CHAPTER 1

The Explanation Disconnect

Fortune does favor the bold and you’ll never know what you’re capable of if you don’t try.

—Sheryl Sandberg, Lean
In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead

Introduction

The first disconnect concerns the words liberal arts, humanities, liberal arts colleges, and liberal education. Over the last few decades, higher education administrators, faculty, and board members have failed at explaining those outside of the academy understand those words. The end result has been constant confusion over the definition of each word as well as the relevance of a humanities education in a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) global marketplace. In a world of constant disruption, change, and hyperconnectivity, higher education can ill afford to have this understanding disconnect. As Cass Cliatt from Brown University noted, “We know we have a problem with the term (liberal arts). The problem is in our own communities. We’ve spent so much time defending the term that we’re not talking about we’re doing.”1 During a January 2019 conference, Howard Gardner from Harvard University presented information from a long-term study where his team interviewed more than 2,000 students, faculty members, trustees, parents, alumni, and others affiliated with 10 institutions of different types. His earlier conclusion from the data is that the phrase “liberal arts and sciences” isn’t widely understood. Many respondents couldn’t define the liberal arts at all or defined it incorrectly.2 Additionally, “many people don’t understand what a liberal education actually is.”3 To address the explanation disconnect, this chapter explains the extent of it and then provides a blueprint on how each college can address it moving forward. Detailing the explanation disconnect involves understanding the confusion surrounding the terms liberal arts, humanities, liberal arts colleges, and liberal education. Only then can a conversation begin surrounding the relevance of the humanities to the 21st century workplace.

Explaining the Disconnect

The first step in explaining the liberal arts is recognition that the term itself causes so much confusion that even its more ardent supporters fail to fully recognize what the term means. In 1970, author Wayne C. Booth noted this dilemma and wrote that since the defenders of liberal education are growing more confused with each passing year, there could come a day when “there are no true defenders left.”4 Although his premonition has yet to become a reality what is very true today is the severe confusion surrounding the term liberal arts. According to Ernest Pascarella in What We Don’t Know about the Effects of Liberal Arts Education, “the definition of liberal arts is problematic.”5 If the defenders of liberal arts are challenged by a problematic definition, then the first step toward a deeper understanding of liberal arts should involve an examination of the extent of this confusion.6 In Justin Stover’s “Case for the Humanities” published in The Chronicle of Higher Education, he admitted that “the humanities are not just dying—they are almost dead…and have become a loosely defined collection of technical disciplines.” He then declared that “the result of this is deep conceptual confusion about what the humanities are and the reason for studying them in the first place.” With a level of hubris so commonly found among higher education boards, administrators, and faculty. Stover concluded by writing “most of us know the humanities when we see them.” No, they do not. Herein lies the explanation disconnect.7

Simply put, the confusion about the liberal arts involves everyone from the high-school student and parent to the undergraduate faculty, staff, and administration. This confusion has lasted centuries and continues into the 21st century. The College of Idaho’s 2010-11 Catalog stated this very succinctly: “Liberal arts is a frequently misunderstood phrase.”8 “Too often those involved in liberal arts education, faculty, staff and administrators, as well as students have only a fairly vague sense of its meaning, and those meanings are often in conflict with one another.”9 In 2006, Ronald A. Williams, president of Prince George’s Community College, said that defining liberal arts education is “particularly problematic” and that “the need to figure out just what a liberal education is” remains a critical issue that should be addressed.10

Whether it’s enrolling at a liberal arts college, selecting a liberal arts major, or classifying their higher education institution, the evidence suggests that faculty, staff, and administration, as well as students and parents, are all unable to consistently define a liberal arts education. “According to Charles Wegener, the term is so overloaded with meanings that ‘it is a good question whether it should be retained.’”11 Since it continues to be retained across all levels of education, however, administrators need to ensure that students and parents, as well as their entire faculty and staff, have a clear, consistent, and compelling definition of what liberal arts education is in the 21st century. Doing so can help an “institution consider its unique value that it adds to a world in which information is everywhere.”12 And since “many parents cannot help but notice that after a while, most colleges and universities start to look alike” identifying and explaining a school’s unique value is critical to its future.13

