The death of liberal education, like that of Mark Twain, has been greatly exaggerated. In the past few years, there have been several books defending liberal education, whether because we need to rediscover our inner life, examine what it means to be human, or make our students reasonable people. Continuing this conversation is Justin Buckley Dyer’s and Constantine Christos Vassiliou’s new edited collection, Liberal Education and Citizenship in a Free Society.
As an education befitting a free person, liberal education not only teaches students what to think, but how to think. This in turn requires universities to promote open inquiry, reasoned debate, civil discussion, and a commitment to freedom of speech and thought. For Dyer and Vassiliou, the conditions of such an education create a space for contemplation and leisure that permits “students to reflect upon what it means to live nobly before assuming their place as custodians of a free society.”
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