Liberal Arts Education Liberal Education:

Liberal Arts Education

Liberal education: What's in the box for me?

A prefer to answer the question 'Is it worthwhile for you to personally get a liberal education?' And my answer is definitely 'Yes'.

As I understand the question, it solicits my personal view on liberal education and its significance to my life. Hence, I will provide my subjective insights and how I deem liberal education will provide meaning to me and how I could apply it in order to answer the subsequent question 'For what?'

Before I present my arguments, I believe that a good understanding of the concept of 'liberal education', which is used interchangeably with 'liberal arts education', has to be set. Liberal education is defined by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AACU) as "a philosophy of education that empowers individuals with broad knowledge and transferable skills, and a stronger sense of values, ethics, and civic engagement... characterized by challenging encounters with important issues, and more a way of studying than a specific course or field of study." Closely related to this concept is the definition of 'liberal arts' of the same, which is "a college or curriculum aimed at imparting general knowledge and developing intellectual capacities, in contrast to a professional, vocational, or technical curriculum." I will expound my arguments based on these working definitions.

I will present two reasons why liberal arts education is worthwhile for me. The first is for the sake of knowledge and personal happiness while the second pertain on the importance of liberal education to the world, which I am an element of.

First, I have always been passionate about learning, not on a piece meal type but a holistic view of societal issues that I fervently believe interrelated. The classical times have passed and the Culture Wars of Athens are over, for which they believe liberal education had originated. Liberal education in the digital age where we are in today will offer a solution for that passion by exposing me to multiple disciplines and learning strategies. According to a paper by Robert Harris, liberal education will teach us "how to think," "how to learn," and allows us to "see things whole." More importantly, he posits, it contributes to happiness.

There are so many distractions in our world today as information and communications technology continues to develop and proliferate. With liberal education, it promises in-depth view on things. I do believe that one can't understand fully his work if other disciplines will not be considered. A general education is what I and everyone need to get the whole picture of a certain field of study, just as we need the past to study the present. It is quite impossible to say I want to be a doctor, so I will just focus on studying health theories and practices in medicine. Of course I would need knowledge on history, science and politics to name a few. Today, it is odd for us to remain detached with political issues. If that happens, then our country's populace will become passive, unquestioning of the rules infused by the country's leaders. Science is the foundation of medicine so most probably; I will not understand certain theories without looking at the history first.

Second, the twenty-first century brings in a knowledge-based economy that needs a thinking global citizenry. "During the past three decades, the work place has changed more dramatically than any other time in the history of the United States. Today, the ability to create new knowledge is quickly over shadowing the importance of manufacturing goods and services."

This insight by Dr. William Smith strengthens my belief that indeed, the world needs people who are thinking, not just laboring. While capitalism, which is defined by manufacturing, workers, and consumer goods, is important, there is also a pressing need to invest in the quality of learning. Skilled labor force will remain vital but we have also to adapt to the technological changes and get prepared to the challenges of our times and the coming future that could necessitate persons who have the ability and the disposition to try to reach agreements on matters of fact, theory, and actions through rational discussions." do believe that students who undergo the basics of liberal arts education as their foundation for higher learning, will find for themselves the motivation towards respect for learning and applying it to reality, as means to address our so many global problems politically, economically and socially.

To put it in simple terms, Mr. James O. Freedman who has written the book "Liberal Education and the Public Interest" (2003) says in an article in the New York Times that "A liberal education is what teaches people how to write and how to think and makes them much more valuable in the job market over a 40-year career than graduates of a preprofessional program." Further, he adds "All the employers will tell you that they're seeking the flexibility of mind that a liberal education imbues." Liberal education enthusiasts are the real answer to heal an ailing economy, like the U.S. economy today.