Considering Liberal Learning and the Health Professions

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE There has been much discussion concerning the relationship between an education in liberal arts and an education in a health profession. Some take a traditional view that the classics are the core of a liberal arts education, and therefore are separate from and preparatory for the professions.1 Others take a more contemporary view, such as using the arts or the humanities as supplemental instruction in certain areas of professional studies.2-4 In each view, the focus is how training in the traditional liberal arts can inform and be included in a professional (entry-level) course of study. This is reasonable and is the traditional way of approaching a liberal education in the professions.5 In fact, even some of the most progressive thinkers in the area, such as Lee Shulman and colleagues at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, still speak of a liberal arts education and a professional education as separate domains. A recent Carnegie-sponsored research seminar6 sought to “give public expression and form to a critical component of professional and liberal arts education” and spoke of linking “the training of ... other professionals with the core aspects of the liberal arts.” However, I ask you to consider the possibility that separating a liberal education from an education in the professions has distinct disadvantages and is not necessary. Further, I contend that a professional education can also be a liberal education.