Most health experts would probably attest that the slower diners enjoy better digestion and ultimately lead longer and healthier lives. Our students might ask whether they can afford time for reflection. The other day Liz Blue described advising a student whose sole goal was finding classes to fit her full-time work schedule. Let s remember that a public liberal arts education is part of the great American dream. In Europe, traditionally, only the sons of wealthy families considered liberal education.
Many today enter European universities to specialize in a single profession such as law or medicine.
In the US, we offer higher education and liberal arts education to everyone, even though our students may be less well prepared for higher learning and our institutions not as well subsidized by the government as elsewhere on the globe. As citizens as well as professional educators, we need to keep asking whether public liberal arts education is valuable for both the individual student and the community. We know that studying the liberal arts leads to longer and healthier intellectual lives for those who take the time to nourish ourselves mentally. According to Nussbaum, a liberally educated person must, first, engage in Socratic self-examination, second, see oneself as a citizen of the world, and third, develop a narrative imagination. Following Nussbaums approach, let me offer a stimulus to our continuing conversations by proposing that the study of the liberal arts promotes freedom, fairness, and creativity.