Liberal Education: What Is It? In this essay, Strauss argues that liberal education is education in or toward culture and that it is the means of establishing an aristocracy inside the mass society of a democracythat is, of progressing toward democracy as it was intended to be.
In This Article...
What is a liberal education?
In order to create specific learning outcomes that are necessary for employment, citizenship, and daily life, liberal education is an approach to undergraduate education that encourages integration of learning across the curriculum and cocurriculum as well as between academic and experiential learning.
In terms of educational philosophy, what is liberalism?
A liberal education is a program or approach to learning that is appropriate for the development of a free (Latin: liber) human being. The liberal arts of the Middle Ages or, more popularly now, the liberalism of the Age of Enlightenment serve as its foundation. According to the Association of American Colleges and Universities, it is “more a philosophy of education than a specific course or field of study,” and it “empowers individuals with broad knowledge and transferable skills, and a stronger sense of values, ethics, and civic engagement.” It is also “characterized by challenging encounters with important issues, and more a way of studying than a specific course or field of study.” It can include a general education curriculum that offers broad exposure to different disciplines and learning methodologies in addition to in-depth study in at least one academic subject. Its scope is typically global and pluralistic.
The 19th century saw the promotion of liberal education by theorists like F. D. Maurice, Thomas Huxley, and John Henry Newman.
According to Sir Wilfred Griffin Eady, a liberal education combines the teaching of values with education for its own purpose and individual enrichment.
The Second World War’s mobilization is frequently blamed for the demise of liberal education. A change away from a liberal notion of higher education studies resulted from the premium and attention placed on mathematics, science, and technical training. The trend for “universal education,” however, made it a focal point of much undergraduate education in the United States by the middle of the 20th century.
Why is a liberal education important? What is it?
Students who pursue a liberal arts degree are better prepared to engage in some of today’s most pressing issues, including those relating to the environment, foreign policy, social justice, national and international security, ethics, and all of the problems that face us as social beings.
