The Value of a Liberal Arts Education

Many people believe that liberal arts education is a refuge for those more inclined to “follow their bliss” than dedicate themselves to some serious or perhaps scientifically-centered pursuit. However, upon careful examination of the nature of a liberal arts education, it becomes clear that the liberal arts allow for the cultivation of a more comprehensive intellectual identity, with those pursuing them being challenged to adapt their thinking to a variety of theoretical and practical disciplines. Through this often challenging process, fundamental liberation of mind and spirit is achieved and the societal collective and its future is ensured for all time. Most importantly, a liberal arts education is available to all those who wish to pursue it, contrary to popular belief.

A liberal arts education can be defined as an education rooted in the improvement, discipline and free development of the mind or spirit. “If the gentleman studies widely and each day examines him-self, his wisdom will become clear and his conduct be without fault” (Tzu 9). Tzu speaks to the value of studying across a broad spectrum of scholastic disciplines for only through doing so can one liberate his or her mind from the shackles of a limited scope of knowledge. In this sense, a liberal arts education has the potential to compensate for natural human imperfections or shortcomings by simple virtue of exposing its students to a holistic assessment of the world, its history and its people. This sentiment is all the more true in light of our modern socio-political order and what it suggests about what might be necessary in order to ensure a civilized future.

As it stands, our youngest generation is ill-prepared to make meaningful contributions to an increasingly complex socio-cultural landscape; the world itself has never been more diverse with regard to nationality, ethnicity and social mores. A course of study that promotes problem-solving is one in which an authentic student-teacher relationship can be fostered for the benefit of civilized society. In this kind of educational context, the “knowledge construction process” truly takes flight (Banks 141). The “knowledge construction process” considers that some historical context must be provided for the student if he or she is to be able to meaningfully engage in the shaping of the future. If this process does not take flight in some way, shape or form, educational initiatives are all but useless as vehicles by which our future can be ensured.

In other words, if there is no “knowledge construction process,” the risks are many. If the principles of a liberal arts education are not imputed directly and efficiently to our youngest generation, systems of education and teaching are more likely to operate “as an instrument which is used to facilitate integration of the younger generation into the logic of the present system” than as a means for these younger people to “deal critically and creatively with reality…in the transformation of their world” (Freire 7). The context of a liberal arts education shapes and forms the intellect through the engagement of competing arguments, philosophies and understandings. Simply put, the “knowledge construction process” finds no finer expression than it does within 4-year liberal arts colleges.

Ultimately, knowledge can only be transmitted to a certain extent before the subject must determine whether he or she views knowledge as a worthwhile pursuit or simply as a means to an end. To be sure, “knowledge is capable of being its own end,” so a liberal arts education is of value even if it is not undertaken towards a particular end (Newman 55). Indeed, the greatness of the liberal arts education is that one may find the ends to which this education is a means through passionately engaging across the various disciplines covered by the liberal arts. A given student need not know anything beyond that he or she has some fundamental thirst for comprehensive knowledge in order to pursue this knowledge toward an end that will eventually materialize through dedication to this pursuit.

Of course, central to the transmission of knowledge across the liberal arts is the role of those expected to transmit such knowledge; namely teachers. If teachers are not dedicated to this process, their students cannot be expected to dedicate themselves to it. Unfortunately, a great many teachers are not familiar with the backgrounds of their students, which makes it difficult to develop a rapport that will allow the “knowledge construction process” to take flight. Nevertheless, these concerns only marshal in favor of an increased focus on liberal arts education in our nation, as only a broadly based approach to the transmission of knowledge has any hope of compensating for whatever shortcomings hinder the process itself. Thankfully, the world’s best institutions of higher education make their facilities available to anyone with a desire to invest themselves in them, as was often not the case in the past.

