Liberal Education: Is it Good or Bad?

Education is a weapon to understand the dynamics of life. In other words, education means acquiring knowledge which could either be formal or informal. Formal education hinders an opportunity for growth as it is confined to a specific curriculum. Whereas, informal education is the combination of skills, experiences, and mistakes that enable us to become well-rounded individuals.

Speaking about informal education, it is important to shed light on the need for a liberal arts education. This involves diversifying learning through technology, social studies, and cognitive skills. However, a clear sense of direction and instruction is also vital in order to obtain a degree.

How Liberal Education Helps

Hence, keeping in mind our socio-economic goals, here are some of the areas that we must incorporate for diversification in education.

Intellectual Abilities

Intellect implies the ability to think and come to a conclusion in a logical manner. Liberal education enables us to enhance our cognitive skills by learning the basics of various disciplines such as math, science, literature, and humanities. This interdisciplinary approach allows us to apply our knowledge to complex, real-life scenarios.

John Newman says “ It educates the intellect {126} to reason well in all matters, to reach out towards truth, and to grasp it “. (Discourse VI). He asserts that intellectual competencies are the core objective of liberal education. Also, the incorporation of critical and analytical thinking skills within young people leads to constructive criticism, better comparison of the past and current challenges, and finding their solutions accordingly.

Wisdom

Liberal education makes us more human. As we grow older, our experiences teach us to relate philosophy and literature with the harsh realities of life.

Also, liberal education promotes emotional intelligence. The way we behave, make others feel about themselves, and perceive our surroundings tells a lot about our morals and virtues.

Gradually, we become more tolerant, learn to respect each other’s differences, and adjust in diverse life situations. This further brings us to believe that good ethics and wisdom is vital to eliminate the gap between conventional education and liberal education.

Socially Responsibility

Liberal education also makes us more civilized by teaching us about the need to participate in the societal problems related to gender, global warming, and terrorism.

According to Newman “Society itself requires some other contribution from each individual, besides the particular duties of his {169} profession”. (Discourse VII).

This means that contributing to a particular profession will not help the society to progress. What we need to do is engage young individuals in political science and civil rights so that they get hands-on experience about how things go on in the world. In this way, liberal education is promoting sustainable development and helping to make this world a safe, livable place.

It would be reasonable to say that Newman profoundly advocates confining education to a curriculum followed by exams will not give rise to diversified learning.

Instead, we should promote the useful skills and knowledge that can be applied to other professions. According to Newman, “It is more correct, as well as more usual, to speak of a University as a place of education, than of instruction”.

On the contrary, there is a potential pitfall that comes along with this claim. Today, getting equipped with transferable skills such as good organizational and negotiating skills is important to really gain that corporate exposure.

Employers also demand sound oral and written communication skills as it allows to effectively gauge consumer psychology. Thus, this set of skills is only possible when universities implement a strict set of protocols in classrooms and periodically evaluate student performance.

Conclusion

The essence of liberal education is lifelong learning and the conceptual understanding of our surroundings. According to Newman, “But education is a higher word; it implies an action upon our mental nature and the formation of a character; it is something individual and permanent”.

Education is a broad aspect that incorporates technical skills and shapes our discipline, morals, and personality development. Even though liberal education is often deemphasized due to lack of employable skills and obsolete nature, it certainly outweighs the demerits by focusing extensively on intellect and character.