| Liberal education is the clue of western higher education, which has a lasting influence on the history of western education. It is not only one of the core factors of success of European higher education, but also is the cultural capital of American higher education which can overlook the rest universities in other countries. We have to give priority to it. Nowadays, the United States is the world's largest economy, its economic development may be mainly from the innovation of science and technology,and the innovation is, to some extent, from the vitality of American higher education.The vitality of American universities is rooted deeply in the soils of western civilization, and liberal education is just the essence of western culture. The development of liberal education in American universities, is seen as a process of conflict, exchange, dialogue and innovation among various opinions. This study is based on the importance of higher education and the liberal education in the United States.We can't comprehend liberal education without tracing its origin. The fundamental spirit of ancient and modern liberal education lies in the classical liberal education. In order to further understand the connotation of classical liberal education,it is necessary to study and interpret the classical texts, explore the ideological background and theory of liberal education from its origin. The freedom of the ancient men is different from the freedom of the modern men,the ancient men's attitude varies greatly towards different freedom: they inhibit the freedom of desire, advocate the freedom of virtue, limit the freedom of meditation. And these attitudes shaped the ancient freeman's characters: political identity as a freeman, a soul with the pursuit of freedom and harmony, a curious mind of keeping a contemplation and utter innocence.Hence, we conclude that the connotation of liberal education can be understood from three aspects: non-practical education, citizen education and leisure education.Entering the Middle Ages, the classical liberal education evolved into the liberal education on the medieval universities. It was in the Middle Ages that the medieval university named with "Flower of Wisdom" was born. The medieval university was a religious institution,or was attached to a church. The medieval niversities' liberal education became the other origin of the US liberal education . Some ancient theory books were transcribed by the medieval monks, therefore the classical liberal education could be continued to advance in the Middle Ages. The Middle Ages is an era of belief, in this era, how man could be rational? How does liberal education meet the needs of the secular life while being faced to God? First of all, we begin the chapter with the description and interpretation of City of the Earth and City of God ,then we try to study the conditions of medieval universities' birth and its characteristics ; secondly, we discuss the embarrassing posoition of the liberal education in the medieval universities , on the one hand it is fundamental course of theology, law and medicine. In particular, for Christianity or theology , it could cultivate the mind and improve the intellect for a person, so that he or she could understand and believe in the religion and could escape the City of the Earth towards the City of God. But, on the other hand, the curriculum of liberal education, especially the Aristotle's philosophy,is revolutionary and separated in its nature, which makes people more confident of their own strength and will. The human beings did no longer believe in God, and the liberal education was in the secular world and only meet the secular needs. Finally, from the point of view of curriculum and teaching, this paper discusses the religious connotation of "Seven Liberal Arts" and how it evolved in Middle Ages. The prototype universities have laid a solid foundation for the construction and development of modern universities in Europe and America.The American College Era refers to the period from the establishment of the Harvard College in 1636, the first colonial college in the United States, to the outbreak of the civil war in 1861. College education is the beginning form of the modern higher education in the United States, which has evolved into the American modern universities. During this period, the main characteristic of American higher education is to learn and transplant foreign universities. For the liberal education of the United States, this era is a time of inheritance and adjustment , the inheritance mainly refers to that the liberal education undertook the medieval universities and transplanted from the universities of Old England whose maintenance is religious education. The adaptation of the liberal education refers to that it should adjust itself to the environmental challenges. This chapter begins with the study of the Puritans,who are the actors of the liberal education's succession and adaptation. Puritanism is the spirit and background of United States; their freedom and mission is the driving force and foundation for the development of liberal education in the United States.The Puritans were religious reformers longing for freedom and liberation. The tyranny of Calvinism makes their freedom and virtue as partners. They called themselves with the "pilgrims"and thought they had a sacred obligation, to build a city on the hill and establish a mountain school in the wilderness of North America. It is the light of the rest of the wold. Secondly, from the ideological level, the chapter discusses the inheritance of liberal education. The colleges belong to various denominations and its nature is of the church. Religion is the soul of the liberal education. The adjustment of liberal education comprised three stages from the practice angel. They are respectively,transplantation, transition and localization of the development in the American local environment .Finally,the era required the scientific education must launch a serious challenge to the liberal education. Therefore , Yale University released The Yale Report of 1828, struggling to defend the value and status of classical liberal education.Therefore, on the one hand, liberal education welcomed the challenge and reformed positively; on the other hand, it maintained the classical liberal education to afford the discipline and furniture of the mind. This year of 1829 is the first time when the United States began to use the item of "general education".The era of modern university of the United States is from the Civil War to the first half of the 20th Century, during which the real academic life style of American universities had replaced the old religion college system, the liberal education had also undergone a conversion and diversion. A real American era of liberal education was beginning, it is called" the liberal education as general education". After the enlightenment movement in the 18th Century, the nation state began to rise and the human being was aware of the use of ration. The Americans had their own understanding and practice of freedom and democracy. Based on this background, the universities had actively learned German universities' mode, paying attention to the pure scientific research, academic freedom and despising the principle of utilitarianism. On the other hand, the local philosophy of pragmatism emphasizes experience, action and the principle of democracy. Modern American universities were mainly becoming secular, professional, democratic and practical. The liberal education could not be an anachronism and had to adapt to the era of industrialization.It experienced the crisis and caused controversy,and finally made a fresh start. The conversion is divided into three stages: free elective system,"Western civilization"course , courses of great books . Finally, it summarizes the four characteristics of modern liberal education.After World War ?,the period from 1945 to 1975,known as the "golden age" of American higher education, is also the era of multiversity . The world is changing like the flowing water. The university had not been a "town" of scholars, and become the lustrous and dazzling multiversity.The university has a new feature,it has multiple objectives and functions, opens to the community and advocates the students' freedom.Can the liberal education be able to live in harmony with and general education? The liberal education continues to decline, and split into two divisions. One is referring to the general education from Report of the Harvard Committee in a Free Society, the other is appealing for a return to the classical liberal education from the Strauss'School. On the same question of modernity, the two parties proposed different approaches. there must be some hidden dialogues between them.In the 21st Century,the world is in a time of globalization,the world is getting smaller than before, the earth is like a village where the human beings are closer to each other. Everyone is one part of the whole human race, and can not be completely independent and isolated from other people. Education is to make people have a cosmopolitan feelings, loyal to all the world, respect the people anywhere of the world no matter what color their skins are, no matter what class they belong to , no matter what gender they are . We should abandon discrimination of all kinds and love all the people in the world.The new development of liberal education in American universities is from Martha C. Nussbaum's theory of cosmopolitan. She based on her classical learning knowledge and re-interpreted the meaning of liberal education. She believes that the new liberal education should be targeted on the world's citizens, pay attention to developing the basic human nature which includes ration, emotion and narrative ability. |
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