A liberal arts education: Global trends and challenges

A liberal arts education: Global trends and challenges

• Logan, Jerry Gordon College, Wenham, Massachusetts, USA
• Curry, Janel Gordon College, Wenham, Massachusetts, USA

Christian Higher Education, 14(1), 66-79, 2015

Routledge

2015

• G Curriculum, Teaching & Learning: Specific Disciplines
  • GF Humanities & Arts
    • GFA Teaching Objectives, Curriculum & Evaluation
• P Social Context of Education
  • PB Comparative Education

Humanistic Education Curricula (Courses of Study) Higher Education Christian Universities & Colleges United States Hong Kong

• Hong Kong

• 1997.7 onwards

• Unknown or Unspecified

The debate about the effectiveness of the liberal arts curriculum is centuries old, but recent financial and social pressures have placed the survival of the liberal arts in the United States at even greater risk. Using Kimball's (1995) notion of the oratorical and philosophical traditions of liberal education, this article first identifies the critical importance of balancing breadth and depth in the curriculum before honing in on breadth as being in particular danger in the current climate. After analyzing the major threats to breadth in American higher education, the article looks overseas to find a new case for the value of breadth in the curriculum. It focuses on Hong Kong's university system, where a large-scale, multiyear project is underway to graft a fourth year of general education onto a three-year model of discipline- or profession-specific training. The resulting contrast between American institutions discarding curricular breadth while foreign universities rediscover it is telling. This topic has particular relevance for Christian colleges and universities as they seek the holistic development of their students.
Copyright of Christian Higher Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15363759.2015.973344

• English

Journal Articles

• 15363759

• 10.1080/15363759.2015.973344

https://bibliography.lib.eduhk.hk/bibs/34b07c1b

2015-03-12