Researcher Scott Jaschik noted this lack of understanding regarding the liberal arts during his walk around Dartmouth’s campus when he “found that even those students who say they value liberal education don’t necessarily know what it is.”14 When Jaschik asked students to explain what liberal arts education means “two answers came up again and again: the classes are small and the professors really care about their students and reach out to them.”15 In 2005 the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) conducted focus groups to explore how students viewed and defined liberal education. The research confirmed that “most of the high school and college students had not heard the term liberal education and were unable to provide an accurate definition.”16 As one Portland high school student said,

I associate it [liberal education] with a broad education and openness to different things. It’s an education that will prepare me for what I need to know either at the present time in my life or for my future. It’s a good point that you take what you can from it.17

These findings were echoed by John Strassburger, former president of Ursinus College, who participated in market research focus groups with representatives from several other schools. The focus groups involved parents of high school students who just completed the college search process and sought to discover what people thought about liberal education and liberal arts colleges. According to Strassburger, “The results were not pretty as 19 of the 20 parents had definitions of ‘liberal arts’ that no educator would even recognize.”18 The parents “agreed that liberal arts referred to either studying soft, touchy feely subjects, like psychology as opposed to physics, or studying something leftish that came out of the 60s.”19 Strassburger’s counterpart at Washington & Jefferson College, Tori Haring-Smith, also realized this confusion and said, “I don’t think many high school students really know what liberal arts is and we need to do a better job of explaining because the term is confusing to some people.”20

In The University in a Corporate Culture, Eric Gould bluntly summarized the situation and wrote: “The public simply does not know [the definition of liberal arts]; and the academy does not make the meaning clear.”21 Gould also examines the results of a 1997 survey conducted for Richard Hersh, president of Hobart and William Smith Colleges, that concluded only 14 percent of high school students and only 27 percent of parents claimed to be very familiar with liberal arts education. Noting the extent of the confusion within and outside of the academy, only 32 percent of university and specialty school graduates and 54 percent of business executives claimed familiarity with the term liberal education.22

It’s no wonder there is so much confusion about the phrases liberal arts and liberal education. In addition, the use of the word sciences appears in the phrase arts and sciences! Different variations of these phrases can be found throughout today’s discussions: the liberal arts, the liberal arts and sciences, liberal education, liberal arts education, and liberal arts and sciences education. Each time one is used it has the potential to mean different things to different people.23

In one of the great ironies in this movement to expand liberal arts in Singapore, one observer noted while there have been high levels of enthusiasm for the creation of liberal arts schools, “there appears to be fundamental misunderstanding of what a liberal arts college is and can offer. Additionally, the idea of a liberal arts college appears to be misunderstood, even by proponents of the scheme.”24

To address this explanation disconnect, institutions can help individuals outside of higher education clearly understand the humanities by implementing four strategies. First, schools need to clearly define the terms liberal, arts, and education. Second, institutions need to communicate what subjects are included in the definition of the humanities. Third, schools must explain the difference between liberal arts college and liberal arts education. Finally, colleges and universities must provide a clear and compelling explanation of the terms liberal arts and a liberal education. These four strategies form the foundation for helping people understand the relevance of the humanities to the 21st century workplace.

Etymology

The word liberal derives from the Latin liberalis, meaning “of freedom; worthy of a free man, gentlemanlike, courteous or generous.”25 According to William Cronon, Frederick Jackson Turner and Vilas Research Professor of History, Geography, and Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the word liberal “actually has much deeper roots, being akin to the Old English word leodan, meaning ‘to grow,’ and leod, meaning ‘people.’”26 In his article “Only Connect…the Goals of a Liberal Education,” Cronon further explained that liberal “is also related to the Greek word eleutheros, meaning ‘free,’ and goes all the way back to the Sanskrit word rodhati, meaning ‘one climbs’ or ‘one grows.’”27

The second word arts is also derived from a variety of languages. It is often explained as having its origins from the Latin artes meaning “skill, method or technique.”28 It can also trace its roots to the Old French artem meaning “art, skill or craft” and from the Greek arti meaning “just” or artios meaning “complete.” Thus, when combined, the term liberal arts are classically defined as the “studies pursued by free men and women.”29 During this time, free referred to a “citizen with rights and economically independent, as a member of a wealthy leisure class. In other words, ‘liberal arts’ originally meant something like ‘skills of the citizen elite’ or ‘skills of the ruling class.’”30 By tracing the etymology of both words, we have discovered what they were but not why someone would study the liberal arts. For that understanding, we turn our attention to the etymology of the word education.

