The previous post on this blog ended with this statement:  As someone put it, “the object of an open mind, like an open mouth, is occasionally to close it on something.”  In the next post I will offer what I believe that “something” entails in a liberal arts education. 

So, to follow through with that promise . . ..

III. The Substance of a Liberal Arts Education

While acknowledging that no one is likely to find this a startling revelation, I would argue that the “something,” the substance, of liberal arts education takes two forms:  knowledge and skills.  Allow me, by way of reminder, to “unpack” these a bit.

There is no question that some knowledge and facts are necessary if students are to be prepared to negotiate the very complex world that confronts us and stretches out in front of them.  But that we can teach them, help them learn, everything they need to know for any job or career is patently ridiculous.

The knowledge explosion is a reality and no one can keep up with all of it. 

What then can we do, ought we do, to educate our students for such a world?  I would suggest—or, perhaps, just remind you—that liberal education tries to do that in two ways.

One of them is to provide knowledge with a certain breadth, one that offers a framework, a template for understanding the complexity of the world, past and present.  This approach has traditionally resided in General Education curricula and it is the sort of locus classicus of liberal education in contemporary higher education.

This approach to learning is in part historical, in part contemporary, and—in my judgment—at its best, interdisciplinary.  It asks the questions that form the bedrock of an informed citizenry—e.g. 

• How did we get here?
• What are the grand questions that have motivated and advanced human life and understanding?
• What are the intellectual “tools” and resources that can help me navigate such inquiry?
• How is our modern world organized socially, politically, and economically?
• How can I negotiate that world? 
• What are my gifts and where is the place I can best develop them and usefully spend them? 

And at its best, it points us to the passionate nurture of curiosity—the quest to know for the sake of knowing—with the confident assurance that the knowledge itself will both enrich us and remain available for relevance yet to be discovered.

Then, most institutions of higher education invite (require) the student, on the basis of their understanding of their gifts and interests, to explore in depth some area of knowledge and skill—the “major.”  And the aims—the values—of liberal education, I would argue, are as relevant to any major discipline at all as they are to general education.

The second way liberal education tries to prepare students for the bewildering life-tasks ahead of them is in the development of certain skills:  for example,

• how to solve problems and to think critically
• to “learn how to learn”
• to learn how to communicate—to write, speak, and listen, effectively
• to learn to work both independently and in groups of diverse people where one must understand the dynamics of race, gender, class, and age. 

What the world of this 21^st century will require are persons equipped to live fully and well within a society of intense change, immense opportunity, and great hazard. 

This quotation from a recent New York Times op ed article by David Brooks appears to be relevant:

“Many working-class [people] have not been raised in those relationships that inculcate the so-called soft skills. A 2018 LinkedIn survey of 4,000 professionals found that training for those soft skills — leadership, communication and collaboration — was the respondents’ highest priority. They valued these flexible skills more than specific technical ones, and find them in short supply.” (“It’s Not the Economy, Stupid.” NY Times, 11/30/18)

The characterization of these as “soft skills” aside, apparently that is what those CEOs and Human Resource Managers mean when they laud the benefits of liberal education.   Here are few words from some of these folks as they talk about what they look for in job applicants: 

• Communication skills—both written and oral—are extremely important.
• Problem-solving is high on our list.
• We are going to need people who are broadly educated—conventional business skills are not going to be enough.
• A sensitivity to social issues is as important as sensitivity to the balance sheet.

Individuals who are thoughtful and creative, open to new ideas and capable of dealing with complexity, able to learn new techniques independently, comfortable with different cultures, and possessing effective communication skills are likely to thrive in this environment. 

These are all attitudes, abilities, and habits associated with a traditional liberal arts education and the shakers and movers of business and industry appear to know that.

Although these words of a well-known former “shaker and mover” are almost two decades old, they are truer today than when he spoke them:

“I would stress that, even with the increasing intellectual specialization [that is] so necessary . . . we also need to ensure that all students have a broad knowledge of the world at large.  Major technological advances are becoming increasingly interdisciplinary.  Many academics argue, I believe rightly, that significant exposure to a liberal education . . . broadens intellectual awareness, enhancing the ability to reach across disciplines to forge new ideas.  Thus. . . we should not lose sight of the advantages of a liberal education.” (Alan Greenspan, Chair, Federal Reserve, in testimony before the US House of Representatives, Committee on Education and the Workforce, September 21, 2000)

 In the final post, I will narrow the focus and suggest some programmatic considerations.