Purpose of Liberal Education - Essay Example

? PURPOSE OF LIBERAL EDUCATION 18 October Purpose of Liberal Education Liberal education is probably the most important form of education in the world today. It was started in the ancient Greece times but credited to the Romans for what it is today. According to Kimball and Conant, liberal education has a number of purposes. The main objective of the liberal education is to have a well rounded individual who can make sober decisions, address problems encountered and be of value to the society and the world at large. Liberal education can be accredited for positively changing the ancient society and has a great potential to change the world today, with the problem solving, knowledge of the world and varying societies and effective communication skills of the current liberal education graduates. Help learners to live their own life: According Conant, liberal education help learners to live their own lives. They are able to make sober decisions on what is best for them and what is not. Liberal education teaches the learners many things about the society, the world, and how to handle different issues. When liberal education students come across something that is not right, they would be able to address the issue according to their understanding of that societal issue. As Western Washington University puts it, liberal education enables the learners to lead an interesting life and to intelligently shape the world positively. Each of the liberal education graduates solving their own problems and issues within their society leads to a greater good for a region and the world at large. 1 Though liberal education can help learners live free as ancient philosophers postulated, some opponents have an issue with it. Conant notes in his article that liberal education was started by slave owing people in the ancient times. He clearly states that the society was comprised of the free and slaves and rulers and subjects. The latter did not have any freedom and were mostly under the free and the rulers who determined practically anything in the society. It is interesting that it was claimed at that time that liberal education brought a sense of freedom and was for the free. As such, liberal education could not make sense, at that time because there were slaves. In fact, Conant wonders the contradiction in the ancient society. The world has changed a lot in the present times and there are no cases of slavery anywhere in the world. As such, liberal education stands a better chance to be appreciated as everyone is a free person.2 Value to the society: There are many issues that are arising in the world today and spark heated debates among the opponents and proponents of such issues. Liberal education graduates can come in handy in such scenarios and advice on what should be done to make the issue acceptable by the society. From the articles by Conant and Kimball, liberal education learners were expected to have enough knowledge on their respective city states to address any issues that may arise. Likewise, the liberal education graduates in the world today should be able to solve issues that arise in the society. As the world becomes more dynamic, a lot of changes are proposed and they may not be accepted by all the people in the society according to their believes and view points. Liberal education graduates would be of great value to articulate the issue and present the best recommendations for the different sides to accept each other. Make important democratic choices: Conant notes that liberal education has an impact on making democratic choices. According to him, people who have studied liberal education are likely to analyze political leaders to determine whether they are good for them or they are not. Their understanding of societal issues and people as well as great communication skills help them to understand the leaders thereby determining whether they are capable of addressing the societal issues or not. In that regard, liberal education would be important for the well being of the society. Many people taking the course would ensure that each of them makes important decisions like electing democratic leaders is done the right way. Liberal education would be of great importance to the various jurisdictions in the world, if most people in the society understood the value and learned this form of education. Their unanimous decisions in electing good responsible leaders would be the driving engine. Heritage: Conant believes that liberal education is a form of heritage. He claims the way liberal education is great history and the way it was used in the ancient times can be of great benefit to the world today. Liberal education included Christian, general and special education in the ancient times. In fact, Conant points out that liberal education leads to spiritual healing. Christian education in liberal education showed that a person had mutual obligation and dignity in the society. The current modern world appreciating this would greatly improve the perspective on liberal education in the modern world and the benefits that come with this form of education. Problem solving: Opponents of liberal education believe that time for this form of education is passed and should be done away with. According to them, liberal education should have provided the much-needed solutions to prevent and solve crises in changes. Kimball states “there were changes in Greece and educated people were required to have democratic city state skills like Judicial, deliberative and epideictic oratory which were later known as an invention, arrangement and memory” The article by Conant states “the true value of education is to reconcile the sense of pattern and direction from heritage, with the sense of innovation and experiment in science” regarding this theory.3 Liberal education students are taught and trained to look at issues critically, analyze problems and come up with solutions. As such, they can address any issues that they come across as long as they have the necessary resources and time to look at the specific issue keenly and critically. In fact, liberal education is the driving engine for some of the most successful companies and institutions across the world. This is because people who have studied liberal arts are good at critical thinking, solving problems, interacting with others, have good writing and communication skills and are able to synthesize and analyse any form of data effectively and efficiently. Companies and institutions are looking for people who can do all this for the better of the company. People with a liberal arts education have been confirmed to solve unimaginable problems and issues. The Apple Owner, Steve Jobs stated, “The reason that Apple can create products like iPad is because we always try to be at the intersection of technology and liberal arts, to be able to get the best of both,” while presenting the iPad two. He went on further to state “It's in Apple's DNA that technology alone is not enough. Its technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, which yield the results that make our hearts sing.” These comments can show just how liberal arts education can have a great impact on a company. Current status: According to (Kimball, 1983) “Liberal education has been ignored a lot by the government, in the current times”. This clearly shows that the opponents of liberal arts are not only in the society but also in the government. The Congress requested the formation of a new national commission on the arts and humanities to reduce funding for liberal education. Interference of liberal education by powerful government institutions is of grave concern to liberal arts specialists. They wonder why the government does not understand the importance of liberal education to not only the community but the entire country. Liberal education is what is needed to foster changes in the government, business and society but the governments. Research on liberal arts students and other courses students proved that liberal education is the way to go. According to that research, students taking liberal arts are more likely to complete their bachelor’s degree, satisfaction with their respective faculties and scored higher in critical thinking and problem solving, which is common in higher-education studies like masters and PhD. Despite this benefit, the demand for liberal education is decreasing remarkably. People nowadays are choosing courses that have more money like practical science and computing technology. Kimball feels that the current trends are sabotaging the liberal education. The importance of liberal education is also sabotaged by even the people responsible for education in colleges, the professors. Conant states “Professors and education experts’ lack knowledge of liberal education and running public schools.” Their lack of knowledge on this particular subject is worrying as they cannot train the learners in the way they are supposed to be trained. Conant is worried that with that trend, liberal education would come to an end and the world would practically run into chaos. He proposes that the relevant government bodies and institutions should take it this seriously. They should ensure that some people take liberal arts courses at least. This should help all institutions across the world to operate well and solve critical issues and problems. In addition, students taking other courses, for example, business and political sciences should be encouraged to take minors in liberal education and the arts. Skills and knowledge gained through liberal education should help them run institutions, own business and their political agendas easily. This would make institutions and businesses better in running and making profits. Conclusion Liberal education is the most important form of education. This art promises to solve major problems through critical thinking, teamwork and understanding of societal and world problems through the people that study it. They have the potential to change the world positively. Liberal education faces a lot of challenges in the twenty-first century sparking heated debates between the opponents and proponents. Despite the challenges, liberal education has proved to be important in maintaining the well-being of the society and the world at large. Bibliography Conant, James. General education in a free society. Cambridge: Havard Printing Press, 1945. Kimball, Bruce. Founders of “Liberal education”: The case for Roman Orators Against Socratic Philosophers. Teachers college record. 85 (1983) 225-49. Western Washington University. General University Requirements (GUR) 2013-2014. Last Modified 24 October 2013, http://www.wwu.edu/depts/registrar/pdfs/gur.pdf Read More