Liberal Arts: A Classic Education for the 21st Century

October 9, 2006

A classic is never quite the latest fashion but is always very much in style. This applies to Thunderbird convertibles, Beethoven, black-tie events and to a liberal arts education. The liberal arts tradition is often criticized for being elitist, impractical and old-fashioned. In fact, it is arguably the most universal, practical and up-to-date educational preparation for the 21st century.

The liberal arts tradition has roots in ancient Greece where it was associated with "those who were free"— hence the use of the word liberal. It was a way of learning for people who, unlike slaves and women, did not earn a living through physical labor. It was an education for citizens — those who had the burden of caring about values, community, justice, and for what it meant to live good lives.

The liberal arts were dedicated to developing those capacities associated with being human — critical thinking, the use of language, the formation of civil societies, and the capacities for moral and spiritual choice, for creativity, curiosity and humor. Over the centuries, a liberal education became associated with a wide range of particular disciplines. But it was always dedicated to the same purpose — the disciplining and enlarging of our critical, social, imaginative, moral capacities.

So how does this make a liberal education critical for life in the 21st century?

First, a liberal arts education matches the needs of a world committed to the democratic ideal of making all people citizens rather than subjects. True citizenship is not just a matter of marking a ballot. It is a matter of caring about what makes good leaders, what makes it possible for individuals to flourish within their communities, and what kinds of trade-offs are worth making as a society. Elections without a liberally educated citizenry produce, at best, shallow public discourse, unrealizable campaign promises and an apathetic public. At worst, they yield a civil society of calculated political "spin," narrow self-interest, economic corruption and moral compromise. If we want real liberal democracy, we must promote a liberally educated citizenry. It is not just for the elite. It is for all citizens.

Such education is also the most practical for a world that is increasingly fragmented by academic discipline, religion, ethnicity and class — but, at the same time, increasingly unified by communication channels, technology, environmentalism and market forces. Whether someone becomes a doctor, teacher, CEO, plumber or media personality, that person is also a human being. There will be value decisions to make (think of Enron) and judgment calls to decide where there is no rule book. And, there will be interpersonal interactions that needs to be gracious, respectful and clear instead of rude, dismissive and muddled.

An education that trains human beings to communicate clearly, to think well, to deal with people of other cultures, to care about community, to value moral and spiritual maturity — while training them for particular careers — is the only truly practical education for the complicated cultural and technological realities that lie ahead.

Finally, a liberal education is the only education that can possibly stay up-to-date over a lifetime. Change is more rapid now than at any time in history. The implications for how work is done, how we communicate, how we make ethical decisions in areas such as health care, are unimaginable. The only hedge against this pace of change is an education that has taught us how to learn, how to evaluate the quality of information, how to make judgments and where to look for wisdom about aspects of humanness that persist over time. Whatever changes lie in front of us, humans will need to know how to build lasting relationships, strong communities and a sense of responsibility alongside a sense of entitlement. We need to learn how to have hope for the future where there has been a history of much despair.

The 21st century is uncharted territory. We do not know what it will bring. We do know what we as human beings bring to it. A classic liberal arts education that prepares us to be wise, to be discerning, to be good listeners and good communicators, to pursue justice, to recognize and value goodness and beauty is truly the most universal, practical and up-to-date education that we have. It is an investment worth making for any individual, for our society, and for our world.