Authors Robert Nola and Gürol Irzik defined the etymology of education as stemming from the Latin educare, to bring up, rear, or foster especially in relation to children and educere, meaning to lead.31 Martha W. Gilliland, chancellor of the University of Missouri-Kansas City, in a speech on the occasion of the Sesquicentennial Celebration of Catawba College, went further and said that “education comes from the Latin educare meaning ‘to lead out of the darkness.’ To lead a learner to new understandings…to journey to a new plane of experience….to shine a light on dark corners of ignorance.”32 When the etymology of education is added to this classic definition of the words liberal and arts, we can conclude that liberal arts education consists of studies pursued by free men and women in order to shine a light on dark corners of ignorance and learn new understandings.

In the words of Pamela Schwandt, “The liberal arts are those studies which set the student free from prejudice and misplaced loyalties and free for service, wise decision making, community leadership, and responsible living.”33 Kathleen Haney agreed and further explained that

The liberal arts are the arts of using language. If one were to master the liberal arts, then one would master human nature. Here is where the libre of liberal comes in—such a person would thereby be freed from the ancient enemies which plague humankind—the liberal arts are the liberating arts that free humankind from its worst enemies, ignorance and prejudice.34

Exactly what subjects are included within the scope of liberal arts education that avail themselves to students in order to “shine light on dark corners of ignorance” in order to “free humankind from its worst enemies” is the focus of the next section.

List of Subjects

The original definition of the subjects included in the liberal arts was based on classical antiquity. The original liberal arts subjects provided a practical education that developed mental capacity, designed in the late medieval period (12th and 13th centuries), and used ideas from Ancient Greek and Roman cultures. The seven liberal arts were taught in two groups: the trivium and the quadrivium.35

The trivium (Latin for three ways) included the literary disciplines:

  • Grammar, the science of the correct usage of language. It helps a person to speak and write correctly.
  • Dialectic (or logic), the science of correct thinking. It helps you to arrive at the truth.
  • Rhetoric, the science of expression, especially persuasion. Ways of organizing a speech or document. Adapting it so that people understand it and believe it.

The quadrivium (Latin for four ways) included the disciplines connected with mathematics. They were:

  • Arithmetic teaches about numbers;
  • Geometry teaches about calculating spaces;
  • Astronomy teaches about the stars;
  • Music teaches ratio and proportion and is related to melody and song as it was in the Middle Ages.

When examining the number of subjects included within the definition of liberal arts today, however, it is important to remember that “the number of subjects liberal arts encompasses has multiplied” over the centuries and continues to grow.36 In short, the modern definition of liberal arts or humanities includes, but is not limited to, the following list of subjects:

•Ancient languages

•Anthropology

•Art

•Astronomy

•Biology

•Chemistry

•Classics

•Comparative literature

•East Asian studies

•Economics

•English

•Foreign languages

•Geography

•Geology

•History

•International studies

•Mathematics

•Modern languages

•Music

•Philosophy

•Religion

•Rhetoric

Selecting one of the aforementioned academic subjects does not, however, necessarily mean a student receives a liberal education. This in and of itself is problematic and still confuses many faculty, staff, and administrators of higher education institutions as well as others and deserves a brief examination.

