A Historical and Global Perspective on Liberal Arts Education

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kara A. Godwin ◽  
Philip G. Altbach
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
United States ◽  
Future Development ◽  
Liberal Education ◽  
Liberal Arts ◽  
Arts Education ◽  
The United States ◽  
Global Perspective ◽  
General Knowledge ◽  
Liberal Arts Education

Debates about higher education’s purpose have long been polarized between specialized preparation for specific vocations and a broad, general knowledge foundation known as liberal education. Excluding the United States, specialized curricula have been the dominant global norm. Yet, quite surprisingly given this enduring trend, liberal education has new salience in higher education worldwide. This discussion presents liberal education’s non-Western, Western, and u.s. historical roots as a backdrop for discussing its contemporary global resurgence. Analysis from the Global Liberal Education Inventory provides an overview of liberal education’s renewed presence in each of the regions and speculation about its future development.

The Erosion of Humanitas

Worldview ◽  
1974 ◽  
Vol 17 (7) ◽  
pp. 34-39
Author(s):  
Clyde A. Holbrook
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Liberal Arts ◽  
Arts Education ◽  
Liberal Arts Education ◽  
Cultural Economic ◽  
Social Differences ◽  
The People ◽  
The World ◽  
The Ideal

The role of higher education is crucial in a world that seems torn apart by cultural, economic, political and social differences, and yet is, at the same time, ever more closely drawn together by technology, travel, social and economic needs. Higher education offers no panacea for the disunity of this complex and confusing world. It should, however, contribute to a kind of understanding that spans the differences among the people of the world, or at least those within one country. In this connection liberal arts education is today in jeopardy, unsure of its competence to serve the ideal of humanitas that at one time was conceded to be both the stable ground and the ever elusive goal of higher education.

LIBERAL EDUCATION AND THE POSSIBILITY OF VALUATIONAL PROGRESS

2017 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Agnes Callard
Keyword(s):  
Liberal Education ◽  
Liberal Arts ◽  
Arts Education ◽  
The Self ◽  
Liberal Arts Education

Abstract:This essay discusses two ways in which an agent can make progress with respect to value: self-cultivation and aspiration. The self-cultivator becomes a more coherent version of the person she was before, acquiring beliefs or desires or habits or skills that serve her antecedent valuational condition. The aspirant, by contrast, acquires new values. The existence of aspiration is under pressure from those who would assimilate it either to self-cultivation, or to a change in value that is done to a person rather than a change that is her own work. I show that those two options cannot be exhaustive by discussing liberal arts education; it is, I argue, paradigmatically aspirational.

scholarly journals THE CONTRIBUTION OF LIBERAL EDUCATION IN THE SUCCESSFUL PERSON`S TRAINING IN THE UNITED STATES (ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE ENGLISH MAJOR)

2020 ◽  
pp. 195-213
Author(s):  
Olena Kozmenko
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Liberal Education ◽  
Liberal Arts ◽  
English Language ◽  
The United States ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Educational Process ◽  
Modern World ◽  
English Major

The article is devoted to the examine of the role of liberal education in general, and the English major in particular in the process of training a successful person in US higher education. Liberal Arts colleges have been training students in the country since colonial times and have always been characterized by high quality education. These colleges were charged with providing a broad-based education that would prepare students for a wide variety of professions. With the beginning of a new era, in the twentieth century, Americans' priorities changed and it was a devaluing of the humanities in favor of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and applied programs designed to prepare graduates for specific jobs and careers. However, understanding the importance of the humanities in the process of formation of decent American citizens and successful individuals encourages colleges and universities to look for ways to improve the effectiveness of liberal arts education, renew the educational process, and increase the competitiveness of the humanities in the U.S. labor market. English major provides unique opportunities for the formation of skills that are vital to a successful life. The efforts of higher education establishments to improve the situation with philological education and attract new students is analyzed in the article. The content of the educational program is considered, the data of scientists on its updating, examples of concrete innovations are given. The important role of English language and literature in preparing students for success after graduation, career prospects is confirmed by numerous American scientists` studies. The article presents the work of educators who prove the importance of liberal education in the formation of intellectual and moral qualities of the individual, tolerant attitude towards other people and cultures, critical thinking skills, productive communication, collaboration as well as active citizenship. Also in the article it is considered the relevance of the English major in modern world and career prospects for specialists in English philology.

scholarly journals Undergraduate Research-Methods Training in Political Science: A Comparative Perspective

2010 ◽  
Vol 43 (01) ◽  
pp. 121-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Parker
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
United States ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Research Methods ◽  
Education System ◽  
Liberal Arts ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Science Curriculum ◽  
The United States ◽  
Higher Education System

AbstractUnlike other disciplines in the social sciences, there has been relatively little attention paid to the structure of the undergraduate political science curriculum. This article reports the results of a representative survey of 200 political science programs in the United States, examining requirements for quantitative methods, research methods, and research projects. The article then compares the results for the United States with a survey of all political science programs in Australia, Canada, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. The results suggest (1) that the state of undergraduate methods instruction is much weaker in the United States than indicated in previous research, (2) this pattern is repeated in other countries that emphasize broad and flexible liberal arts degrees, and finally (3) this pattern of weak methods requirements is not found in more centralized, European higher education system that emphasize depth over breadth. These countries demonstrate a consistent commitment to undergraduate training in research methods that is followed up with requirements for students to practice hands-on research. The model of weak methods requirements in the discipline is not the norm internationally, but differs depending upon the type of higher education system.

scholarly journals The iPad Pilot Project: A Faculty Driven Effort to Use Mobile Technology in the Reinvention of the Liberal Arts

2015 ◽  
pp. 1-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark K. McBeth ◽  
Kandi Turley-Ames ◽  
Yolonda L. Youngs ◽  
Laura Ahola-Young ◽  
Amy Brumfield
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Student Perceptions ◽  
Mobile Technology ◽  
Liberal Arts ◽  
Pilot Project ◽  
The United States ◽  
Liberal Arts Education ◽  
Technology In The Classroom ◽  
Use Of Technology

Mobile technology is pervasive in society and in particular among young people. The use of such technology in the classroom can be controversial and case studies and data on student perceptions of the technology are rare. This study presents the results of an iPad Pilot Project sponsored by a college at mid-sized university in a rural area in the United States. The study intersects the use of the iPad in the classroom with the reinvention of liberal arts education. Using case studies and student perceptions from survey data, the study concludes that the use of the iPads in the classroom can enhance critical thinking, collaboration, and participation and that the iPads were not a distraction in the classroom.  The study details the different uses of the iPad in the classroom and how the technological use addressed several different problems raised by the use of technology. 

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