A strategy for teaching the liberal arts in collegs should include the study of American culture through the mass media as a major component. In an age of exploitative media messages and low audiovisual literacy on the part of the mass of media consumers, liberal education must be altered to include training in sophisticated media consumption. Such training can be accomplished through classroom structural analysis of the interrelationships between the culture and the view of that culture as projected by the media. A starting point can be the structural polarity of "abundance/scarcity," since the culture and the media reflect both the high standard of American living and the inflated desires of the citizens. Such media study can lead students to examine their own assumptions, values, and socio-political views so that they can more intelligently consume media messages. (CH)