Liberal Arts Versus Liberal Education

There is a critical difference between a liberal arts education and a liberal education. Understanding the distinction between the two provides a solid foundation for addressing the other types of confusion surrounding the liberal arts. In 2009 Robert Shoenberg, senior fellow at the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), published an article “How Not to Defend Liberal Arts Colleges” and highlighted a distinction between the two and noted that the terms liberal arts education and liberal education “are not synonymous.”37 Liberal arts refers to certain disciplines (such as history, philosophy, or English to name just a few), “which may be pursued to many possible ends” while liberal education “may be pursued through any subject matter (emphasis added) but the term implies distinct purposes: breadth of awareness and appreciation, clarity and precision of thought and communication, critical analysis, and the honing of moral and ethical sensibilities.”38

To further clarify the difference between a liberal arts education and a liberal education, Shoenberg stated “an education in the liberal arts and sciences disciplines is not, by definition, a liberal education. Study exclusively in the liberal arts disciplines does not guarantee a liberal education.”39 Liberal arts majors in history, philosophy, or English, for example, can be trained in as narrow a specialized field as any professional program such as engineering, medicine or teaching. Conversely, many career-specific programs are insistent on liberal learning.”40

The 2010 American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) conference that had a special interest group devoted to liberal education serves as an example of Shoenberg’s two contentions that a liberal education may be pursued through any subject matter and that some career-specific programs are insistent on liberal learning. According to attendee Robert Talbert, Associate Professor of Mathematics and Computing Science at Franklin College, participants agreed that liberal education “integrates multiple perspectives into understanding what engineers study and do and believe in teaching metacognitive skills and preparing students to be human beings, not just workers.”41 In his article, “Engineering and A Liberal Education,” Domenico Grasso echoed this integration of engineering with a liberal education and wrote: “The social sciences and humanities must assume parity with mathematics and the sciences in the preparation of well-educated engineers. Society can ill afford engineers with a casual exposure to social sciences and the humanities.”42 Integrating the study of engineering with a liberal education allows for students to gain a deeper understanding required of the intersection between technology and human nature in order to achieve a sustainable and equitable utilization of resources and global security.43

The Association of American Colleges and Universities offers a more complete definition of liberal education and defines it as learning “that empowers individuals and prepares them to deal with complexity, diversity, and change. It provides students with broad knowledge of the wider world (e.g., science, culture, and society) as well as in-depth study in a specific area of interest.”44 Thus, liberal education provides students with a much needed sense of social responsibility, a transferable set of practical skills such as communication, analytical and problem-solving, and a demonstrated ability to apply knowledge and skills in real-world settings.45 Researcher Vivek Wadhwa observed:

The key to good design is a combination of empathy and knowledge of the arts and humanities. Musicians and artists inherently have the greatest sense of creativity. You can teach artists how to use software and graphics tools; turning engineers into artists is hard. Creating solutions such as these requires a knowledge of fields such as biology, education, health sciences and human behavior. Tackling today’s biggest social and technological challenges requires the ability to think critically about their human context, which is something that humanities graduates happen to be best trained to do.46

Scholars such as Martha Nussbaum, Francis Horn, Andrew Chrucky, and Leo Strauss offer similar views on liberal education. In a speech at Carleton College, Nussbaum noted that

an education is truly liberal only if it is one that liberates the student’s mind, encouraging him or her to take charge of his or her own thinking, leading the Socratic examined life and becoming a reflective critic of traditional practices. 47

In “Education among the Liberal Arts,” Horn echoed a similar sentiment and defined “the outcome of a liberal education as a harmonious development of the physical, moral and intellectual qualities of each individual.”48 While examining the definitions of liberal education as put forth by three scholars, all of which argued that liberal education involved an amoral component, Chrucky disagreed and argued that liberal education is one that “encompasses cognitive, moral, and emotional education.”49 For Strauss, “liberal education is training in the highest form of modesty and demands from us the complete break with the noise, the thoughtlessness and the cheapness of the Vanity Fair of the intellectuals as well as of their enemies.”50 As president emeritus of both the University of Iowa and Dartmouth College, James O. Freedman remarked that “liberal education urges upon us a reflectiveness, a carefulness to be open to correction and new insight that can mitigate these tendencies toward polarity, rigidity, and intolerance.”51

In addition to scholars, schools have also developed their own definitions of liberal education. The Harvard University defines liberal education as

the kind of learning that heightens students’ awareness of the human and natural worlds they inhabit. It makes them more reflective about their beliefs and choices, more self-conscious and critical of their presuppositions and motivations and more able to inform themselves about the issues that arise in their lives, personally, professionally and socially.52

