President of Davidson College Makes Moral Case for Liberal Arts Education

“Liberal education is about cultivating in students a set of
capacities and talents, rather than preparing them for a particular
profession or imparting to them a particular body of knowledge or set of
discrete skills. I think liberal education develops a person’s
capacities like nothing else.

[…] To help students cultivate
humane instincts, to develop creative and disciplined minds for lives of
leadership and service – I don’t think that’s a given at liberal arts
colleges, so it’s the combination of those things that makes for a
compelling education and a compelling community.

But, liberal
education is always going to be expensive. It’s highly selective. It’s
labor intensive, and it’s never going to be generally available in any
society. It costs too much. So if you’re going to make the case for it,
you have to make the case that somehow the existence of those
institutions disproportionately benefits the community.”

More here: http://www.charlotteviewpoint.org/article/2531/A-case-for-liberal-education–CV-talks-with-Carol-