scholarly journals The Worldwide Emergence of Liberal Education

2015 ◽  
pp. 2-4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kara A. Godwin
Keyword(s):  
General Education ◽  
Liberal Education ◽  
Liberal Arts ◽  
Critical Questions ◽  
Regional Trends

During the last two decades, liberal education (often called liberal arts or general education) has emerged with surprising prevalence in places where it has rarely existed before.  A new study provides an inaugural profile about where, when, and in what format liberal education is emerging worldwide, identifies regional trends, and raises critical questions.

Tradition and Change in the Curriculum of a Liberal or General Education

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. G. Mulcahy
Keyword(s):  
General Education ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Liberal Education ◽  
Liberal Arts ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Forthcoming Article ◽  
Late 20Th Century ◽  
Arts And Sciences ◽  
History Of ◽  
The 19Th Century

This is an advance summary of a forthcoming article in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education. Please check back later for the full article. The idea of a liberal or general education is one of the most consequential and enduring in the history of education. From its origins in antiquity, the idea and the form of liberal arts and sciences curriculum associated with it grew to become a shaping force in the formation of the universities of the Middle Ages. With the arrival of the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century both liberal education and the largely classical content of the curriculum ran into strong opposition. By the late 20th century the traditional idea and varying modifications of its conceptualization and curriculum content on both sides of the Atlantic were frequently reasserted. In response, discontent with liberal education and its curricular expressions took new and increasingly challenging forms. The debate surrounding the idea as applied today in both schools and colleges has a new vibrancy. This is especially evident among those arguing for innovative conceptualizations of the venerable notion of liberal education.

scholarly journals Cicero Versus Socrates: The Liberal Arts Debate in the 1960s at the University of Saskatchewan, Regina Campus

2003 ◽  
pp. 101-129
Author(s):  
James M. Pitsula
Keyword(s):  
General Education ◽  
Liberal Education ◽  
Liberal Arts ◽  
New Left ◽  
Political Movements ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Sixties ◽  
Student Power ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The University

The liberal arts debate among the faculty at Regina Campus in the 1960s reflected the social and political movements of the day, especially the rise of student power and the New Left. At the same time, it revived a much older debate about the nature of liberal education, which historian Bruce Kimball traces back to the thought of Socrates and Cicero. Kimball’s typology of “orators” versus “philosophers” brings order and clarity to what otherwise appears as a jumbled mix of conflicting viewpoints. The “oratorical” tradition favors general education based on knowable truth as a means to prepare youth for responsible and active citizenship. The “philosophical” or “liberal-free” ideal emphasizes the freedom to search for truth, an eternal quest that never attains its goal, and has led to the dominance of scientific research and the fragmentation of knowledge. The “orators” lost the sixties debate, and the “liberal-free” ideal is now almost uncontested.

The Counter Narrative: Critical Analysis of Liberal Education in Global Context

2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kara A. Godwin
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
General Education ◽  
Liberal Education ◽  
Liberal Arts ◽  
Public Funding ◽  
Current Trend ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Economic Framework ◽  
Policies And Programs

AbstractScholars who study higher education describe globalization as an inevitable force in postsecondary systems and institutions worldwide. Resulting trends include massification, privatization, reduced public funding, competition, and unprecedented student and faculty mobility. In the last two decades, another small but important trend has developed: the emergence of liberal education (often called “liberal arts and science” or “general education”) in cultures where it has rarely existed before. Discourse about this phenomenon is overwhelmingly positive. Using critical theory to analyze this evolving global trend, however, provides a much-needed alternative perspective for policy and practice. In this article, I define liberal education and provide an overview of the current trend based on a 2013 empirical study. In reaction to a dominant economic framework that rationalizes the development of liberal education programs, I present several counter narratives related to history, students and faculty, learning and teaching, access and elitism, and cultural hegemony. This article emphasizes the importance of critically analyzing new international higher education developments to increase the propensity for creating socially just policies and programs. Finally, I illustrate the implications for the global emergence of liberal education by suggesting that liberal education as a higher education philosophy could both reinforce and resist neoliberal practices.

Rethinking Liberal Education

1996 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Liberal Education ◽  
Liberal Arts ◽  
Liberal Arts Colleges ◽  
Approaches To Learning ◽  
Academic Departments ◽  
Substantial Contribution ◽  
Howard Gardner ◽  
Ernest Boyer ◽  
Education Needs ◽  
Changing Times

Liberal education has always had its share of theorists, believers, and detractors, both inside and outside the academy. The best of these have been responsible for the development of the concept, and of its changing tradition. Drawn from a symposium jointly sponsored by the Educational Leadership program and the American Council of Learned Societies, this work looks at the requirements of liberal education for the next century and the strategies for getting there. With contributions from Leon Botstein, Ernest Boyer, Howard Gardner, Stanley Katz, Bruce Kimball, Peter Lyman, Susan Resneck Pierce, Adam Yarmolinsky and Frank Wong, Rethinking Liberal Education proposes better ways of connecting the curriculum and organization of liberal arts colleges with today's challenging economic and social realities. The authors push for greater flexibility in the organizational structure of academic departments, and argue that faculty should play a greater role in the hard discussions that shape their institutions. Through the implementation of interdisciplinary and collaborative approaches to learning, along with better integration of the curriculum with the professional and vocational aspects of the institution, this work proposes to restore vitality to the curriculum. The concept of rethinking liberal education does not mean the same thing to every educator. To one, it may mean a strategic shift in requirements, to another the reformulation of the underlying philosophy to meet changing times. Any significant reform in education needs careful thought and discussion. Rethinking Liberal Education makes a substantial contribution to such debates. It will be of interest to scholars and students, administrators, and anyone concerned with the issues of modern education.

