2008 Woodie Awards
Liberal Education For The 21st Century
Alan Nordstrom
Issue date: 3/26/07 Section: Opinions
An appropriate liberal education in the 21st Century, intended to prepare students to thrive as good citizens in a global society,
will differ from what has passed before as liberal education. Learning to see the world "globally" is the new element in liberal education; so, too, is seeking the
"global wisdom" that will allow all planetary systems to flourish rather than degrade-even to the point of ecocide, which now seems imminent.
Earth is an "endangered planet," and we, with our avaricious appetites and penchant for violence, are its primary predators.
We need to learn this and rectify it soon. Nothing less than a new, mature global culture needs to develop, and aptly educated citizens will light and lead the way.
The new liberal education will be pragmatic and progressive in that it is mission driven. It is not just about knowing but also about doing, since much must be done
soon to alter prevailing mindsets that wreak havoc rather than cultivate peace, justice, and ecological sustainability.
Accordingly, an apt liberal education will develop new mindsets in students through critiques of humanity's failings that now threaten our interconnected global systems. Central to this pursuit will be the critical study of toxic beliefs now leading us in
violent and unviable directions. Instead, the arts of negotiation, reconciliation and compromise must be cultivated and practiced.
But, above all, the preciousness of Earthlife must be revered, in the spirit of Albert Schweitzer. Beliefs that give preference to speculative afterlives rather than to life here and now-unique in the universe for all we know-must be outgrown. We must learn to enjoy and treasure the wonder of Earthlife and work to preserve it, protect it, and enhance it.
We must recognize the absurdities of narrow-minded egotism and learn to grow beyond solely self-serving ideologies and habits.
Interconnectivity, mutuality, and the web of life must be persistent themes in the liberal
education emerging in this new millennium-devised to liberate us from disaster.
Ours must be the era when our species finally comes of age, an age of responsibility and solicitude. From would-be dominators in our collective adolescence,
we must now mature into collaborative caretakers providing for the well-being of our one and only world.
will differ from what has passed before as liberal education. Learning to see the world "globally" is the new element in liberal education; so, too, is seeking the
"global wisdom" that will allow all planetary systems to flourish rather than degrade-even to the point of ecocide, which now seems imminent.
Earth is an "endangered planet," and we, with our avaricious appetites and penchant for violence, are its primary predators.
We need to learn this and rectify it soon. Nothing less than a new, mature global culture needs to develop, and aptly educated citizens will light and lead the way.
The new liberal education will be pragmatic and progressive in that it is mission driven. It is not just about knowing but also about doing, since much must be done
soon to alter prevailing mindsets that wreak havoc rather than cultivate peace, justice, and ecological sustainability.
Accordingly, an apt liberal education will develop new mindsets in students through critiques of humanity's failings that now threaten our interconnected global systems. Central to this pursuit will be the critical study of toxic beliefs now leading us in
violent and unviable directions. Instead, the arts of negotiation, reconciliation and compromise must be cultivated and practiced.
But, above all, the preciousness of Earthlife must be revered, in the spirit of Albert Schweitzer. Beliefs that give preference to speculative afterlives rather than to life here and now-unique in the universe for all we know-must be outgrown. We must learn to enjoy and treasure the wonder of Earthlife and work to preserve it, protect it, and enhance it.
We must recognize the absurdities of narrow-minded egotism and learn to grow beyond solely self-serving ideologies and habits.
Interconnectivity, mutuality, and the web of life must be persistent themes in the liberal
education emerging in this new millennium-devised to liberate us from disaster.
Ours must be the era when our species finally comes of age, an age of responsibility and solicitude. From would-be dominators in our collective adolescence,
we must now mature into collaborative caretakers providing for the well-being of our one and only world.
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