become a “glorified trade school” is to degrade ourselves. Depriving ourselves of the advantages of being liberally educated reduces us to mindless consumers, slaves to more original thinkers and people of greater economic power.

– Junior Holly Pedersen