The reflective practitioner: the role of a public liberal-arts university in saving liberal education

Abstract

Purpose

This paper seeks to discuss the role of a public liberal-arts university in education.

Design/methodology/approach

The author first defines the principles and definitions of liberal education, then analyses these ideas in relation to public liberal-arts universities.

Findings

Liberal education holds enduring value in a world where state support for higher education is steadily decreasing and the author concludes that society needs public liberal-arts universities in order to maintain freedom of thought and democracies.

Originality/value

This piece presents a view of public liberal-arts universities in the wider context of liberal education, recession and worldwide threats to democracy and personal freedoms.

Citation

D. Paino, T. (2014), "The reflective practitioner: the role of a public liberal-arts university in saving liberal education", On the Horizon, Vol. 22 No. 1, pp. 72-74. https://doi.org/10.1108/OTH-10-2013-0040