Social Radicalism And Liberal Education

Liberal education used to command wide political support. Radicals disagreed with conservatives on whether the best culture could be appreciated by everyone, and they disagreed, too, on whether the barriers to understanding it were mainly social and economic, but there was no dispute that any worthwhile education ought to hand on the best that has been thought and said. That consensus has vanished since the 1960s. The book examines why social radicals supported liberal education, why they have moved away from it, and what the implications are for the future of an intellectually stimulating and culturally literate education.

Voelker, Scott Windham, Mary C. Wright, Catherine Zeek

This book offers a clarion call, in the words of Franklin Roosevelt, to “try something!” And not just any something. A systematic, integrated, chronological, multi-disciplinary approach to reinvigorate the teaching of the liberal arts and put them back where they belong—at the center of a student’s educational experience. It does not pretend to offer a cure-all or a one-size-fits-all solution to everything that is ailing American higher education, or even secondary education. It does, however, offer a place to begin a discussion, to invite experimentation, and to initiate reform based on solid pedagogy and 2,500 years of time-tested wisdom in the human experience. As such it should be of interest to many people. Those in higher education serious about the crisis facing their institutions could benefit from taking up the gauntlet this volume throws down. For students and parents, the book raises alternatives and poses some hard questions that they should be asking not only as they consider colleges and universities, but of their secondary schools. In fact, anyone who keeps a close eye on the state of education would be interested in what this book adds to the discussion.

First published in 1987. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Education and Extremisms addresses one of the most pressing questions facing societies today: how is education to respond to the challenge of extremism? It argues that the implementation of new teaching techniques, curricular reforms or top-down changes to education policy alone cannot solve the problem of extremism in educational establishments across the world. Instead, the authors of this thought-provoking volume argue that there is a need for those concerned with radicalisation to reconsider the relationship between instrumentalist ideologies shaping education and the multiple forms of extremisms that exist. Beginning with a detailed discussion of the complicated and contested nature of different forms of extremism, including extremism of both a religious and secular nature, the authors show that common assumptions in contemporary discourses on education and extremism are problematic. Chapters in the book provide a careful selection of pertinent and topical case studies, policy analysis and insightful critique of extremist discourses. Taken together, the chapters in the book make a powerful case for re-engaging with liberal education in order to foster values of individual and social enrichment, intellectual freedom, criticality, open-mindedness, flexibility and reflection as antidotes to extremist ideologies. Recognising recent criticisms of liberalism and liberal education, the authors argue for a new understanding of liberal education that is suitable for multicultural societies in a rapidly globalising world. This book is essential reading for academics, researchers and postgraduate students with an interest in religion, citizenship education, liberalism, secularism, counter-terrorism, social policy, Muslim education, youth studies and extremism. It is also relevant to teacher educators, teachers and policymakers.

CNN host and best-selling author Fareed Zakaria argues for a renewed commitment to the world’s most valuable educational tradition. The liberal arts are under attack. The governors of Florida, Texas, and North Carolina have all pledged that they will not spend taxpayer money subsidizing the liberal arts, and they seem to have an unlikely ally in President Obama. While at a General Electric plant in early 2014, Obama remarked, "I promise you, folks can make a lot more, potentially, with skilled manufacturing or the trades than they might with an art history degree." These messages are hitting home: majors like English and history, once very popular and highly respected, are in steep decline. "I get it," writes Fareed Zakaria, recalling the atmosphere in India where he grew up, which was even more obsessed with getting a skills-based education. However, the CNN host and best-selling author explains why this widely held view is mistaken and shortsighted. Zakaria eloquently expounds on the virtues of a liberal arts education—how to write clearly, how to express yourself convincingly, and how to think analytically. He turns our leaders' vocational argument on its head. American routine manufacturing jobs continue to get automated or outsourced, and specific vocational knowledge is often outdated within a few years. Engineering is a great profession, but key value-added skills you will also need are creativity, lateral thinking, design, communication, storytelling, and, more than anything, the ability to continually learn and enjoy learning—precisely the gifts of a liberal education. Zakaria argues that technology is transforming education, opening up access to the best courses and classes in a vast variety of subjects for millions around the world. We are at the dawn of the greatest expansion of the idea of a liberal education in human history.

“A refreshing collection of essays that offers a range of critical and radical voices which are generally marginalized in the critical social studies ‘mainstream’ ... This collection is a good read with valuable insights that can impact teaching practice.”— Canadian Social Studies - Canada’s National Social Studies Journal - Volume 45 Issue 1

The American liberal arts college now appears to be in a crisis that threatens its very existence. Critics have charged that the college no longer delivers on its promise of a liberal education and is in a state of 'moral collapse.' This book analyzes this crisis and offers a radical proposal for its resolution. Crimmel first explains how a college's infidelity to the ideals of liberal education adversely affects its relationship to society, its educational program, and its teachers. He then provides a definition and a defense of liberal education's ideal. Finally, he demonstrates that the college must not submit to any ideology, political agenda, or vocational interest, and that the college's educational program must be centered around a set of rational theoretical and practical skills and that the college teacher must be autonomous and uncompromised by scholarly or administrative responsibilities.