The Importance Of A Liberal Arts Education

My son came home with a Pre-K report card; I read it and was thrilled. My husband read it and was baffled.

I read it and anchored on the lines that really matter: “He excels quickly in all his math assignments and has mastered the math and reading concepts presented.”

My…

— Katherine Boyle (@KTmBoyle) November 11, 2025

My son came home with a Pre-K report card; I read it and was thrilled. My husband read it and was baffled.

I read it and anchored on the lines that really matter: “He excels quickly in all his math assignments and has mastered the math and reading concepts presented.”

My husband focused on the extra full page on “social emotional growth” commentary and looked confused the whole time. “What does any of this mean?”

“Nothing,” I said. “Ignore it.”

And then that evening we explained to our son the lesson that is going to get him through his life: “People will put up with many things if you are excellent at math. You’re so good at math. We’re proud of you.”

And that was that.

There are many important posts going viral today about the tragedy of young men. Combatting the systems that seek to destroy their nature begins in the home, and it begins young.

I don’t care about the “social emotional growth” of my sons because I know what values we’re instilling in them. Telling them what really matters begins with dad and mom.

The family can be a reprieve from all the nonsense. It requires constant vigilance, but it’s the first step in preparing them for the madness outside.

An example in one tweet. 

The takeaway here is that, as long as you dominate in math, you can be as big an asshole as Elon Musk.

I worked (briefly) for s lawyer who was widely known as the biggest asshole in town. He was a very smart bankruptcy lawyer, and nobody hired him for his personality. His law firm also had a very high turnover rate, because nobody wanted to work with him. He hired me because I’d worked for a better lawyer who, he told me, had “kicked his ass in court” once upon a time. That lawyer was also a better person.

Too many of you see a boy who’s good at math and bad at “circle time” and are proving my exact point.

“Many things” doesn’t mean he’s a monster kid- it refers to a range of difference that’s beaten out of boys as “deficiency” “weirdness” or “hyperactivity”, which is what state…

— Katherine Boyle (@KTmBoyle) November 11, 2025

I don’t think he’s a monster kid; I just think you’re well on the way to making him one. I never got in trouble for my report card, the way I got in trouble for a less than perfect grade in conduct. I learned early on my social skills came first (what I had of them), not my ability to do math. And my father was an accountant; his whole job was about arithmetic. But he always encouraged my pursuit of liberal arts. And he always expressed expected me to be a good person. Even when I was a young boy.

“As the twig is bent, so grows the tree.”