Liberal Arts Technicalities

Trusteeship
The Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges
September / October 1998

Letters to the editor
John D. Walda persuasively argues that the integrity of a liberal arts education is at great peril against global competition and technological innovations and that liberal arts education should be protected and nurtured at all costs. [“Tools of the Liberal Arts Trade,” May/June 1998.] An alternative perspective is to maintain the spirit of the liberal arts while simultaneously meeting the market demands for more scientific and technically trained graduates. It would behoove higher education to integrate technological advancements of the present day into the liberal arts foundation offered in American colleges and universities.

For over 300 years, political, social, and economic forces have shaped higher education – most profoundly in the last 100 years. It is reasonable to expect that these environmental impetuses will continue to shape the role of liberal arts.

Today, hundreds of institutions recognize and teach that the practical and scientific curricula are of equal importance to a liberal arts education. Through carefully scripted programs of study and elective opportunities, contemporary students are afforded a great variety of curricula. The present challenge is that educational leaders must encourage the appropriate change within the academy to create new teaching and learning paradigms suited to today’s needs. Colleges and universities can enhance their holistic development of students by incorporating the vast variety of technological innovations in the classroom.

J.R. Harding
Student Regent
State University System of Florida

Contact:
J.R. Harding, Ed.D.
850-907-0652 (home)
850-907-9301 (fax)
jrfsu@comcast.net (home email)

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