Swarthmore College offers a similar definition and classifies liberal education as one that has “consistently helped students learn to question and explore, to think critically, to develop their imaginations, and to act responsibly and with conviction.”53

Liberal Education and Political Liberalism

Two recent developments have compounded the confusion surrounding the terms liberal arts education and liberal education. The first misconception concerns the term liberal education and modern liberal thinking as it relates to the political environment in the United States. To the untrained observer, liberal arts might well produce liberal thinkers. Only individuals who employ a false etymology, however, associate the liberal arts with political liberalism.54 Political liberalism is completely different from a liberal arts education or a liberal education.

The president of the National Humanities Center, W.R. Connor, noted this difference and stated: “When we say liberal education, we are not, of course talking about the dreaded ‘L’ word of recent American political sloganeering, nor are we even referring to the free play of ideas as in traditional liberal political theory.”55 Cronon also believed that “In speaking of ‘liberal’ education, we certainly do not mean an education that indoctrinates students in the values of political liberalism.”56 Political liberalism forms a specific paradigm associated with governance while a liberal arts education refers to the articulation of a specific curriculum that has evolved over two millennia.

The second issue that needs clarification concerns the ideological preference of college and university professors. If a professor teaches at a liberal arts school or designs a curriculum based on liberal education, that does not necessarily make modern American political liberalism their ideological preference. Labeling all liberal arts professors as liberals falls far short in adequately describing the group dynamics of any particular department or school. As Jere P. Surber wrote in the Chronicle of Higher Education,

It doesn’t make sense to speak of the political persuasions of the academy as a whole. Anyone who has been to a faculty meeting lately, at an institution of any size, knows that faculty members from business schools are typically the most conservative, followed, in order, by the natural sciences, the social sciences, and liberals in the liberal arts.57

To account for the nuances and dynamics of individuals, departments, and schools, Surber also observed that “not every liberal-arts professor is politically liberal, nor is every business instructor politically conservative.” 58 Further evidence of this diversity along the political spectrum is found in Michael Bérubé’s book What’s LIBERAL about the Liberal Arts? where he cites Higher Education Research Institute data on political attitudes.

In a survey covering 55,521 faculty in 416 institutions from 1989 to 2001-02 the data illustrated that the number of liberals among faculty grew from 42 percent to 48 percent while the centrists shrank from 40 percent to 34 percent and conservatives held steady at 18 percent.59

Liberal Arts Colleges and Liberal Arts

The last aspect of the understanding disconnect that requires explanation remains a brief discussion surrounding the term liberal arts college and the type of education offered at one. The three most common characteristics of a liberal arts college are small student populations, no graduate programs, and mainly residential in nature. But not all institutions with a small student body are liberal arts colleges. Many people, including faculty and staff at higher education institutions, fail to understand if their school is officially classified as liberal arts school. As former Utica College president Todd Hutton stated,

Part of the confusion is also the result of students and parents thinking of Utica College as a liberal arts college, based solely on the fact that it is a small, private college. This confusion, which is even shared by some of Utica’s faculty and staff, is not uncommon in the world of higher education.60

If the faculty of an institution are confused, it should come as no surprise that those outside of the academy are as well. Each institution has a responsibility to identify, explain, and then communicate its classification in clear, concise, and compelling manner for anyone to understand. In additional to the classification of an institution, the other component of this understanding disconnect concerns the type of education offered at a liberal arts college.

Jonathan Veitch, president of Occidental College in California, described liberal arts college education when he stated “a liberal arts college takes seriously the notion that a job isn’t a job, it’s a vocation, so it better bring meaning to your life and help you think through what that might look like.”61 Maud S. Mandel, president of Williams College in Massachusetts, echoes that sentiment as she considers a liberal arts education to be “an introduction to general knowledge, or even the scope of human knowledge as we know it so far,” while allowing students to explore interests and curiosities through experiential education opportunities such as study abroad trips, internships, and community service. 62 But this emphasis on general knowledge and allowing students to explore interests and curiosities is common in many mission statements of public universities around the United States. In short, liberal arts colleges do not have a monopoly on providing students with a liberal education or a liberal arts education. Students at public universities and those attending a liberal arts college can both study the humanities. Moreover, public universities with tens of thousands of students, graduate programs, and large commuter populations also offer a liberal education curriculum, experiential education opportunities, and a general education curriculum grounded in the humanities. The size and diversity of the student body, the programs of study, the physical location of the campus, the net tuition cost of an undergraduate degree, and the graduation rate form the key characteristics separating institutions of higher learning in the United States.

