Redefining liberal arts education in the twenty-first century

Abstract

Redefining Liberal Arts Education in the Twenty-First Century is a collection of essays written by scholars espousing the value of a liberal arts education and its relevance for our modern world. Liberal arts addresses societal issues through a particular skillset that pairs knowledge and resources with a readiness to participate as a “culturally literate citizen” (p. xiii), regardless of discipline or specialty. In a world where liberal arts programs are increasingly challenged to prove their worth, these essays focus on the “extraordinary opportunity” (p. xvii) afforded faculty, students, and administrators to integrate the tenets of a liberal arts education with real-world experiences that cross disciplines. Supporters and participants in the inter/cross disciplinary field of General Education will be well served to read practical examples of how liberal arts knowledge factors in innovative curricula and across disciplines to address digital literacy, emerging technologies, STEM fields, current pedagogy, and social issues.In his foreword, William D. Adams ascribes “fundamental intellectual capacities” (p. xi) to be found and developed within the liberal arts: communication and analytical skills. The very practicality of those skills proves necessary to fully educate and equip “culturally literate” (p. xiii) citizens with resources for life’s work. How can this be accomplished? First, it is essential to define the liberal arts in terms of their relevance to the lives students will lead. What is most important for students to learn? How can core competencies of a liberal education be defined and then integrated across multiple disciplines? Adams advocates integration over specialization (p. xv) and urges liberal arts educators to work in tandem with the sciences and technological fields to advance learning, technology, and the realization with that potent combination we might truly “educate the whole person” (p. xvii). With regards to education, this integration of skills into “spheres of work, of citizenship, of culture” (p. xiv) allows for unfettered conversations and perspectives that holistically address the student’s abilities to enter into and contribute to a culturally diverse world (p. xiii).After the foreword, Candis Pizzetta briefly traces the development of a liberal arts education comprised of goals originally designed for “the ideal citizen” (p. 3), yet clearly separated from the sciences. While sciences successfully connected with businesses and became associated with economic gain, liberal arts departments continue to face declining enrollments and a “perceived lack of economic value” (p. 4). To counter this trend, Pizzetta calls for liberal arts to collaborate across disciplines and assert a relevancy to society with its skillset, thereby making clear the value of a liberal arts education.The book is organized into six main sections, each with three essays detailing a different aspect of liberal arts in today’s world and potential methods for integration throughout an educational curriculum. Part I discusses the relationship between digital humanities, technology, and the liberal arts as it includes collaborative classroom activities to pair technology with observation and analytical skills that foster varied perspectives and experiences. Integrating benefits from art history exercises with typical STEM training, for example, connects logical thinking with the power of analysis and visual literacy. Slogans like “STEM to STEAM” encourage this integration while noting the value inherent in both disciplines. The need to not just wedge art classes in with STEM, but to capitalize on the strengths of each program increases the likelihood of future innovations in multiple fields.Part II continues that thread, focusing on how skills from a liberal arts education can easily be shared between disciplines; visual literacy, observation and analysis, and even attention to meaning manifested in physical movement (dance) can increase abilities for students regardless of their specific field. Indeed, the book reminds us that the development of exemplary written, cognitive, and social skills, in all actuality, hold necessary for most careers whether in the sciences or arts. Direct correlations are made between art history, medical students, businesses, and police officers who participated in visual arts training with critical inquiry. Core curricula tends to feature communication and humanities subjects to establish basic skillsets but should also prepare students for a broader perspective: “Liberal arts education holds the potential to play a significant role in responding to social problems by helping students to develop a range of intellectual and practical skills, social responsibility, and a general understanding of the world at large” (p. 82). In short, as Noah Charney states, a liberal arts–focused education “teaches students how to learn” (p. 77) and those lessons prove essential in STEM studies as well in the arts. For both Parts I and II, additional examples for the successful implementation of activities successfully bridging disciplines would be helpful.Part III discusses pedagogy, with authors emphasizing the need to practice these foundational skills, whether translating observations into analyses or practicing creative skills that “lead to art, inventions, advancements, spirituality, empathy, and social change” (p. 106). The aim of such practices leads to making connections not only between ideas, but between fields. Interdisciplinary connections prove possible between wildly different fields that nevertheless find a commonality in their approaches and required skillsets.It will take courage and creativity to make these interdisciplinary connections, and not just for students. According to Kathy Root Pitts in the chapter “Flexible Thoughts for the Test-Focused Students,” “Teachers fear allowing students to practice their creative reasoning processes gradually. Rather, they leap into simplified and cautious reiteration of facts, so that creative learning is seldom reached” (p. 108). In contrast to limits inherent in standardized testing, a liberal arts education is presented as one method by which student interests can be deepened, encouraged, validated, and engaged.Critical thinking skills and the ability to assess, entertain, and communicate diplomatic solutions continue to be essential skills in the workplace and into a global sphere; there is then work to be done in communicating the value of a liberal arts degree, the skills gained therein, and the ability for graduates to get jobs and contribute to society in a meaningful way. Ours is a global society where different histories, perspectives, and threats must be viewed through a liberal arts lens. Said another way, “critical times call for the use of critical thinking. In other words, one must think like liberal arts majors” (p. 127).Part IV turns somewhat abruptly to various writing approaches and the need to expose students, particularly those from marginalized backgrounds, to safe environments where writing processes can be practiced and shared. Faculty, too, benefit from assistance in rewriting assignments to better reflect their end goals, especially when those goals are revised to cross disciplines.When curricula are modified to include writing instruction at different stages and in various fields, those exercises encompass other opportunities whereby students