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

In WhatWe 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.

Lynn Pasquerella, a celebrated philosopher and medical ethicist, is president of the American Association of Colleges and Universities, former president of Mount Holyoke College, and coauthor of Ethical Issues in Home Health Care.