Using liberal education to be active in community - Essay Example

the history of America, the question remains whether they should be obligated to learn a foreign language , master calculus and study grammar among other aspects at the expense creative writing. This is the reason that, in the arguments concerning education, less time is usually spent dwelling on the key values compared to other formal standards. Education gives people a wide range of abilities including providing them with skills on how to talk and communicate. Educated people have advantage as they, “They can give a speech, ask thoughtful questions, and make people laugh.

They can hold a conversation with a high school dropout or a Nobel laureate, a child or a nursing- home resident, a factory worker or a corporate president” (Cronon 1998). Furthermore, educated people can participate in conversations not because they prefer talking about themselves but because they have a genuine interest in other people. According to Cronon (1998), “A friend of mine says one of the most important things his father ever told him was that whenever he had a conversation, his job was “to figure out what’s so neat about what the other person does.

” I cannot imagine a more succinct description of this critically important quality”. A liberal develops the mind as well as the imagination while encouraging people to seek the truth, meaning and beauty. It further inspires an appreciation of previous traditions along with the present challenges while fostering a sense of joy in learning with other people. Additionally, it supports actions of taking intellectual risks needed when exploring the unknown, testing new ideas and entering into constructive debates while at the same time building foundations for arriving at principled decisions.

Through liberal education, the capacity for critical and open inquiries can be honed to increase an interest in asking questions, challenging assumptions and looking for answers in order to arrive at conclusions that are backed by logic