Conclusion

To help the humanities maintain their relevance the understanding disconnect involving liberal arts, humanities, liberal arts colleges, and liberal education needs to be resolved. Higher education administrators, faculty, and board members have to do a much better job educating the general public around a commonly agreed upon definition for each word. Leaders from every type of college and university need to standardize these terms so that the general public can have a better understanding of higher education. Colleges and universities can ill afford to leave this understanding disconnect unresolved. Increased regulation, falling enrollment, and skyrocketing tuition costs are all characteristics of the U.S. higher education industry. This may be particularly difficult for those working at liberal arts colleges struggling to maintain enrollment. Efforts such as the website liberalartscolleges.com actually create more confusion, not less. This website, and others like it, inadvertently suggest that only liberal arts colleges can provide a liberal education and that is simply untrue. Such marketing tactics, when coupled with the explanation disconnect, only compound the problems for institutions trying to remain open in today’s volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) global marketplace. More than 100 for-profit and career colleges across the United States closed between the 2016–17 and 2017–18 academic years alone, while 20 nonprofit colleges shuttered during that period, according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics,

That consolidation also had an impact on the priorities of ones that remained open. Institutions are adding degree programs in emerging tech fields such as artificial intelligence, dropping low-enrollment programs including some in the liberal arts, and looking online where they can reach a bigger audience with niche subject matter.63

If the humanities are to remain pertinent to the 21st century workplace, higher education leaders, faculty, and board members will need to do a far better job of explaining how the liberal arts have always been relevant in the first place.


2 Rick, S. 2019. “Small Colleges Grapple with ‘Culture of Insecurity.” Inside Higher Ed, January 8, https://insidehighered.com/news/2019/01/08/private-college-presidents-seek-adapt-changing-market (accessed February 24, 2019).

3 Valerie, S. 2015. “What the ‘Liberal’ in ‘Liberal Arts’ Actually Means.” The Washington Post, April 2. https://washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2015/04/02/what-the-liberal-in-liberal-arts-actually-means/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.ef65a6da69e7 (accessed December 10, 2018).

4 Wayne, C.B. 1970. Now Don’t Try To Reason With Me: Essays And Ironies For A Credulous Age, 201. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

5 Quote found in Blaich, Charles, Anne Bost, Ed Chan, and Richard Lynch. 2004. “Defining Liberal Arts Education.” Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts.

6 I should point out that confusion surrounding other academic programs is also very common. For example, “the majority of Americans are not clear about what engineers do” according to Grasso, D. November 2002. Engineering a Liberal Education. University of Vermont Publication.

7 By Justin, S. 2018. “Case for the Humanities.” The Chronicle of Higher Education, March 04. https://chronicle.com/article/There-Is-No-Case-for-the/242724 (accessed May 25, 2019).

8 The College of Idaho 2010-2011 Catalog located at http://collegeofidaho.edu/media/catalog/Liberal_Arts.asp

9 Christian, W.H. No Date. “Liberal Arts Traditions and Christian Higher Education: A Brief Guide.” Institute for Liberal Arts at Westmont College, http://westmont.edu/institute/pdfs/liberal_arts_tradition.pdf

10 “Promoting Liberal Education.” Inside Higher Education, January 30, 2006.

11 Daniel, M. 2008. The Educated Person: Toward A New Paradigm For Liberal Education, 1. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.

12 2010 Horizon Report, p. 3. The 2010 Horizon Report is a collaboration between The New Media Consortium and the Educause Learning Initiative An Educause Program. To download a copy of the report visit http://wp.nmc.org/horizon2010/

13 Paul, B. 2003. College Rankings Exposed: The Art Of Getting A Quality Education In The 21st Century, 28. Lawrenceville, NJ: Peterson’s.

