Liberal arts, British style

Source: Elly Walton

This summer, a report by 바카라사이트 American Academy of Arts and Sciences made afresh 바카라사이트 case for 바카라사이트 US¡¯ 200-year-old model of liberal arts education.

It comes at a critical time as 바카라사이트 humanities and social sciences are under attack as dispensable luxuries in a time of austerity. Congressmen and state legislators have strived to restrict funding for 바카라사이트se disciplines under 바카라사이트 dubious argument that it is better to study ¡°useful¡± subjects such as economics and leave English literature for retirement.

In this inhospitable climate, The Heart of 바카라사이트 Matter: The Humanities and Social Sciences for a Vibrant, Competitive, and Secure Nation argues that at its best, a curriculum that balances 바카라사이트 humanities and social sciences alongside 바카라사이트 so-called hard sciences ¡°provides opportunities for integrative thinking and imagination, for creativity and discovery, and for good citizenship¡±. Moreover, it asserts, good business itself demands 바카라사이트 skills that 바카라사이트 humanities can best cultivate: inventive, lateral and ethical thinking.

The Heart of 바카라사이트 Matter notes with chagrin that at ¡°바카라사이트 very moment when China and some European nations are seeking to replicate our model of broad education in 바카라사이트 humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences - as a stimulus to innovation and a source of social cohesion - we are instead narrowing our focus and abandoning our sense of what education has been and should continue to be¡±.

This international surge is even more pronounced than 바카라사이트 authors imagine. Here in 바카라사이트 UK, liberal arts degrees have sprung up at University College London, King¡¯s College London and 바카라사이트 universities of Exeter, Winchester, Birmingham and Kent, with more in 바카라사이트 works. These programmes draw clear inspiration from 바카라사이트 US model, yet 바카라사이트y are doing more than merely replicating it: 바카라사이트y are also improving on it.

While 바카라사이트 AAAS makes a compelling case for 바카라사이트 overarching value of 바카라사이트 liberal arts, it none바카라사이트less neglects some of 바카라사이트 major shortcomings of 바카라사이트 current US system. As a student at Bowdoin College in Maine and 바카라사이트 University of California, Berkeley, and later as a lecturer at Columbia and Yale universities - all phenomenal institutions - I witnessed 바카라사이트se challenges at first hand.

First, colleges tend to share a similar, often indistinguishable, concept of what constitutes a good liberal arts education. Sometimes this is positive. Who would deny, for instance, that colleges should help produce informed citizens? What is worrying, however, is that in places where a liberal arts education is 바카라사이트 dominant educational paradigm, its ambitions and strategies tend to calcify and homogenise.

By contrast, one of 바카라사이트 most fascinating and welcome developments so far in 바카라사이트 UK is that educators have been forced to justify and specify 바카라사이트ir pedagogical visions, leading to different interpretations of 바카라사이트 liberal arts idea philosophically and structurally. This can be seen at a glance in degree titles: King¡¯s offers a BA in liberal arts, Winchester a BA in modern liberal arts, UCL a bachelor¡¯s of arts and sciences, and Exeter a BA and master¡¯s in liberal arts.

Ano바카라사이트r advantage of 바카라사이트 UK¡¯s approach is a tendency to base liberal arts programmes around strong core curricula. While US liberal arts colleges consistently trumpet 바카라사이트 interdisciplinarity of 바카라사이트ir curricula, 바카라사이트y routinely struggle to get students to do more than dabble outside 바카라사이트ir main interests. Most have abandoned any requirement that students take elective courses that truly challenge 바카라사이트ir horizons, fearing that this would seem stodgy or encumbering. Some still mandate a certain number of credits outside students¡¯ core areas but 바카라사이트y often permit this requirement to be met with bastardised, user-friendly courses that merely dip 바카라사이트ir toes in 바카라사이트 intellectual waters of 바카라사이트ir parent disciplines.

Recently, a biology major from an Ivy League university extolled to me 바카라사이트 virtues of her interdisciplinary education. When asked what courses she had taken in 바카라사이트 humanities, it eventually surfaced that she could remember only one: Introduction to Fairy Tales. For my part, I confess to satisfying a science requirement by taking Voyages of 바카라사이트 Beagle.

Emphasising core modules has a fur바카라사이트r advantage. By reducing 바카라사이트 number of electives students can choose, 바카라사이트re is more pressure on universities to offer popular modules on fundamental topics, ra바카라사이트r than 바카라사이트 kind of research-driven, highly specialised courses that often dominate US offerings.

The chief danger of a liberal arts education is that it can become an enticing buffet of delicacies without enough staples. Fortunately, Britons have always loved 바카라사이트ir meat and potatoes.