The Moral Deficiencies of a Liberal Education

The Moral Deficiencies of a Liberal Education

Here is the link for the article by Ezekiel Emanuel titled, “The Moral Deficiencies of a Liberal Education”: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/17/opinion/israel-hamas-universities.html.

This article is pretty accurate. And although it falls under the “opinion” section, I think there are verifiable facts that build a strong case for the veracity of Ezekiel Emanuel’s premise. 

When the word “liberal” is used as an adjective, it correctly describes the purpose of education – to live as a “free” person and not as a slave. The etymology of education is also telling of its purpose: “e” – out of; “duc” – lead; “atio” – Latin for “action”. Consequently, education is the action of leading out. But leading out of what? Leading out of error towards truth and beauty, leading out of falsehood towards truth, leading out of our base desires towards the good, leading out of our vices towards virtue, leading out of lies towards truth, etc. An education that does not teach moral virtue and character formation is not an education. Naturalism has dominated podiums and lecture halls of most universities; this worldview ignores the most important entity that must be cultivated correctly: the soul. The majority of higher education institutions in the West have jettisoned this idea. 

Only through theism or natural law do we understand the idea of sound ethics. Both of these concepts are completely jettisoned in the majority of universities. There is really no intellectual hospitality afforded to many Christian intellectuals in these forums. If you don’t believe me, watch the documentary “Expelled.” 

Also, formal logic is no longer taught in most of American schools. Consequently, the majority of college students do not have the tools to understand how to build a sound argument and identify informal fallacies in argumentation. Rather, feelings have conquered the rational component of students in many colleges in America. 

When graduate earnings become more important to universities than virtue and character formation in their undergrads, a society will experience not only a cultural wasteland but the very soul of that society will be ripped away because it will fail to understand what it means to be human. This is the current state in America. 

I think the solution is to have children and young people receive a classical education, or a classical Christian education. In my judgment, this model of education is the best method in educating a young person. It is based on the Trivium and Quadrivium and is grounded in the Western heritage, as passed down by the Greco-Roman world. Dorothy Sayer’s essay “The Lost Tools of Learning” spells out the problems of modern education and this solution: https://www.pccs.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/LostToolsOfLearning-DorothySayers.pdf.