NEH Enduring Questions Course on "What Is the Value of a Liberal Arts Education?"
FAIN: AQ-50756-12
Nazareth College of Rochester (Rochester, NY 14618-3790)
Scott McElroy Campbell (Project Director: September 2011 to September 2014)
Marjorie A Roth (Co Project Director: May 2016 to September 2014)
The development of an undergraduate course to investigate the question, What is the value of a liberal arts education?
Scott Campbell, associate professor of philosophy, and Marjorie Roth, associate professor of music, of Nazareth College of Rochester, develop a course on the question, What is the value of a liberal arts education? Open to students from all majors and professional programs, the course reconnects the historical liberal arts with current educational practices in Western as well as non-Western cultures. By emphasizing the core habits of mind inherent in the original liberal arts which promote a healthy, balanced, and productive human life, the course extends into the larger concerns of the college faculty, programs, disciplines, and administration, helping students to see how a liberal arts education informs life beyond academia. The course is divided into three sections. The first section focuses on the meaning and purpose of education; the second section examines the origin, evolution, and illustration of the liberal arts from antiquity to the present; and the third section connects the Western notion of liberal education to its counterparts in Asian and Islamic thought. Readings for the course include: Martha Nussbaum's Cultivating Humanity, Aristotle's Metaphysics, Plato's Republic, Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy, Remi Brague's Wisdom of the World, Dante's Convivio, W. H. Stahl's Martianus Capella and the Seven Liberal Arts, the Bhagavad Gita, and the Tao Te Ching. Weekly evaluative exercises serve as preparation for three research papers. The project directors also develop two web-based resources for the course, and make ample use of campus and Rochester community resources.
Associated Products
What is the Value of a Liberal Arts Education? (Conference Paper/Presentation)Title: What is the Value of a Liberal Arts Education?
Author: Scott M. Campbell
Abstract: In the spring semester of 2012, I received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to design and teach a course devoted to this question: ‘What is the value of a liberal arts education?’ My goal in this paper is to talk about this experience in three different phases: I) discussing the grant with faculty and staff at my institution; II) teaching the class; and III) thinking about the meaning of the liberal arts in the context of higher education today. The thesis that I hope to advance in doing so is that faculty need to justify a liberal arts education based on its intrinsic value and not on its practical value. It is common today to tout the skills that students develop from studying the liberal arts. They learn skills in critical thinking, reading, writing, and speaking, and these skills are necessary in any profession. But many courses outside the liberal arts and humanities teach students skills. It thus becomes necessary, in my judgment, to find the intrinsic value of a liberal arts education. My goal in this paper is to make such a case.
Date: 10/17/2014
Conference Name: Conference on 'What is Liberal Education For?" at St. John's College in Santa Fe, NM.
Liberal Arts Resources (Web Resource)Title: Liberal Arts Resources
Author: Scott M. Campbell
Abstract: This website provides resources to anyone interested in the value and meaning of a liberal arts education. It includes syllabi for faculty who want to teach a course on the liberal arts, descriptions of course texts and how one might use them, a gallery of photographs from students reflecting their understanding of liberal education, a gallery of classical images on the liberal arts, and a list of other web-based resources.
Year: 2014
Primary URL:
http://www2.naz.edu/dept/philosophy/liberal-arts-resources/Primary URL Description: What is the value of a liberal arts education? Many students considering college may be asking themselves this question. One of the main goals of this website is to provide resources to students that will help them to think through this question and come to their own conclusion about it. A second goal of this website is to serve as a resource for faculty members who are interested in teaching a course on the liberal arts. While many faculty members have developed an expertise in the liberal arts, the humanities, or the sciences, often enough they have not taught a course on the value and meaning of a liberal education itself. On this website, faculty will find a variety of different resources that may help them design and teach their own course on the value of a liberal arts education.