Today, almost every American institution of higher learning employs a “need-blind” admissions infrastructure, which grants admission to students regardless of whether they are able to fund their own educations. For those unable to secure grant money directly from a college or university, federal loans are available and other sources of public funding are accessible. Through accessing these institutions, those who have spent too little of their educational pasts engaged in the liberal arts, for whatever reason, can liberate themselves from restrictive forms of thinking and systems of educational order that only serve to curtail the imaginative capabilities of the human mind and spirit. The opportunities available at institutions maintain strong commitments to the field of liberal arts are extraordinary, not only on a personal level but also with regard to the long-term value of those opportunities, as applied to society-at-large, just as was the case when the liberal arts course of study was initially developed.

In antiquity, a course of study in the liberal arts was the functional difference between a free man and all other forms of citizen. The responsibilities entailed in citizenship were denied to slaves and otherwise uneducated members of the population, so those who could acquit themselves in public debate and the like were immediately distinguished as free people (Grafton, Most and Settis 12). As such, what was then considered the mark of an intelligent person capable of liberating his own self through the act of acquiring knowledge remains a standard by which most modern people assess members of civilized society—those without the capability to articulate themselves within various disciplines are considered less educated than others, and thus more dependent upon others for sustenance, in whatever way, shape or form.

Just as in antiquity, purely technical or occupation-based pursuits are often associated with those incapable of doing more in the way of acquiring knowledge. In the modern age especially, a functional understanding of history can be achieved in the liberal arts and this understanding is crucial to contributing to a modern age in which so many contributions are needed. While many of those contributions are ones that might be made without a liberal arts background, it is essential to the continuing evolution of civilized society to have these contributions made by those who have distinguished themselves as individuals capable of liberating their minds and bodies from the shackles of ignorance. Now more than ever, this task is highly relevant to the future, as the skills developed through a liberal arts education are the foundational ones associated with the ability and qualification to govern.

Increasingly, our politicians and lawmakers are uneducated or simply ignorant; these men and women do not have a liberal arts foundation upon which to rely and their engagement with civic management is marked by dangerous half-knowledge. The only means of ensuring that American Republican democracy continues to flourish is by encouraging the liberal arts as a means for the individual to liberate him or herself from the restrictive forces of oppression and then translate this liberation into a career dedicated to spreading its benefits across society. If this proliferation of liberal arts cannot be achieved, we risk ceding the management of our collective liberty to those who have not themselves undertaken to ensure liberty for their own parts. Such people are ill-equipped to ensure a future in which the liberational core of a liberal arts education is ensured, thereby ensuring a future of civility and self-determination, without which modern civilization is lost.

While a great many contributions to society have always been made and continue to be made by those with strictly technical or occupational backgrounds, the nature of human civilization has always relied upon those with educational backgrounds in the liberal arts for the purpose of progressing society towards some higher form of evolution. The means of acquiring this liberal arts background are available to all who choose to pursue it, though the effectiveness of those who transmit the knowledge inherent in a liberal arts education must also be ensured. Through encouraging a direct link between teachers and students, we can promote a “knowledge construction process” that ensures a liberal arts foundation for all those who will work towards a brighter future. This can only be achieved if teachers are able to transmit to students the value housed in an education that guides one towards the ability to speak confidently and independently on a wide variety of subjects and fields. If this is done, we will surely cultivate a generation of students with an appreciation for the liberal arts and the ability to navigate an increasingly complex world in which familiarity with socio-cultural complexity is essential to capacity for meaningful contribution to an ever-evolving world.

Works Cited

Banks, James A. “Approaches to Multicultural Curriculum Reform.” In J.A. Banks (Ed.), Race, Culture, and Education: The Selected Works of James A. Banks. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 1988. 140-144. Print.

Freire, Paulo. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. London: Continuum International Publishing, 1973. Print.

Tzu, Hsun. “Encouraging Learning.” Reading the World: Ideas That Matter. Austin, Michael. 2nd ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2010. 8-14. Print.

Newman, John Henry. “Knowledge Its Own End.” Reading the World: Ideas That Matter. Austin, Michael. 2nd ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2010. 53-59. Print.

Grafton, Anthony, Most, Glen W. and Settis, Salvatore. The Classical Tradition. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2010. 1-16. Print.</p