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Liberal Arts-Why do we need it, or do we?
Professor Omar Rahman
ULAB Seminar on Liberal Arts
January 19, 2006

Fellow Co-panelists and guests, ladies and gentlemen, it is a pleasure and a privilege for me talk about Liberal Arts in the context of higher education in Bangladesh in front of a such an august audience. This is a particularly germane topic in light of the latest higher education reform report just issued by the University Grants Commission.

Higher education is at an impasse in Bangladesh . Not only are we producing very few university graduates relative to our population size, their quality leaves much to be desired. There is an increasing realization that our current system of higher education which focuses on narrow skill based training rigidly segmented into specific disciplines is not equipping our graduates to compete adequately in today's globalized knowledge economy.

We need a new model for higher education, and my contention is that this model has to embrace a liberal arts approach. The latter is generally accepted to mean studies that promote generalized knowledge and intellectual skills rather than specialized professional or occupational skills. As an interesting aside, the term liberal in liberal arts is from the Latin word "Liberalis" which means appropriate for free men (social and political elites) as opposed to the servile arts representing vocational or tradesman's skills. In medieval times, the liberal arts referred to a set of seven inter-related studies: the trivium (including, grammar rhetoric and logic) and the quadrivium involving, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music. Another aspect of liberal refers to the "Enlightenment" notion of liberating the mind and freeing it from prejudices and unsubstantiated assumptions.

Andrew Chrucky of the University of Chicago , one of the great exemplars of a liberal arts university education notes, and I quote: "the aim of liberal education is to create persons who have the ability and the disposition to try to reach agreements on matter of fact, theory and actions through rational discussions."

In my view, the essence of a liberal arts educational model is that it emphasizes breadth in addition to depth. Moreover it stresses highly developed communication skills and most importantly focuses on analysis rather than description.

Operationally liberal arts university education is best exemplified by the US experience, where students are exposed to a variety of subjects across a range of disciplines at the baccalaureate level with a modest degree of specialization. They then go on at the masters and doctorate level to gain specific disciplinary competence either professionally (in law, business, medicine, engineering etc) or academically in specific academic subjects (chemistry, English, sociology etc).

One may well ask that is such a model applicable to the social/economic and cultural contexts of developing countries or is liberal arts an intellectual conceit that can only afforded by the affluent developed world. A recent publication by professors Bloom and Rosovsky from Harvard University set out in a very cogent fashion the specific advantages of such an approach for developing countries. These advantages include:

• broadening of horizons so that students are exposed and encouraged to explore new disciplines and topics which they may not have been aware of fully before coming to university;
• a better understanding of how knowledge is acquired about the physical, biological, socio-economic and cultural world we live in, thus helping to break down disciplinary barriers and encourage cross fertilization of research (e.g. the physician who uses physics to explore biological processes; the sociologist who learns about new statistical techniques to investigate social networks etc);
• greater exposure to different moral-philosophical-religious traditions which can lead to a deeper understanding of ethical standards and practice.
• enhanced knowledge of societal disparities and civic responsibilities leading to increased social consciousness and political participation;
• a more nuanced understanding of different cultural traditions and historical processes resulting in better national and international cohesion and co-operation.

The authors contend that although not easy to implement, liberal arts curricula have substantial societal pay offs in developing countries in terms of:

1) encouraging creativity and technological innovation leading to higher economic growth;
2) improving ethical standards;
3) enhancing civic and political engagement leading to better public policy, and
4) increasing societal and global cohesion by exposing students to a wider knowledge of different cultures and historical trends.

So if Liberal Arts is so good why is it so hard to promote it. Much of the opposition (and there is a great deal of it, coming mainly from parents and faculty) is based on two related misguided notions that (i) the only and primary object of undergraduate education is to equip students to find an economically remunerative job and not to "broaden their minds and or sharpen their debating acumen" and that (ii) the jobs that are available require the mastery of very specialized sets of facts . Thus if I am going to be a businessman, an engineer, a doctor or lawyer there is no need for me to learn about things outside my narrow focus of expertise.

The reality is of course much more complex. Issues that confront us in the workplace do not come nicely packaged in discipline specific forms. In this brave new world where human capital is infinitely more important than physical capital, the ability to think flexibly and draw on diverse streams of knowledge, to innovate rather than imitate is what will distinguish the winners from the losers.

I strongly believe that it is precisely liberal arts education which broadens the mind, and uplifts the spirit, that will allow us to be ethically informed, tolerant and at the same time fierce competitors in this new increasing inter-connected world.

THANK YOU

Professor Omar Rahman is Pro-Vice Chancellor of Independent University, Bangladesh.

Omar Rahman, Liberal Arts