通識教育為什么重要

文理學(xué)院的英文為College of Liberal Arts，這里的Liberal Arts是Liberal Arts and Science的簡稱，也就是人文與科學(xué)。它是起源于歐洲的教育傳統(tǒng)，其初衷是提供文理全面發(fā)展的教育，要求每個學(xué)生必修自然科學(xué)、人文科學(xué)、數(shù)學(xué)、英文、外語和藝術(shù)等課程。

文理學(xué)院一般只提供大學(xué)本科學(xué)位。美國共有266所全國性的文理學(xué)院，其中大多數(shù)是私立學(xué)校，只有27所是公立的。文理學(xué)院的教育質(zhì)量與具有碩士、博士課程的大學(xué)相比一點也不遜色，甚至比其他很多大學(xué)的教育要好得多?！度A爾街日報》曾經(jīng)以學(xué)生畢業(yè)后進(jìn)入美國頂尖商學(xué)院、醫(yī)學(xué)院和法學(xué)院的比例多少評出了50所美國精英大學(xué)排行榜，其中21所是文理學(xué)院。

Sean Decatur is dean of Arts and Sciences and professor of chemistry and biochemistry at Oberlin College， and member of the board of trustees of the Association of American Colleges and Universities.

“Academically Adrift，” the new book by Richard Arum and Josipa Roska， has ignited a muchneeded debate about the college or university as learning environment.

Yet two interesting and significant findings from this study lie just below the results that have garnered sensational headlines: students who take traditional liberal arts and science courses fare better in terms of the increase in skills measured by the Collegiate Learning Assessment than students who take undergraduate course in more preprofessional fields; and courses demanding more work from students (for example， courses with larger quantities of reading or writing required) tend to raise learning more.

Students who took traditional liberal arts and science courses fared better than those in preprofessional fields.

These two findings are not surprising. Colleges and universities embracing the core values and methods of liberal education， successfully tested and sharpened for centuries， challenge students to understand and examine the world around them from a range of different perspectives and methodologies， and to master at least one core disciplinary area in detail.

Faculty challenge students to address big ideas and questions in courses that involve substantial engagement with critical analysis of canonical texts from diverse traditions; with creative expression in the fine arts; and with the construction of explanations for natural and social phenomena through the natural and social sciences.

Strikingly， liberal education is not only effective at enhancing student learning， but also in producing college graduates wellequipped for the challenges of the 21st century economy. Studies in the Liberal Education and Americans Promise initiative of the Association of American Colleges and Universities have shown that the essential learning outcomes of a liberal education are aligned with the skills most desired in prospective workers by private sector employers.

As policymakers continue to search for means to make higher education a driver for entrepreneurial innovation and economic transformation， they should not lose sight of the central value of the traditional liberal arts and sciences—topics all too often overlooked in favor of applied or pre-professional fields—in the development of the student mind.

Vedika Khemani， Indian， graduated from a liberal arts college.

Well， what is it going to be: engineering， medicine or commerce?

Most 12thgrade students in India are faced with this question， as they struggle to fit themselves into one of a few narrowly defined boxes. Heaven forbid someone might enjoy reading both Newtons laws and Platos dialogues! Plato is clearly a waste of time with no practical， remunerative value. Or is it?

I grew up in Kolkata， India， and came to the United States as a freshman to study physics at Harvey Mudd College in Claremont， Calif. Harvey Mudd is a unique liberal arts college which specializes in science and engineering， while also honing its graduates to be well read in the humanities and social sciences. While taking intensive physics and mathematics classes， I also studied history， economics， linguistics， philosophy and creative writing. I am now pursuing a Ph.D. in theoretical physics at Princeton University.

Based on my experiences， I wanted to advocate for the value and necessity of a broad， liberal education rich in both technical subjects and the humanities.

The pragmatic attitude taken by most Indian students and parents is certainly understandable in a country where millions of students regularly compete for scarce college placements and job opportunities. The entrance requirements at Indian universities have steadily risen， with certain premier colleges in New Delhi posting the mindboggling admission cutoff of 99 percent last year.

In this highstress setting， students want to study whatever will land them a job， creating a college experience much more akin to “technical training” rather than intellectual exploration. However， I believe it is precisely todays environment with a rapidly expanding， educated working class in India that makes an interdisciplinary liberal arts education all the more necessary.

 True friend is someone who gives you hope when you ran out of it. 真正的朋友，在你絕望時，還是會給你希望。

 When you succeed， thank the person who taught you. When you fail， only blame yourself. 成功時，感謝那些幫助過你的人；失敗時，只可責(zé)怪自己。

In a global world dominated by socalled knowledge workers， the ability to communicate effectively and work well on a team is imperative. But besides raw technical ability， how do you develop the myriad other skills needed to distinguish yourself and excel in your job? How can you learn to inspire people so they want to work towards the sales goals youve set?

As a start， try an oratory class and read speeches given by paradigm-changing leaders. To learn the brevity， precision and charisma needed to write a funding proposal for your dream project， try a creative writing class. To incorporate vastly different perspectives from your team members， try classes in psychology and philosophy. These may help you understand where they might be coming from.

And nothing could be more practical than the humanities.

As the story goes， when three blind men felt an elephant， one concluded it was flat like a wall， another thought it sharp like a spear and the last was sure an elephant was thin like a snake. All were correct in their own way， just incomplete.

The ability to synthesize different perspectives into the big picture is far more powerful than narrow expertise in any single field. The social sciences offer perspectives from vantage points separated by time， place and society. Drawing and painting offer perspectives on what perspective even means. Critical thinking is the logical result of being able to simultaneously synthesize multiple ideas in ones mind.

Realworld problems rarely ever have textbook solutions. More than anything， the purpose of a college education is to learn how to think critically and what questions to ask. Liberal arts colleges aim to mold their students into wellrounded， wellinformed global citizens with a wide skill set—whether it is through elective or voluntary courses that push specialized students to be broader， or general requirements that force every graduate to know at least something about certain subjects.

In the throes of our current economic crisis， all conventional strategies for success are moot. All the more reason for a liberal arts education that creates resilient people who can invent creative solutions and always have new ways by which to try things differently.

As Albert Einstein said， “Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited; imagination encircles the world.” 