The Hindu Business Line : Reinventing liberal arts education

The Women’s Christian College (WCC), under the leadership of its Principal, Dr Riddling Margaret Waller, has taken, in collaboration with the United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia (UBCHEA), the commendable initiative of organising on August 10-11 an international seminar for reinventing paradigms in liberal arts education.

Thereby, it has done a signal service to the cause at a time when the interest in it is waning to the extent of even knowledgeable persons being hazy about its exact meaning and significance.

The seminar is a comprehensive effort at bringing into focus its multifarious dimensions and benefits, convincingly establishing its importance and relevance as a seedbed of attributes and qualities without which even the much glamourised and sought-after technical and professional attainments will fail to serve the true and lasting purpose of education: A versatile mind and fertile intellect leading to an iridescent human personality.

To quote Cardinal Newman, perhaps the most gifted exponent of the value of liberal education: “General culture of mind is the best aid to professional and scientific study (nurturing) that state of intellect ... which can take up any one of the sciences or callings.... with an ease, a grace, a versatility, and a success, to which another is a stranger...”

The uncertainties surrounding liberal arts education were the subject of another two-day seminar in Dartmouth College in November 2004 under the rather ominous title: ‘Liberal education: Dead or alive?’ The prevailing opinion was that it was ‘barely’ alive, considering the fascination of most students for business administration and professional courses.

The most forcefully presented case in favour of redesigning the curriculum away from imparting general knowledge and developing general intellectual capacities, towards bringing about career orientation by means of a professional, vocational or technical curriculum was put forward by Dr Nicholas Negroponte, Chairman, Media Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

His thesis was that creativity and inventiveness flourished only in practical fields such as engineering and the business world and the work of traditional academics was not sufficiently ‘high-risk’ to test their mettle and enable them to make solid breakthroughs in fields of knowledge that count in today’s world. He was for the abolition of traditional departments in all universities, and encouraging scholars to become familiar with the new frontiers of science and technology.

The proposition is to be rejected out of hand, as it totally fails to take into account the beneficial effects of liberal arts education even in terms of enhancing job skills and career prospects.

New paradigm

There is a particularly well-written exposition in the web (thehighschoolgraduate.com) under the title, ‘Liberal Arts Education: A Foundation for Success” setting out capabilities derived from it that make for effectiven ess in every field of human endeavour: Capacities of analysis, critical reflection, problem solving, communication, computation and synthesis of knowledge from different disciplines.

Liberal arts education, in this perspective, is not something that runs counter to practical workplace requirements.

The essay emphasises its role in helping in the acquisition of competencies to deal with the complexities of business, commerce and trade, and concludes: “Viewed in this context, liberal arts education remains the most practical brand of education. Nothing else will equip us with the knowledge base, skills, habits of mind and values to function effectively and productively in the unknown world of the new century. It is society’s — and each individual’s — best investment for the future.”

Doubtless, therefore, the new paradigm of education should properly be a productive blend of both visionary and utilitarian elements, capable of contributing to a holistic approach to life and its challenges and inculcating innovation and original thinking on the one hand, and on the other, honing professional aptitudes and talents and pressing into service technological applications for the betterment of humankind.

B. S. RAGHAVAN