What Is Liberal Education?

It seemed to me that Kegan really liked the well roundedness that liberal education gives to its students. He named the seven liberal arts, which were arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, music, grammar, rhetoric, and logic. He talked about broadening the field of learning, which I agree with. I think that we all need some basic knowledge that we can relate back to. This is good for communicating with people that are studying a topic different from your own. If there wasn’t that basic foundation then how could we communicate with each other? “The greatest shortcoming, I believe of most attempts at liberal education today, with their individualized, scattered curricula, and ill-defined purpose, is their failure to enhance the students’ understanding of their status as free citizens of a free society and the responsibilities it entails” (Kegan 149). How I analyzed this was that he didn’t like how the educational system is set up and he doesn’t think that the educators have done a good job of getting the students to grasp the concept of a free society. He goes on to say that he thinks a liberal education is unimaginable without a free society. I think that this is untrue because there are so many students that they have to satisfy that they are doing the best they can to give everyone common knowledge through general education. I do agree with him however that we should all have a “universal knowledge”. I think that this is necessary for communication with others. I don’t agree with him about having a common program that all students have to take part in because if that person isn’t interested in part of the curriculum then they might find it a waste of their time and then not even want to go so then it would end up being a waste of the professors time and then end up being a waste of the universities money.