The Importance of a Strong Liberal Arts Curriculum

I have written in another article that few people have a truly firm idea of what is meant by an "excellent education" and have provided my own definition, emphasizing that the key components are excellent teachers and a strong liberal arts curriculum. I then devoted another article to the matter of what would need to be done to ensure a greater number of high quality teachers with the knowledge and pedagogical skill necessary to impart an excellent education to all students.

In this article I address the importance of a strong liberal arts curriculum. A strong liberal arts curriculum includes math, literature, history, economics, natural science and the fine arts. In the United States we wait at least until middle school and, in many districts, until high school to attempt to provide much in the way of a strong liberal arts curriculum. Anyone who thinks that we have much in the way of any kind of curriculum in our elementary schools should quickly disabuse herself or himself of the notion. If the reader were to go into the typical elementary school and inquire as to the curriculum, she or he might get a frank admission that there is very little specified curriculum aside from math and reading but would more likely get a lot of double talk and prevarication. And the only reason that we do now have a bit better attempt to teach math and reading is that test scores became so abysmal and well-publicized that even the education establishment could not ignore the stark reality.

From the very beginning of the K-12 experience, students should begin to get sequenced, grade by grade instruction in math, literature, history, economics, natural science, and the fine arts. The Core Knowledge sequence that has evolved under the guidance of E. D. Hirsch (whose editorship produced the >What Your ~grader Needs to Know< series) is an excellent reference for the development of a high-quality liberal arts curriculum for students at the K-8 levels. High schools generally have courses in place that at least nominally describe a liberal arts curriculum. In the latter case, though, a dearth of teacher quality produces a situation in which the typical public high school graduate has very little knowledge of very fundamental aspects of history, geography, and economics; very little understanding of biology, chemistry, and physics; very poor grasp of literary classics; poor math skills both of the fundamental (fractions, decimals, and percentages)and advanced (algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and calculus) type; and little understanding of the fine arts, especially in the sense of knowing how these may enrich life and connect a person to her or his culture and history.

We do now have Advanced Placement (AP) courses in many schools, and in this case there is a greater chance that better quality teachers working from a very strong curriculum may impart an improved liberal arts education to students. But even in AP courses there is the decided chance of getting an instructor who just does not have the knowledge base to transmit the requisite information to students, and there are many students who do not have the background to fully benefit from the instruction even when taught by a teacher with the necessary content knowledge and pedogogical skill.

A strong liberal arts curriculum imparted to students properly prepared to receive the knowledge enhances a person's chance of appreciating life to the fullest. Broad and deep knowledge increases a person's self confidence and prepares her or him to exercise the privileges and duties of citizenship. Embued with a strong knowledge base, one can follow discussions of business and economics; understand the background of events transpiring across the nation and the world; appreciate the beauty and meaning of high quality literature, drama, music, and the visual arts; and understand the essential meaning and importance of scientific research, medical breakthroughs, and matters of environmental and ecological concern.

Students provided factual information from a strong liberal arts curriculum have an excellent chance of walking confidently in the world and appreciating life to the fullest. Only when excellent teachers are in place to provide a strong liberal arts curriculum can we say that we are providing our students with an excellent education.