Liberal arts
The term
liberal arts has come to mean studies that are intended to provide general
knowledge and
intellectual skills, rather than more specialized occupational or professional skills.
The scope of the liberal arts has changed with
society. It once emphasised the education of elites in the
classics; but, with the rise of
science and
humanities during the
Age of Enlightenment, the scope and meaning of "liberal arts" expanded to include them. Still excluded from the liberal arts are topics that are specific to particular occupations, such as agriculture, business, dentistry, engineering, medicine, pedagogy (school-teaching), and pharmacy.
In the
history of
education, the
seven liberal arts comprised two groups of studies: the
trivium and the
quadrivium. Studies in the
trivium involved
grammar,
dialectic (
logic), and
rhetoric; and studies in the
quadrivium involved
arithmetic,
music,
geometry, and
astronomy. These liberal arts made up the
core curriculum of the
medieval universities. The term
liberal in
liberal arts is from the Latin word
liberalis, meaning "appropriate for free men" (social and political
elites), and they were contrasted with the
servile arts. The
liberal arts thus initially represented the kinds of skills and general knowledge needed by the elite echelon of society, whereas the
servile arts represented specialized
tradesman skills and knowledge needed by persons who were employed by the elite.
In the
United States,
liberal arts colleges are still a particular kind of higher education institution that are typified by their rejection of more direct
vocational education during undergraduate studies. Some top-tier U.S. liberal arts colleges include
St. John's College,
Amherst College,
Bowdoin College,
Carleton College,
Colby College,
Dickinson College,
Haverford College,
Kenyon College,
Middlebury College,
Swarthmore College, and
Williams College, among others.
Following completion of their undergraduate studies at
liberal arts colleges, graduates often do obtain specialized training by going to other institutions, such as
professional schools (for instance, in
business,
law,
medicine, or
theology) or
graduate schools.
In modern academia, the Arts are usually grouped with or a subset of the
Humanities. Some subjects in the Humanities are
history,
linguistics,
literature,
philosophy, and
women's studies.
Institutions outside the United States that have been inspired by U.S. liberal-arts colleges include
International Christian University, which is established after World War II as the first American-style college in Japan, the
European College of Liberal Arts in Germany, the
Roosevelt Academy in the Netherlands and
Ashesi University in Ghana. This category of higher education does not exist in the United Kingdom, and the term "liberal arts" is very little used in any contemporary context in the UK.
While the concept is rarely expressed in
Australia, it is presently becoming more influential in
Melbourne. In that city,
Victoria University now offers a two year "Diploma of Liberal Arts". Additionally, the
University of Melbourne is becoming a US style graduate school, which may cause the less prestigious universities in Victoria to become closer to US style liberal arts colleges.
*
The Arts*
Dante's
Divine Comedy and
Convivio where he drew a connection between the liberal arts and the seven
astrological planets.
*
Master of Arts in Liberal Studies* Charles Blaich, Anne Bost, Ed Chan, and Richard Lynch.
Defining Liberal Arts Education. Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts, 2004.
* Friedlander, Jack.
Measuring the Benefits of Liberal Arts Education in Washington's Community Colleges. Los Angeles: Center for the Study of Community Colleges, 1982a. (ED 217 918)
* Blanshard, Brand.
The Uses of a Liberal Education: And Other Talks to Students. (Open Court, 1973. ISBN 0812694295)
* Wriston, HĂ©nry M.
The Nature of a Liberal College. Lawrence University Press, 1937.
* Joseph, Sister Miriam.
The Trivium: The Liberal Arts of Logic, Grammar, and Rhetoric. Paul Dry Books Inc, 2002.
* Winterer, Caroline. "The Culture of Classicism: Ancient Greece and Rome in American Intellectual Life, 1780-1910." Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002.
*
Philosophy of Liberal Education*
Liberal Arts at the Community College*
A Descriptive Analysis of the Community College Liberal Arts Curriculum*
The Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts*
Academic Commons*
CatholiCity: Catholic Encyclopedia*
Enciclopedia CatĂłlica (spanish)
