Liberal Education Initiative

The Currency of the Liberal Arts and Sciences: Rethinking Liberal Education in Wisconsin

AAC&U President Schneider on the
"conspiracy of voluntary silence"

Being intentional means ending the "conspiracy of voluntary silence," to quote Carol Geary Schneider, President of the Association of American Colleges & Universities.

In Practicing Liberal Education: Formative Themes in the Re-invention of Liberal Learning, Dr. Schneider identifies what she calls the "conspiracy of voluntary silence" by the academy, in which the tradition of liberal education, while practiced at higher education institutions, is "largely disguised from public notice," and not named even by the students who are learning it, and the faculty who are teaching it! She writes:

"Even as specific practices within liberal education are being reinvented and reinvigorated, the tradition itself is largely disguised from public notice. The educational innovations described above are heavily promoted by the academy but rarely described in campus promotional materials as "liberal" or "liberal arts" education. Students who participate in them may never even be told that they are engaged in contemporary forms of liberal education. Graduate students preparing to teach spend virtually no time considering their own role either in these innovations or in the larger traditions of liberal learning.

Given this conspiracy of voluntary silence, there is very little public understanding or even awareness of liberal education, despite its enduring influence on both established and innovative curricula. Studies show that the public does not value it as named, even though the same public places high value on the outcomes-such as analytical judgment, social responsibility, and economic opportunity-to which liberal education leads. Campus leaders report that students also don't know what liberal or liberal arts education is and that many faculty are uncertain."

For the full article, go to:
http://www.aacu.org/publications/practicing_liberal_education.cfm