14 Scott, J. 2004. “How to Talk About Liberal Education (If You Must).”
Boston.com, November 21.

15 Scott, J. 2004. “How to Talk About Liberal Education (If You Must).”
Boston.com, November 21.

16 Debra, H., and A. Davenport. Summer/Fall 2005. “What Really Matters in College: How Students View and Value Liberal Education.” Liberal Education.

17 Debra, H., and A. Davenport. Summer/Fall 2005. “What Really Matters in College: How Students View and Value Liberal Education.” Liberal Education.

18 Strassburger, J. 2010. “For the Liberal Arts, Rhetoric Is Not Enough.” The Chronicle of Higher Education, February 28.

19 Strassburger, J. 2010. “For the Liberal Arts, Rhetoric Is Not Enough.” The Chronicle of Higher Education, February 28.

20 Sam, A. 2008. “Liberal Arts Degrees Misunderstood by Many.” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 14.

21 Eric, G. 2003. The University in a Corporate Culture, 13, New Haven: Yale University Press.

22 Eric, G. 2003. The University in a Corporate Culture, 13, New Haven: Yale University Press.

23 Valerie, S. 2015. “What the ‘Liberal’ in ‘Liberal Arts’ Actually Means.” The Washington Post, April 2. https://washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2015/04/02/what-the-liberal-in-liberal-arts-actually-means/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.ef65a6da69e7 (accessed December 10, 2018).

24 2007. “Clarifying the Liberal Arts Education in Singapore.” Singapore Angel, December 27.

25 Latin Dictionary and Grammar Aid. University of Notre Dame, found online at http://archives.nd.edu/cgi-bin/lookup.pl?stem=liberalis&ending

26 Cronon, W. Autumn 1998. “’Only Connect…’ The Goals of a Liberal Education.” The American Scholar 67, no. 4, pp. 73–80.

27 Cronon, W. Autumn 1998. “’Only Connect…’ The Goals of a Liberal Education.” The American Scholar 67, no. 4, pp. 73–80.

28 Online Etymology Dictionary located at http://etymonline.com/

29 Shoenberg, R. Winter 2009. “How Not to Defend Liberal Arts Colleges.” Liberal Education 95, no. 1, pp. 56–59.

30 Lind, M. 2006. “Why the Liberal Arts Still Matter.” Wilson Quarterly,
September 22.

31 Nola, R., and G. Irzik. 2005. Philosophy, Science, Education and Culture, 4. Springer: The Netherlands.

32 Martha, W.G., Chancellor, University of Missouri-Kansas City. December 3, 2001 “The Liberal Arts: To Lead out of the Darkness, To Equip Citizens for Success in the Circumstances of Their Times.” Speech on the Occasion of the Sesquicentennial Celebration of Catawba College.

33 Pamela, S, ed. No Date. “Called to Serve: St. Olaf and the Vocation of a Church College.” Located at http://gustavus.edu/faith/pdf/called_to_serve.pdf

34 Kathleen, H. August 10–15, 1998. “The Liberal.” Arts and the End of Education. Twentieth World Congress of Philosophy. Boston, Massachusetts.

36 2010. “In Praise of the Liberal Arts.” Speech presented by Princeton University President Shirley M. Tilghman at the Lawrenceville School, April 6.

37 Shoenberg, R. Winter 2009. “How Not to Defend Liberal Arts Colleges.” Liberal Education 95, no. 1, pp. 56–59.

38 Shoenberg, R. Winter 2009. “How Not to Defend Liberal Arts Colleges.” Liberal Education 95, no. 1, pp. 56–59.

39 Shoenberg, R. Winter 2009. “How Not to Defend Liberal Arts Colleges.” Liberal Education 95, no. 1, pp. 56–59.

40 Shoenberg, R. Winter 2009. “How Not to Defend Liberal Arts Colleges.” Liberal Education 95, no. 1, pp. 56–59.

41 Talbert, R. 2010. “What (Some) Engineers Think About Liberal Education.” Blog Entry, June 21. http://castingoutnines.wordpress.com/2010/06/21/what-some-engineers-think-about-liberal-education/