scholarly journals Incorporation of liberal education into the engineering curriculum at a polytechnic

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Devin R. Berg ◽  
Tina Lee
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Service Learning ◽  
General Education ◽  
Liberal Education ◽  
Engineering Curriculum ◽  
Engineering Programs ◽  
Cultural Engagement ◽  
Ethical Frameworks ◽  
Professional Careers ◽  
High Level

Traditional engineering education often falls short when it comes to the inclusion of issues related to social justice, ethics, and globalization. While engineering programs are required to include ethics content for accreditation, most seem to rely primarily on general education electives, providing only a high-level overview and including the bare minimum in the program core. This can lead to an inconsistent student experience and minimal exposure to topics which are critically important for achieving worldwide equity and operating responsibly in the engineering workplace. Given the role that engineers play in economic development, this is unacceptable. It is therefore the responsibility of engineering educators to find a better way to shape the future of the engineering profession. This paper outlines the early efforts at integrating the topics of ethics, social justice, and social responsibility more directly into the engineering curriculum. This is approached from the perspectives of pedagogy, curriculum development, and service learning opportunities. It is within this context that the authors hope to influence students' awareness of and connection to social and environmental issues as well as the ethical frameworks they develop and carry with them into their professional careers. This paper centers around the creation and delivery of a new introductory engineering course combining liberal education topics and introductory engineering topics. This course also includes a substantial design project which incorporates a cultural engagement component through collaboration with international partners. The first offering of this new course revealed that, while some reservations persist, students found value in exploring what it means to be an engineer in a broader global context.

scholarly journals A Study on the Educational Performance Analysis of Classical Education Based on Academic Interest Level

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 83-95
Author(s):  
Soon Koo Kwon ◽  
Seungjoon Yoon
Keyword(s):  
Liberal Education ◽  
Liberal Arts ◽  
Educational Performance ◽  
Individual Interest ◽  
Academic Interest ◽  
Classical Education ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Interest Level ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Education Performance

Recently, in higher education, both the necessity and the importance of a liberal education that contains an element of classical reading have been emphasized. However, it is difficult to find educational performance related with those educational programs. In order to investigate the educational performance of classical reading, surveys were given to students who were taking a ‘Reading Famous Writings’ course established at the Liberal Arts College of A university.Moreover, to investigate the differences in the educational effects of classical education, we conducted additional analysis according to the level of individual interest. To this end, pre and post surveys were conducted, which included a classical education performance scale and an academic interest scale.As a result of this study, we found that students who were taking this course improved certain competencies, namely, reading comprehension, communication, and creativity. In contrast, there was no improvement in academic interest, whether it be on an individual or situational level. However, we did find that the individual interest of students who were categorized as having a lower level of individual interest did indeed improve after taking this course. Through this study, we proved that some positive effects of a liberal education containing a classical reading element, especially as seen in the course called ‘Reading Famous Writings’, were experienced by the students.

scholarly journals A Study on the Development of Evaluation Criteria for Quality Management of General Education Curriculum

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. 309-324
Author(s):  
Jihye Kang ◽  
Bok-Eun Son
Keyword(s):  
Quality Management ◽  
General Education ◽  
Liberal Arts ◽  
Evaluation Model ◽  
Evaluation Criteria ◽  
Systematic Evaluation ◽  
Education Curriculum ◽  
Evaluation Tool ◽  
General Education Curriculum

This study was conducted to develop evaluation criteria to manage and improve the quality of the university's General Education curriculum. To this end, the evaluation area and evaluation criteria for the management of the quality of education were first derived through literature research. The evaluation tool obtained feasibility of feasibility verification and research results through two revised Delphi surveys (N=10). as well as through meetings with practitioners(N=7) in charge of quality management of the liberal curriculum. The results are as follows. First, this study developed a systematic evaluation criteria for the entire curriculum, such as curriculum development, support, operation, performance and improvement, rather than fragmenting the curriculum based on the CIPP evaluation model. Second, this study applied modified Delphi techniques to manage the quality of the General Education curriculum to derive a total of seven sub-items and 17 evaluation criteria. Also, the content feasibility (CVI) and inter-evaluator agreement(IRA) results developed evaluation criteria with a validity score above 0.80. Based on these findings, the university presented measures and implications for managing the quality of the liberal arts curriculum.

On Understanding Everything: General Education, Liberal Education, and the Study of Religion

PMLA ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 126 (2) ◽  
pp. 460-466
Author(s):  
Amy Hollywood
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
General Education ◽  
Liberal Education ◽  
Preliminary Report ◽  
Task Force ◽  
Oral Communication ◽  
The United States ◽  
Final Report ◽  
Ethical Life ◽  
Reason And Faith

In October 2006, the Harvard University task force on general education issued a preliminary report describing and justifying a new program of general education for Harvard College. Contending that “[g]eneral education is the public face of liberal education,” the task force enumerated what a person liberally educated in the twenty-first-century United States should know—or, perhaps better, know how to think about in reasoned and nuanced ways (Preliminary Report 3). The report called for seven semester-long courses in “five broad areas of inquiry and experience”: Cultural Traditions and Cultural Change, The Ethical Life, The United States and the World, Reason and Faith, and Science and Technology. In addition, the task force suggested that students be required to take three semester-long courses that “develop critical skills”: writing and oral communication, foreign language, and analytic reasoning (6). Not surprisingly, “Reason and Faith” generated some of the most heated discussion—and it was the first suggested requirement dropped by the task force, replaced in December 2006 by a new category, “What It Means to Be a Human Being.” By the time of the final report, this too was gone, replaced by “Culture and Belief,” an area of inquiry that may include the study of religion but is broader in scope than what was initially proposed (Report of the Task Force 11–12).

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.

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