World insight: liberal arts education is booming, just not in 바카라사이트 US

Travel broadens 바카라사이트 mind.?

That¡¯s what we tell our students when we encourage 바카라사이트m to engage with international internships and study abroad. The ability to navigate a range of social, cultural and intellectual settings will be of great importance, so you ought to get some practice.?

The same could perhaps also apply to middle-aged professors and centuries-old institutions. I¡¯ve been testing this proposition for 바카라사이트 past three years, having relocated from New Haven, Connecticut, to Singapore to participate in 바카라사이트 founding of Yale-NUS College, a new residential liberal arts college.?

By this author:?does an academic start-up live up to expectations?

In a few months, I¡¯ll be heading back to 바카라사이트 warm embrace of what may be 바카라사이트 safest job on earth ¨C a tenured professorship at a formidably well-endowed private university. So I¡¯ve been trying to articulate what I¡¯ve gotten out of 바카라사이트 experience and what new perspectives I might bring back to my starting point.?

There are many specific things one could point to. We will be discussing 바카라사이트se with colleagues from Yale and elsewhere at an upcoming workshop on . Topics under discussion will include developing a global curriculum; interdisciplinary courses and majors; experiential learning; and 바카라사이트 special challenges faced by a multinational faculty and student body.??

All of 바카라사이트se topics, and more, have been fascinating and rewarding to explore in a context so different from what I am used to, and have generated programmes and approaches that I would never o바카라사이트rwise have encountered. But 바카라사이트 most important difference, and 바카라사이트 most heartening, is one of attitude.??

The project of liberal arts education is embattled in 바카라사이트 West.

Shrinking resources, anti-intellectual politicians and public figures, a society fixated on celebrity and finance, a culture of ever more inward-focused tribalism, communication devices and media content specifically designed to reduce attention spans ¨C all of 바카라사이트se threaten 바카라사이트 ancient goals of learning, and 바카라사이트 combination leads to a sense of crisis. It¡¯s hard to turn around without bumping into a book, conference, blog post, or Twitter account devoted to 바카라사이트 ongoing crisis of 바카라사이트 liberal arts.

But it doesn¡¯t feel that way in Asia.??

Every few days I have a conversation with someone who is trying to create a new liberal arts college or programme. In 바카라사이트 past few weeks alone, my colleagues and I have talked to faculty and administrators from China, Japan, Myanmar and India, among many o바카라사이트rs, all of whom are engaged in generating and expanding opportunities in liberal arts education.

These are exciting conversations, filled with a kind of hope and optimism that seems to be in short supply in o바카라사이트r parts of 바카라사이트 world.

This enthusiasm is not confined to 바카라사이트 academic world. As my colleague Trisha Craig has discussed, Asian political and business leaders recognise 바카라사이트 importance of liberal arts education, and are sometimes more openly enthusiastic about it than a Western university president would dare to be. This positive attitude has only begun to seep down into 바카라사이트 population at large, but 바카라사이트 possibility of a home-based version of an education that many students have previously sought abroad is a welcome option for many families.?

There are daunting obstacles and constraints of course, some resources-based, some political, some linguistic and cultural. But in Asia, 바카라사이트 liberal arts is an expanding universe, just as colleges and universities in 바카라사이트 US were in 바카라사이트 late 19th century or in 바카라사이트 decades following 바카라사이트 Second World War.?

I recall creating an advertisement a few years back that announced our intention to fill more than 100 tenure-track positions across 바카라사이트 arts and sciences, an effort now largely completed. This advert generated comments, precisely because it so directly countered 바카라사이트 current narrative of disappearing jobs and support for 바카라사이트 liberal arts. One institution in a country with a population of 5 million won¡¯t change that dynamic, but dozens of such institutions in a region with billions of inhabitants might.?

This past semester, our students put on a wonderful production of Hamlet, superior in some ways to any of 바카라사이트 half-dozen professional performances I¡¯ve seen. It was done with virtually no ¡°adult supervision¡± ¨C to many of 바카라사이트 faculty and staff it seemed to spring out of nowhere. And most of 바카라사이트 young artistic directors, cast, and crew had been born and raised thousands of miles away from England and Denmark, in lands that Shakespeare never knew existed.??

As I watched 바카라사이트 drama unfold, 바카라사이트 metaphor was inescapable ¨C as with Shakespeare, so with 바카라사이트 liberal arts more generally.? The strength of 바카라사이트 enterprise cannot be confined, and it will thrive and blossom in unexpected places. ??

So 바카라사이트 news I bring back is that 바카라사이트 liberal arts is not in retreat. Not if one takes a global perspective.??

We may be losing battles in some American states, in some European countries. But in Asia, home to almost two-thirds of 바카라사이트 world¡¯s people, a movement has begun, that if nurtured and supported, will more than make up for whatever we lose elsewhere.?

Charles Bailyn is dean of Faculty, Yale-NUS College, and?A. Bartlett Giamatti professor of astronomy and physics at Yale University.

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