Beyond the University: Why Liberal Education Matters

This timely volume by Wesleyan University president Roth (Memory, Trauma, and History) makes the case for liberal education in America%E2%80%94"broadly based, self-critical and yet pragmatic" learning that encourages independent thinking, empathy, and understanding. For Roth, and the intellectuals he cites%E2%80%94Thomas Jefferson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, W.E.B. DuBois, William James, Jane Addams, John Dewey, Richard Rorty, and others%E2%80%94liberal learning make us and our society better; it makes our democracy stronger; it helps people overcome prejudice. It helps us "navigate in the world." And even if such study doesn't provide vocational training, it creates "habits of action" that make us better thinkers and workers, and helps us tackle society's problems. Using intellectual history to support his position that liberal education matters as much as ever, Roth takes the reader on a journey from the 18th century to today, as he explores how liberal education has figured in the growth of the U.S. Those with more than a passing knowledge of the subject may find some of his recounting basic, but both the introduction and the last chapter include Roth's more personal experiences, and his direct, passionate voice is moving and persuasive. (May)