Talk:Liberal education

Rather than supplying a concise, informative defintion of Liberal Education, the present article uses a fluffy, alomost content-less "definition" by the AACU. I bet that there is no one who, after reading that definition, has a better understanding of what a liberal education is. Sounds rather like wording arrived at by a committee. Isokrates 19:45, 16 December 2006 (UTC)


 * I rather agree with this criticism, but point out this article is a stub. Also, the reference to the political implications of a proper liberal education are missing. jtvisona 062607 - On second thought, it looks like this article should be folded into one of the others it relates too with a redirect and a little rewriting. jtvisona 04:42, 27 June 2007 (UTC)


 * I like the 'stand-alone' status of this topic, and would hate to see it lost (as a redirect link).


 * I'm someone who began as a liberal-arts student, then re-routed into a B.Sc. program due to post-university employment considerations. While I gained a good general feel for the liberal-arts (or liberal education) environment, I've been fuzzy on it and not had a good grasp of liberal education's history, traditions, and philosophical articulation.  This article is, indeed, still a stub — because I don't feel it yet informs very well on these three points.


 * Other aspects: Does anyone care about liberal education anymore? (If so, this article gives little real sense as to why.)  And who are some leading proponents of liberal education today?Joel Russ (talk) 15:43, 14 January 2010 (UTC)


 * Personally, I have no problem with the AACU definition as a starter, assuming that more precise definitions will come later. On the other hand, the article as it stands is inconsistent.  The first sentence says that liberal education originates from liberal arts education.  But, in the Definition section, it says that liberal education should not be "confused with" liberal arts education.  It seems to me that there are many notions of "liberal education" in the literature.  They need to be separated and contrasted somehow.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Reddyuday (talk • contribs) 11:51, 15 October 2011 (UTC)

I believe that the first sentence under "Provision" misinterprets the cited article. A primary point of the article is that liberal arts colleges "do not own" liberal education. The specific source of the statistic is the statement, "The notion that liberal education goes on in only 8 percent of colleges enrolling 4 percent of students suggests that an education thus oriented requires special pleading to justify it." The author is noting that liberal arts colleges as such educate a tiny fraction of college students, but that many more receive a liberal education. I do not know what to put in place of this statement (and these are the first words I've typed in Wikipedia). Nw2926 (talk) 02:09, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

I am seriously concerned about the second paragraph under the section "Provision." The citation is unclear and its source inaccessible. What particularly worries me, however, is it's overt bias. It makes absolute statements that do not belong in an encyclopedia. The statement "Currently, pressures from employers, parents and governments have defined the type of education offered at educational institutions" is not only a huge claim, but what follows ("Such trends have curtailed the role of education offered in America") is an opinion statement. A moderator should look at this page. 65.112.8.140 (talk) 04:04, 15 December 2014 (UTC)

The article has a good opening paragraph describing liberal education. A weak point is transitioning from the people who advocated for this type of learning to the decline of it. There was no mention of how and why it became important before going into its temporary demise. This paragraph explaining the decline and return of its importance is somewhat weak. Adding a cited source about its revival in 20th century US culture would give it validity. Another point that could be incorporated is the analytical aspect of a liberal education. This type of education adds different perspectives to all fields of study. Again, this might be considered a more modern thought which speaks to the article being a bit outdated. JB3R2BOO (talk) 17:22, 17 March 2022 (UTC)

Reference list and Quotations
'References' as was, was not a Wikipedia reflist. I have added the links under the previous 'References' and 'External Links' sections under a new section 'Further reading'; there were no in-line citations to the previous References section.

The quote by Donald Knuth in 'Quotations' is unsupported; I have added a request for citation. Googling the whole quote I find there are repeats of it on the web within the same text, but all appearing to be copy and paste from an assertion in the blog of a William Gomes from 6 Dec 2009. Gomes could have used as reference the quote's addition to this Article page by User:Agentilini on 10 March 2007, this again with no source indicated. Knuth may have said the words quoted, and I may have missed viable reference, but a link to hard documented evidence would be required. As Knuth is a living person, particular care should be made not to be seen to put words into his mouth. If a source cannot be found, the quote should be removed. Can anyone find an original source for the quote and add a reference link?

