Liberal Arts for Liberal Arts' Sake

What disturbed me and prompted me to write this post? Singapore is pursuing a liberal arts college as if it is another business opportunity and approaching starting a school like starting a factory. Education in a liberal arts sense is about seeing more than the business and practical side of things. Education is more than about being best and "first."

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Since Dr Tony Tan can be credited with the rapid success of Singapore Management University, having been indispensable to SMU in actions and words since it was just an idea, his recent declaration that "we [Singapore] must be first with [a] liberal arts school" suggests such a college would be established in the immediate future. Unsurprisingly, the urgent need is money.

The benefits that a liberal arts college will bring to Singapore are indisputable. Before such a college can succeed, the second most urgent need is to understand liberal arts education, in Biopolis-ian Singapore, for liberal arts' sake.

Fewer Students, More Student-Faculty Interaction
Tom Gerety, a former President of Amherst College argued that "we [at Amherst] believe in teaching as conversation because the best teaching is conversation." The small enrollments at liberal arts colleges allow a unique small-classroom style of teaching mostly absent in large research-oriented universities.

For Professors, Less (and Less Specialized) Research, More Teaching
Traditionally, professors at liberal arts colleges emphasize less on research, more on teaching. Their tenure is similarly judged more on quality of teaching than outputs in research. The Carleton College homepage proudly proclaims that its "talented faculty's...first priority is teaching."

In contrast to the large number of researchers at a research university, the relatively small number of faculty at liberal arts colleges should push them towards more generality and less specialization in their fields. Professor Timothy Burke of Swarthmore College discusses such issues in his post "building a liberal arts faculty."

Fewer Graduate Students, Focus on Undergrads
The focus on teaching over research translates into fewer graduate students. Instead, an unwavering focus on undergraduates characterizes liberal arts colleges. For example, liberal arts college Brywn Mawr has thrice the number of undergrads than grads in 2006/7. In the case of a research university like the University of Chicago graduate/professional students outnumber the undergrads two to one. [Please read comments by U of Chicago students on their experiences.]

However, there are also in-between universities, like Dartmouth College, that have both strong liberal arts undergrad focus and grad programs. Because of its numerous grad programs, Dartmouth is usually classified as a university, not a liberal arts college.

Less Hands-On, More General Knowledge and Intellectual Skills link
As opposed to professional/vocational training at research/professional-training universities (for example, life sciences research at NTU, aero engineering at MIT, accounting at SMU, pre-med focus at Johns Hopkins, finance concentration at Wharton, law at NUS), a liberal arts education prides itself in imparting the broad knowledge of humanities and sciences.

However, it has been noted in various studies that undergraduate colleges form a "Key pipeline of Research Scientists,"link opens PDF contributing disproportionate numbers of students to graduate schools.

A possible but unpleasant explanation for such a trend is that liberal arts colleges have moved closer to the teaching methods of the research/professional-training universities. Some point out that with decreasing enrolment in liberal arts programs, "even stand-alone liberal arts colleges are offering fewer liberal arts degrees and focusing increasingly on pre-professional programs" link

On one hand, liberal arts colleges should focus on their strength of flexibility - by consciously preparing students for many non-specific scenarios, their graduates are more adaptive and ready for our rapidly changing world.

On the other, liberal arts colleges might be utilizing their strength of high faculty-student ratio while venturing into hands-on vocational/professional training.

Measuring Liberal Arts on its own terms
Unfortunately, rankings of universities have become a worldwide obsession, and liberal arts colleges suffer greatly from the methodologies that favor research universities. As a result, liberal arts universities have struggled to remain confident on their own terms, feeling the need to justify their output in economic, tangible terms.

Ex-Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan worried that "our universities are going to have to struggle to prevent the liberal arts curricula from being swamped by technology and science." Although he is inaccurate in grouping all of science out of liberal arts, he highlights that the weakness of liberal arts lies chiefly in our inability to value the humanities in its own terms. related link

Liberal Arts Programs in Large Research Universities
Coincidentally, in the same speech, Greenspan quotes a large research university's president when explaining the benefits of a liberal arts education. (disclosure: author is alumnus of Penn)

So-called liberal education is presumed to spawn a greater understanding of all aspects of living--an essential ingredient to broaden one's world view. As the President of the University of Pennsylvania, Judith Rodin, put it, such an understanding comes by "vaulting over disciplinary walls" and exploring other fields of study. Most great conceptual advances are interdisciplinary and involve synergies of different specialities. Yet the liberal arts embody more than a means of increasing technical intellectual efficiency. They encourage the appreciation of life experiences that reach beyond material well-being and, indeed, are comparable and mutually reinforcing.

Many large universities recreate the environment of high faculty-to-student ratio, broad-based liberal curriculum by having smaller programs. The Benjamin Franklin Scholars program at Penn and University Scholars Program at NUS are but two examples.

Schools are Not Factories
Singapore's rationale for starting a liberal arts college is to "groom future leaders in business, community and government." I believe in the strengths of a liberal arts education, but we must remember that causation doesn't mean correlation - many notable alumni from liberal arts colleges come from established political families. (We see a parallel in Ivy League universities). So we must believe in a liberal arts college for liberal arts' sake, and not treat it as another factory to churn out future leaders.

Other related links:

• Ministry of Education - International Academic Advisory Panel Sixth Meeting Press Release
• Education Minister Tharman Shamugarathnam on Higher Education
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I was part of the Benjamin Franklin Scholars Program during my undergrad days at Penn, and loved the small-enrollment seminars I took that varied from a History research seminar on the Rise and Fall of the British Empire to a project-based Anthropology+Computer Modeling class on the Bolivian site of Tiwanaku. I am very happy Singapore is recognizing the liberal arts, but I hope we recognize liberal arts for liberal arts' sake. Thank you very much for reading!