But if forced to choose, I would endorse its general over its particular aims. Although I believe Harvard students should have contact with the traditional canon, in the end it is immaterial whether they learn to appreciate literature or to construct an argument reflecting on Hamlet or the Mahabharata. This, in fact, is the pedagogical theory underlying the Harvard Core Curriculum. What matters is not the subject matter, but the intellectual discipline gained in studying it. The courses within each area or subdivision of the program are equivalent in the sense that, while their subject matter may vary, their emphasis on a particular way of thinking is the same.
Liberal education sets itself another, more difficult goal as well.
That is self-knowledge and ethical insight. Of course, such knowledge and insight is by definition highly personal, the province of individual rather than institutional effort. But an institution such as Harvard may seek to create an environment in which these efforts are actively promoted and supported. The tools which students acquire in coursework can first be applied to discussions with fellow students in the dining hall or in extracurricular activities before being brought to bear on life after college. Here is where the transfer of knowledge begins.