Essay on The Goals of a Liberal Education

Submitted By ronhadri
Words: 389
Pages: 2

“Only Connect…” The Goals of a Liberal Education

This article, which described the author’s perspective of what it means to be liberally educated, broadened my personal view of what a liberal education really is. First of all, the author improved my understanding on the word liberal by originating the word from Latin, Old English, and even Greek. He mentioned that liberal education was a term itself that was being carelessly used nowadays by institutions such as colleges, promising their prospective students a liberal education if they attend. This never came across my mind as I embarked on a search for my desired learning institution not too long ago; however the author has now impacted me in such a way that I can no longer overlook the importance of a liberal education.
I was surprised to read the list of the attributes the author expected one who has acquired true liberal education to have. This was because it just seemed like a very broad range of knowledge for someone to have. For example, differentiating soybeans and alfalfa through a single glance at a farmer’s field seemed a bit radical in my opinion. Nonetheless, that is why it is an attribute of a liberally educated person as oppose to an average one.
The end of the article proved to be the most significant out of the text in my opinion. In a way, the author goes against what he has spent nearly the whole article talking about, and mentions that “A liberal education is not something any of us ever achieve;