42 Grasso, D. November 2002. Engineering a Liberal Education. University of Vermont Publication.

43 Grasso, D. November 2002. Engineering a Liberal Education. University of Vermont Publication.

44 “What is Liberal Education.” Association of American Colleges and Universities. Definition found at http://aacu.org/leap/what_is_liberal_education.cfm

45 “What is Liberal Education.” Association of American Colleges and Universities. Definition found at http://aacu.org/leap/what_is_liberal_education.cfm

46 Wadhwa, V. 2018. “Why Liberal Arts and the Humanities are as Important as Engineering.” The Washington Post, June 12. https://washingtonpost.com/news/innovations/wp/2018/06/12/why-liberal-arts-and-the-humanities-are-as-important-as-engineering/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.128ec50ffca9 (accessed December 12, 2018).

47 Martin Nussbaum, M. 2002., “Liberal Education and Global Responsibility.,” A Talk for a Symposium at Carleton College, in Honor of the Inauguration of Robert A. Oden, Jr. as President, October 25, 2002.

48 Horn, F.H. November 1951. “Education Among the Liberal Arts.” Journal of Higher Education 22, no. 8, pp. 411–457.

49 Chrucky, A. 2003. “The Aim of a Liberal Education.” September 1, and posted at http://ditext.com/chrucky/aim.html

50 Strauss, L. 1959. “What Is Liberal Education?” Address Delivered at the tenth Annual Graduation Exercises of the Basic Program of Liberal Education for Adults (accessed June 6, 1959).

51 Freedman, J.O. Liberal Education & the Public Interest, 56. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press.

52 2007. “Report on the Task.” Force on General Education, 8. Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

53 Introduction to The Meaning of Swarthmore, collection of essays by Swarthmore alumni, published at http://swarthmore.edu/news/meaning/

54 Lind, M. 2006. “Why the Liberal Arts Still Matter.” Wilson Quarterly,
September 22.

55 Connor, W.R. No Date. “Liberal Arts Education in the Twenty-First Century.” American Academy for Liberal Education, Keynote Remarks, Kenan Center Quality Assurance Conference. Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

56 Cronon, W. 1998 “’Only Connect…’ The Goals of a Liberal Education.” The American Scholar 67, no. 4, pp. 73–80.

57 Surber, J.P. 2010. “Well Naturally We’re Liberal.” Chronicle of Higher Education, February 7. Also see Laster, J. 2010. “College Makes Students More Liberal, but Not Smarter About Civics.” The Chronicle of Higher Education, February 5.

58 Surber, J.P. 2010. “Well Naturally We’re Liberal.” Chronicle of Higher Education, February 7. Also see Cohen, P. 2010. “Professor is a Label That Leans to the Left.” Chronicle of Higher Education, January 18.

59 Quote found in National Academic Advising Association (NACADA) presentation by E. Timothy Moore MFA, Liberal Arts Advising Commission Chair, no date provided. Also see Bérubé, M. 2006. What’s Liberal About the Liberal Arts?: Classroom Politics and “Bias” in Higher Education. W. W. Norton & Company, and Wolfe, A. 2006. “Defending the PhDs.” New York Times, September 10.

60 Hutton, T.S. 2006. “The Conflation of Liberal & Professional Education: Pipedream, Aspiration, or Nascent Reality?” Liberal Education.

61 Moody, J. 2018. “What a Liberal Arts College Is and What You Should Know.” U.S. News and World Report, December 7. https://usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2018-12-07/what-a-liberal-arts-college-is-and-what-students-should-know (accessed March 3, 2019).

62 Moody, J. 2018. “What a Liberal Arts College Is and What You Should Know.” U.S. News and World Report, December 7. https://usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2018-12-07/what-a-liberal-arts-college-is-and-what-students-should-know (accessed March 3, 2019).

63 Busta, H. 2019. “How Many Colleges and Universities have Closed Since 2016?” Education Drive, March 9, https://educationdive.com/news/how-many-colleges-and-universities-have-closed-since-2016/539379/ (accessed March 21, 2019).

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