Bard VP and OSUN Vice Chancellor Jonathan Becker on the Global Liberal Arts Challenge
Students at the ninth annual Get Engaged Student Action and Youth Leadership Conference, organized by the OSUN Civic Engagement Initiative at Bard College in partnership with the American University of Central Asia (AUCA).
Writing for Ethics & International Affairs, Jonathan Becker, executive vice president, vice president for academic affairs, and professor of political studies at Bard College and vice chancellor of the Open Society University Network, argues that, as the liberal arts and sciences (LAS) are threatened worldwide, action is needed to defend them. An LAS education runs contrary to the “hyperspecialized, rigidly sequenced, and strictly disciplinary curriculums” often employed in less democratic societies throughout the world. An LAS education, by contrast, promotes “energetic intellectual life outside of the classroom that reflects students’ hopes of a vibrant civil society,” which is often the reason such curricula are targeted by more authoritarian governments. “The goal is to adapt liberal arts principles to the local environment through dialogue and exchange of ideas, not to export a cookie cutter model,” Becker writes.
Post Date: 10-18-2022
Post Date: 10-18-2022