What We Value: Public Health, Social Justice, and Educating for Democracy

by Lynn Pasquerella, David A. Davis (Series Editor), David J. Skorton (Afterword)

In We Value , acclaimed bioethicist and educator Lynn Pasquerella examines urgent issues―the trauma of the COVID-19 pandemic, the student debt crisis, and racially motivated violence―with which Americans wrestle daily, arguing that liberal education is the best preparation for work, citizenship, and life in a future none of us can predict. Pasquerella addresses medical ethics and public health in the context of the pandemic, unpacks the current challenges surrounding free speech and inclusion on American campuses, and examines the growing racial and economic segregation in higher education. The author makes a forceful case for the value of a liberal education in providing the skills and competencies, alongside the habits of heart and mind, required to address the issues facing us all.

176 pages, Hardcover

Published January 25, 2022

Reviews

[Jonna Higgins-Freese · Rating 2 out of 5]

I tried to read this, but I couldn't. It asked me to be aghast at the terrible moral choices physicians had to make during COVID-19. I admire and respect many physicians. But I refuse to behave as though they are some sort of moral purists, constantly acting benevolently and now, suddenly, out of the blue, helpless victims of an evil system.

They've been creating the system for (at least) hundreds of years. They drove midwives out of the profession and were responsible for mass deaths of women due to the lack of infection control procedures. Since at least 1917, they have been one of the most strongly organized forces against health care as a human right in the US. 250,000 people die each year in the US due to poverty and lack of medical care. Physicians are in large part responsible for the continuation of that system. So let's not pretend that the moral choices they face on a daily basis occur in a vacuum to innocent people.

PRobably that's not actually what the author wants us to do. But the arguments presented struck me as so vacuous that I could not justify continuing.

[Kayla · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this to be dry, frustrating, and lacking depth. It regurgitated facts and statistics with no real analysis. At multiple points the author added unnecessary commentary and personal anecdotes that just reinforced her "I'm so great but look I'm also down to earth, yet superior" attitude. From page 119: "My son Pierce was one of these undergraduates. He started college wanting to go into television and film production and railed against what he saw as the hoops he had to jump through just to get behind a camera. One day, he walked into the library of the president’s house at Mount Holyoke to find me writing a paper; his father, who is an entomologist, studying a text; and his twin brother, Spencer, working toward his Ph.D. in African American studies."

[Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

I believe in the same value of liberal education Pasquerella does, but I don’t believe in the same America she does.