Liberal Education

2021 ◽  
pp. 172-184
Author(s):  
James L. Heft
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Catholic Education ◽  
Liberal Education ◽  
Liberal Arts ◽  
Liberal Arts Colleges ◽  
Human Condition ◽  
First Century ◽  
Moral Formation ◽  
History And Literature ◽  
Human Sensibility

The sleepy liberal arts colleges that upperclassmen attended went through dramatic changes by the twenty-first century, both in the growth of numbers of students and in the focus of study: mainly technical, scientific, and commercial education. The liberal arts play a key role in Catholic education. The purposes of liberal education are discussed. One way to describe that purpose is not only to learn about history and literature but also, even more importantly, to learn from history and literature. In the Catholic intellectual tradition, moral formation, abandoned at most secular universities, remains important and strengthens virtuous habits, both intellectual and moral. Liberal education liberates the “fly in the bottle,” gives perspective through the study of history, and deepens human sensibility through literature and theological studies. In that tradition, the transcendent dimension expands the horizons of relevance and deepens sympathy for the human condition. In an age of social media, the relevance of liberal education becomes ever more obvious.

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.

Academic Glossolalia? Pentecostal Scholarship, Multi-Disciplinarity, and the Science-Religion Conversation

2005 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amos Yong
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Liberal Arts ◽  
Liberal Arts Colleges ◽  
Science And Religion ◽  
Natural Sciences ◽  
First Century ◽  
Institutions Of Higher Education ◽  
The Social ◽  
Twenty First Century

AbstractAs more and more Pentecostal institutions of higher education are being transformed from liberal arts colleges to universities, an increasing number of degrees in the social and natural sciences are being offered. At the same time, Pentecostals working and teaching in science and religion departments have not been engaged in the science-and-religion conversation in any measurable way. This essay attempts to chart the prospects for such an engagement by way of entering into dialogue from a Pentecostal perspective with three recent publications. Throughout, the importance and necessity for Pentecostal presence in the science-and-religion discussion is emphasized, especially with an eye toward revitalizing Pentecostal education, scholarship, and praxis for life in the twenty-first century.

Technical Writing and the Liberal Arts School

1979 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 271-279
Author(s):  
Arthur L. Ford
Keyword(s):  
Liberal Education ◽  
Liberal Arts ◽  
Liberal Arts Colleges ◽  
Technical Writing ◽  
Rhetorical Theory ◽  
Moral Issues ◽  
Technical School ◽  
Writing Courses ◽  
Writing Course

Liberal arts colleges that elect to introduce technical writing courses or programs into their curriculum face the dilemma of vocationalism vs. liberal education. This paper examines the philosophical differences between the two as well as their practical compatibility or incompatibility, and then argues for the union of technical writing and the liberal arts school while admitting certain reservations. The technical writing course at a liberal arts school should use a wider range of books and periodicals than should a technical school, should stress rhetorical theory and strategy, and should confront the moral issues resulting from technology.

scholarly journals Lemons Into Lemonade

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann Duncan
Keyword(s):  
Liberal Arts ◽  
Liberal Arts Colleges ◽  
First Century ◽  
Financial Strain ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
Curricular Integration ◽  
Effective Response ◽  
Existential Crisis ◽  
Community Based Learning ◽  
Small Liberal Arts Colleges

In response to shifting demographics, financial strain, and an existential crisis about their value and place in the twenty-first century world, small liberal arts colleges are changing -- some choosing to close while others make drastic changes to curricular and programmatic offerings to demonstrate innovation and adaptation. This paper will present a case study of these tensions and responses through discussion of one college’s simultaneous commitment to Interfaith Engagement and discontinuance of the Religion Major and Minor.  This reality crystalizes the tension and disconnect between the curricular and civic projects of interreligious studies and interfaith engagement. At the same time, this reality opens the door to a pragmatic solution that intentionally integrates these two in a manner that promises to provide both an effective response to a budget driven problem and a potential new paradigm for curricular and co-curricular integration and community-based learning for higher education as a whole.

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