develop observational and critical thinking skills that supersede individual class syllabi, including the weight of personal histories and cultural backgrounds, emphasizing the value of learning over merely earning credits. Liberal arts classes teach students how to think better by learning how to write better.That concentration on fundamental skills turns to social issues in Part V. Readers are reminded of the need to challenge student-learners with “critical thinking, collaboration, and self-evaluation” (p. 200) and a sense of personal responsibility as a means to empower civic learning for active citizenship.As a part of that citizenship, the responsibility to experience, assess, and test academic freedoms holds true for both students and faculty. The stakes are high, as Katrina Byrd asserts in “Not All Apples Are Red”; “in their quest to build an educational system that preserves democracy and embraces equality, the framers of the American educational system failed to educate thinkers” resulting in “a system rooted in conformity and inequality” where “students are unaware that they play a role in their own education” (p. 200). The relevance of a liberal arts education is therefore further found in introducing students to controversial ideas and preparing global learners across institutions.With a focus on the African American experience in Part VI, the role of history and its relevance to an innovative education and global perspective is explored. A liberal arts education provides opportunities for students of every background to address “the free exploration and expression of ideas . . . through a critical and intellectual lens” (p. 184) within the classroom; this perspective should then be applied across multiple genres, including “culture, politics, and technology” (p. 183) and into the larger world. Critical thinking is only strengthened with further discussion and collaborative experiences between institutions, businesses, and governments, and these chapters offer practical suggestions on improving the classroom experience and power dynamics between teacher and student to access collaborative learning. This type of education is at once forward thinking and mindful of history and prepares student-learners—all lifelong learners—to “deal with complexity, diversity, and change” (p. 258).Liberal arts students, then, should engage in classroom situations and experiences that prepare them to adapt to “digitization, globalization, outsourcing . . . to a knowledge-based economy and the need for constant innovation [found in] the forward-thinking ability to position for the future” (p. 243). In this way, the skills gained from a liberal arts experience might immediately be applied to a variety of careers and disciplines. To this end, the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) suggests adding specific skills to bolster the “soft skills that form the foundation of a liberal arts education” (p. 261) and increase the number of careers for which graduates might be suited. Unlike some fields of specialization, liberal arts education finds its value in adapting a wide variety of skills to reason, problem-solving, and bridging seemingly unrelated fields. Indeed, the relevance within a liberal arts education can be found in how students connect knowledge back to real-world experiences, better equipping them to perform outside the classroom while integrating “data-driven decision-making skills for lifelong critical and creative thinking needed in all facets of life” (p. 243).Still, reform is needed. The challenges of a “politically and culturally divisive climate” (p. 244) encourage educators to provide creative and new learning opportunities for students to practice “research [literacy] in futurism” (p. 247). Faculty need to be active, lecture well, and establish and engage students in collaborative relationships. Faculty are challenged to innovate curricula, not merely tying class and program goals to core competencies but integrating them within the sciences and other disciplines. The natural pairing between art history and observation-heavy experiences has proven possible, but additional research is needed to quantify necessary strategies, benefits, and directives going forward. Educators are urged to “provide market-ready students . . . to [meet] global workforce requirements [through] transdisciplinary alliances, and community-spirited coalitions” (p. 247).As Leon Botstein warns, “We place the liberal arts in peril by not integrating the sciences and mathematics (and that includes computer science) into the substance of the humanities and social sciences” (p. 264). A liberal arts education remains relevant in teaching students to adjust and innovate with proven, specific skillsets. Students graduate with experience in approaching problems and considering multiple perspectives. Early student experiences should therefore include philosophy, communication, and art history courses while providing writing instruction and opportunities to develop observational and critical-thinking skills applicable across disciplines so that students can graduate on time or early with lucrative job opportunities. A commitment to “transdisciplinary teaching” supports the inclusion of multiple fields, skills, perspectives, varied student experiences, and student diversity “within a context that bridges futurism and research . . . in an era of increased competition and accelerated change” (p. 247).Redefining Liberal Arts Education in the Twenty-First Century includes a wide range of perspectives. Although many of these essays are authored by faculty at Jackson State University, the lessons shared point to the common goal to assert a liberal arts experience as relevant to these modern times and articulate frequent and familiar obstacles faced by educators and students alike in pursuit of that goal. Additional interdisciplinary examples of successful implementations with commentary from other institutions would only strengthen the universality of this book’s message and directive. That said, both faculty and administrators will find the book to be a valuable addition in considering how course skillsets might be re-envisioned in design and implementation to affect the student experience. I appreciated the multiple and specific suggestions detailing how to incorporate shared learning opportunities in varied disciplines along with, at least in some cases, the results of that integration.The introduction and foreword sections set a rousing tone for the subsequent essays as well as the need for the liberal arts—students, faculty, and administrators—to define its relevance alongside the skill sets students develop and then apply outside the classroom. Moreover, the book challenges us to reconsider its value beyond liberal arts students to scientists, particularly regarding the distinction between learning and training.Through curriculum redesign, cultural sensitivity, and integrating purpose-driven skills across course disciplines, the authors “recognize study in the liberal arts using ‘big questions’ to drive the creation of centers of learning that largely do away with divisions according to discipline” (pp. 5–6). In that same process and with those same goals, students, faculty, and administrators tackle what Candis Pizzetta calls “the business of meaning making” (p. 8) whereby a liberal arts education helps students analyze and makes sense of the world, proving itself fundamental to society and all its current and future disciplines.