Liberal Education

Abstract

The sleepy liberal arts colleges that upperclassmen attended went through dramatic changes by the twenty-first century, both in the growth of numbers of students and in the focus of study: mainly technical, scientific, and commercial education. The liberal arts play a key role in Catholic education. The purposes of liberal education are discussed. One way to describe that purpose is not only to learn about history and literature but also, even more importantly, to learn from history and literature. In the Catholic intellectual tradition, moral formation, abandoned at most secular universities, remains important and strengthens virtuous habits, both intellectual and moral. Liberal education liberates the “fly in the bottle,” gives perspective through the study of history, and deepens human sensibility through literature and theological studies. In that tradition, the transcendent dimension expands the horizons of relevance and deepens sympathy for the human condition. In an age of social media, the relevance of liberal education becomes ever more obvious.