Dila Cakir

You don’t have to look far nowadays to see criticisms of higher education in the news. Related themes tend to be concerning rising tuition costs, grade inflation and the specialization and pre-professionalization of higher ed across the U.S. Just the other day, Cornell University released a 200-page report outlining the crisis that higher ed is facing, especially in the face of artificial intelligence. The committee argued that universities must graduate students with more human-centered judgment, and that this “judgment is the skill that learning produces, and it is the university’s most important contribution to a modern democracy.”

The capacity for independent rational thought is paramount to cultivating citizens who will work for the Common Good. Joseph McKeen, in his inaugural address as Bowdoin’s first president, said that “literary institutions are founded and endowed for the Common Good, and not for the private advantage of those who resort to them … But that their mental powers may be cultivated and improved for the benefit of society.” This guiding idea is premised on the belief that a widely encompassing education revolving around the humanities will cultivate citizens who have a strong sense of justice, civic duty and rational thought.

Although Bowdoin situates itself as a leading liberal arts college and holds a general advantage in the relative severity of these afflictions, it is not impervious to them.

First, Bowdoin’s tuition, not including housing and food, was $71,070 for the 2025-2026 school year, while 25 years ago, the 2000-2001 school year tuition was $32,650. That accounts for a typical Bowdoin tuition inflation rate of 4.2 percent each year, which outpaces general inflation (CPI) over the same timeline by 1.7 percent.

Second, in 1988, the average GPA at Bowdoin was 3.06, as reported in the Orient, and by 2005 the average GPA had risen to 3.33. In 2011, the Orient released an editorial which stated that “in a recent attempt to report on grade inflation by department, however, our reporter was met with tight lips.” Since then, it is my understanding that Bowdoin has not issued official reporting of average GPAs and grade inflation. One can only guess that grade inflation continued and even accelerated over the past 15 years, with informal student surveys that indicate a current average GPA of 3.5 to 3.7.

Finally, the percentage of recent Bowdoin graduates who go into finance, consulting or technology is around 45 percent. These changes are symptoms of a broader affliction of the optimization of the liberal arts degree for professional development. AI is only the parasite on decayed flesh.

The professionalization of the undergraduate degree is akin to what Plato criticized as the Sophistic approach to education, which aims to solely equip students with the practical skills necessary for professional success. Plato instead emphasized the importance of the Socratic method, which involves rigorous discussion and an interrogation of underlying assumptions about the way the world works and aims to achieve an understanding of the Good. This Form of the Good is much akin to our pursuit of an understanding of the “Common Good,” and deliberation of the great texts across the humanities is at the core of nurturing the rational rule of the soul and achieving an understanding of the Good.

In order to better elucidate the meaning of the Socratic method and the vital importance of deliberation in attaining an understanding of the Good, we should glance towards Oxford University. During my time studying at Oxford, I experienced their style of teaching called the tutorial system, where a few students met with their professor once a week to discuss that week’s topic. For students taking tutorials in the humanities, this oral examination was typically accompanied by a reading list and a paper of 2,500 words for each tutorial. All study was self-directed reading and writing, which was extremely liberating and helpful in building the competence a student should have in mastering oneself and forming habits of discipline. This practice struck at the heart of what the purpose of learning is. Self-mastery, grappling with difficult texts and effectively communicating complex ideas in debate are the cornerstones of producing critical thinkers capable of effecting change.

Harkness-style seminars best encapsulate the Socratic method at Bowdoin. It is in this setting that peers may test assumptions and arguments against one another and interrogate claims rather than receive lectures. However, only roughly one-third of Bowdoin classes have less than twenty students and are considered seminars. We ought to have more seminars and even tutorials. In the age of AI, the Socratic method is only more valuable as a model for learning, with self-directed study, rigorous deliberation, and a strong conception of what the Good is. Discussion allows students to practice the habits necessary to cultivate the independence of thought which self-government depends on. As Cornell noted, “judgment” is the college’s “most important contribution to a modern democracy.”

Philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville foresaw that materialism would serve as one of the gravest afflictions in our democratic age: citizens absorbed in private gain would withdraw from public life. We must resist the sophist and material afflictions pervading higher education, which is why I also believe that, in line with all the types of required courses we have at Bowdoin, we should introduce a required civics seminar. This would ensure that students lift their gaze from their private endeavors and back toward the “Common Good.”

Jack Higgins is a member of the Class of 2027.