Acabashi (talk) 14:06, 24 July 2010 (UTC)


 * I think the problem with the article can be explained by the erroneous equation: Liberal Education = Liberal Arts' Education. This is immediately apparent in the opening statement. Although Liberal Education can, and usually does, include general and Liberal Arts' elements, its "Prime Directive" is to use education in developing a person's altruist capacity to engage in society, for the betterment of society. Enlightened, constructive civic involvement is the driver; education is the means. It is a specific education philosophy, often confused with liberal arts' and general education..


 * Isokrates speaks of the "...content-less definition by the AACU...arrived at by a committee...". Isokrates comment is valid, although the AACU quote does include Liberal Education's cornerstone notion. Joel Russ makes good points about the lack of historic and philosophic background and details of proponents; this article needs expansion... I might have a go when I get time.


 * I have re-shaped the article a bit and removed a dead link.


 * Acabashi (talk) 14:23, 18 August 2010 (UTC)


 * I've been trying to improve this article as well. I'd appreciate all the help I can get! :) Edge3 (talk) 16:29, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

HaishanLuo (talk) 07:51, 20 September 2020 (UTC)== "Definition" and "History" sections added ==

I've recently finished putting up "Definition" and "History" sections, which are at most only a brief overview of what a liberal education has provided over the past few millennia. The article still needs some expansion and deeper research in those sections, and I think new sections on implementation and practicality would be quite useful. One must also consider the often divergent relationship between liberal and specialized education. Expanding this article could take a while for me, as my ideas are still developing, but if another interested editor, especially one with expertise in higher education, is willing to help, then he or she is more than welcome to play around and improve the article! I've just added the expand template, but since there is a pending TFD, I may have to request help through alternative means. Edge3 (talk) 05:01, 22 December 2010 (UTC)
 * You may have more success posting to the education project talk page - this page has fewer than 30 watchers. –Moondyne 09:14, 22 December 2010 (UTC)
 * Yea that's probably a better idea, but I'll try to add one more section on liberal education's relationship with specialized education before I ask for help there. Throwing more info into the article may give reviewers a better idea of what can be expanded, removed, or added. Edge3 (talk) 15:10, 22 December 2010 (UTC)
 * After further research, I've concluded that my meager knowledge of liberal education is not enough to know what kind of things I should be talking about, and that the literature I've read heavily leans towards a favorable view of liberal education. :( Knowledge of who the more prominent writers are would certainly be a plus, as well as empirical data that reflects a worldwide view of this method of pedagogy. Time to find an expert... I'll drop a note on the education project talk page! Cheers, and have a happy new year! :D Edge3 (talk) 08:04, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

After reading the article, the audience can hardly understand what “Liberal Education is.” The explanations given are vague and are more of ideologies than actual definitions that could be helpful to readers who need to understand more about this topic. People will understand better what Liberal Education is from other sources than they will from this Wikipedia article. While the article quotes the American Association for the Advancement of Science when defining Liberal Education, it does little to echo the meaning given by the source. Also, the article saying that individuals are taught how to use their leisure time in the definition is also misplaced because liberal education also people for work and career.

One of the things that should be added in the article is an actual definition of Liberal Education and not an ideology of what Liberal Education is supposed to be. Second, the article uses an article from 1885 as a reference point to understanding Liberal education by Hughes, Thomas. "What is a Liberal Education?," The American Catholic Quarterly Review, Vol. X, January/October 1885. Nonetheless, points of reference used should be more recent for relevance and provision of information that is up-to-date. Something else that is missing from this article would actual examples that would make a case for Liberal Education instead of random information spread throughout the article that ends up confusing the reader. Some examples would be how courses taught in Liberal Education relates to other career oriented courses like medicine or economics. In addition, the article would also benefit from various examples of courses taught in Liberal Education.

What would dramatically improve the article would be the creation of subtopics that explain further about Liberal Education. an example is the importance of Liberal Education. Also, creating relevant subtopics for the information would greatly improve the article. For example, in the definition, the article talks about the difference between Liberal Arts and Liberal Education. making it a subtopic would greatly improve the structure of the article. Overall, the article needs a lot of work done to make it look like an encyclopedia. For example, in the subtopic relationship with professional education, the article says that it argues, which is offering an opinion which is not a characteristic of encyclopedia articles as they should be straight to the point. Other suggestions are all the problems pointed out in the evaluation.

User Haishan Luo 20 September, 2020

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Liberalism
Liberalism isn't medieval. It's humane. Opinions don't belong here. 24.216.101.55 (talk) 20:16, 22 February 2023 (UTC)