Book Review: Beyond the university, why liberal education matters by Michael S. Roth, ISBN 9780300175516

John Dewey: The world in which most of us live is a world in which everyone has a calling and occupation, something to do. Some are managers and others are subordinates. But the great thing for one as for the other is that each shall have had the education which enables him to see within his daily work all there is in it of large and human significance.

John Dewey: The problem of securing to the liberal arts college its due function in democratic society is that of seeing to it that the technical subjects which are now socially necessary acquire a humane direction. There is nothing in them which is 'inherently' exclusive; but they cannot be liberating if they are cut off from there humane sources and inspiration. On the other hand, books which are cut off from vital relations with the needs and issues of contemporary life themselves become ultra-technical.

Richard Rorty: The point of non-vocational higher education is, instead, to help students realize that they can reshape themselves-that they can rework the self-image foisted on them by their past, the self-image that makes them competent citizens, into a new self-image that they themselves have helped to create.

In the end, the author answers the question: why liberal education matters? The liberal education should teach students to liberate (liberate students from self-imposed immaturity), animate (unleash the creativity to animate the world), cooperate (connect the studying of great questions of our time to the interests and activities of society), and instigate (question the authority, non-conformity). "Liberal education matters because by challenging the forces of conformity it promises to be relevant to our professional, personal and political lives. That relevance isn't just about landing one's first job; it emerges over the course of one's working life. The free inquiry and experimentation of a reflexive, pragmatic education helps us to think for ourselves, take responsibility for our beliefs and actions, and become better acquainted with own desires, our own hopes. Liberal education matters far beyond the university because it increases our capacity to understand the world, contribute to it, and reshape ourselves. When it works, it never ends."