The Liberal Arts

Liberal arts education is the quintessential form of American education, influencing every aspect of American industry and society, and imparting dynamism and vigor to our body politic and the American economy. All of the most prestigious colleges in the United States fall into this category and most universities structure their undergraduate programs according to this distinctive philosophy.

And yet, liberal arts is a misunderstood term. Liberal arts education is equated with "liberalism" and "art" but admits of no such limitation. Contemporary liberal arts education is a holistic education that entails rigor of thought, breadth of academic training, and specialization in one or more fields. The goal of this education is to shape individuals able to engage technical knowledge and ideas, change and change with the evolving world, lead a balanced and harmonious life, and contribute to society.

“A liberal arts education is unique to the United States and has proven to be a great foundation for success in post-graduate studies. You become a citizen of the world with a liberal arts education. You become a better doctor or lawyer or engineer with the fundamentals of a liberal arts education.” 

-Jack Schuler, Philanthropist and founder of the Shuler Education Foundation

The term is Latin, where Artes Liberales refers to the branches of knowledge essential to the education of a free and effective citizen. Freedom and citizenship were closely linked ideas in the Greco-Roman world. Republican Roman society took great care to foster these values in their citizens and state. 

Ars, artis - skill

This Latin word corresponds to the Greek word techne, or skill. It refers not to "art" in the sense of painting, dance, or music, but rather to a learned, technical skill such as arithmetic, rhetoric, horsemanship, agriculture, household management, astronomy and navigation, architecture, law, military strategy, or statesmanship. The liberal arts are skills. Liberal arts is a skills-based training.

Liber, -a, -um - free, freedom, or a free citizen

From which is derived:

Liberalis, -e - pertaining to freedom or pertaining to a free citizen

Therefore liberal arts are skills appropriate to the education of a free citizen. The liberal arts are, in the most simple and direct translation, freedom skills.

Today a liberal arts education is comprised of some combination of the following disciplines: mathematics, natural and physical sciences, public speaking, writing, poetry and literature, history, the arts, foreign language, and philosophy. Liberal arts education can include technical fields such as law, computer science, engineering, medicine, and other applied fields.

Contemporary liberal arts philosophy rests on two tenets:

The second tenet warrants closer examination. Take for example the question of language acquisition. When one learns their native language they learn it intuitively, from birth. The language learner knows not what language is, what grammar is, what structures and forms give language its meaning. When one learns a second language, comparison is possible. A third language, then a fourth, only now can a linguist begin to decipher the structures that govern language, how languages differ or are similar, how language shapes the human experience and is shaped by human culture. Only now does the linguist begin to understand what language is.

The same is true for all fields of knowledge.

Take now for example the question of scientific ingenuity. A visionary scientist will draw not just from material within her own field, say, neuroscience (properly chemistry and psychology), but will draw insights from adjacent (biology and mathematics), related (computer science, sociology, and linguistics), and even wildly divergent fields (art, music, history, philosophy, physics). A student of the liberal arts is empowered to make new connections and forge new insights.

The goal of liberal arts education is ingenuity, creativity, and freedom of thought and action.

Harvard University

Read about Harvard's liberal arts philosophy on the Harvard College website

"In our liberal arts program, students are broadly educated in the social sciences, the natural sciences and the humanities, as well as trained in a particular academic field of specialization called a concentration...  Whatever a student’s curricular choices, every undergraduate learns to read, write, and think critically — skills important to any endeavor."

https://college.harvard.edu/what-liberal-arts-education [archived site] 

https://college.harvard.edu/academics/liberal-arts-sciences

University of Chicago

Read about Chicago's liberal arts philosophy on the University of Chicago website

"A University of Chicago education is about more than gaining a set of skills, achieving a rite of passage, or even honing the ability to think critically. It is a way of experiencing and moving through the world—interest in a lifelong dialogue across cultures and disciplines, inclination to ask good questions, and willingness to change perspective after encountering new ideas. From the beginning, we’ve believed in the benefits of a liberal arts education, including a robust intellectual foundation in a diversity of disciplines. "

https://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/academics 

Yale University

Read about Yale's liberal arts philosophy on the Yale College website.

"Yale is committed to the idea of a liberal arts education through which students think and learn across disciplines, literally liberating or freeing the mind to its fullest potential. The essence of such an education is not what you study but the result – gaining the ability to think critically and independently and to write, reason, and communicate clearly – the foundation for all professions. "

https://admissions.yale.edu/liberal-arts-education 

Princeton University

Read about Princeton's liberal arts philosophy on the Princeton website.

"A liberal arts education challenges you to consider not only how to solve problems, but also trains you to ask which problems to solve and why, preparing you for positions of leadership and a life of service to the nation and all of humanity. [Princeton] provide[s] a liberal arts education to all of our undergraduates, including those who major in engineering."

MIT

Even the Massachusetts Institute of Technology incorporates a liberal arts philosophy.

"MIT pioneered in providing an education that combines technology, science, the humanities, arts, and social sciences. MIT'S SHASS mission focuses on research with a global impact, and on a core part of an MIT education: the School's faculty help all undergraduates gain critical thinking and communication skills, cultural and historical perspectives, and understanding of the human condition — all capacities that enable MIT graduates to serve the world well, with expertise and wisdom."

Stanford University

Stanford University espouses a liberal arts philosophy.

"At Stanford, students enjoy an unusual degree of academic freedom. The Stanford curriculum will not force you into specific courses that do not interest you. Instead, it will remind you at every turn why you wanted a strong liberal arts education. "

Steve Jobs and Reed College

Steve Jobs was an advocate of contemporary liberal arts philosophy. View his 2005 Stanford University Commencement Address in which he lays out his personal philosophy.

"I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into, by following my curiosity and intuition, turned out to be priceless later on."