Walking Bridges: Placing the Liberal Arts and Sciences between Secondary and Higher Education

Abstract

When are the most appropriate times to receive a liberal arts and sciences education? The liberal arts and sciences model is meant to achieve aims that include general cognitive abilities, moral and social growth, and interdisciplinary understanding. This paper considers the case for studying the liberal arts and sciences in secondary school in comparison with studying them in college/university. Success in fostering cognitive skills such as critical thinking is used as a basis for comparison of these two settings. A review of empirical research suggests that general cognitive gains are not unique to the liberal arts and sciences nor to tertiary education, but that social and moral education may constitute a more unique advantage of the liberal arts. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications for the justification of the liberal arts and sciences in China.

The liberal arts and sciences (las) are most frequently adopted as part of higher education. For instance, the Encyclopedia Britannica defines the liberal arts as “a college or university curriculum.” 1 And yet, nothing in Britannica’s further definition precludes las’ placement outside of higher education, for this curriculum is “aimed at imparting general knowledge and developing general intellectual capacities in contrast to a professional, vocational, or technical curriculum.” These goals could easily apply to secondary education. In fact, in the 19th century the distinctions between school and university were less clear than they are today. 2 As the historian Sheldon Rothblatt notes, in Europe the “classic distinction still holds, or holds in attenuated form: Liberal education belongs more to schools than to universities.” 3

This paper compares the arguments for adopting the liberal arts and sciences in secondary or higher education and the corresponding implications for China. In considering how the liberal arts and sciences might be implemented in multicultural, global settings in the future, it is crucial to consider the role of secondary education. Using empirical studies, this paper argues that some elements of las belong more appropriately in higher education while others would be better placed in secondary school. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications for the justification of the liberal arts and sciences in China.

A Note on Definitions

The challenge of defining liberal arts and science education is well known. 4 Is it essentially non-specialized education? Or is it something more, perhaps focused on interdisciplinary education or a particular approach to pedagogy? Does it require the institution itself, a small residential college focused on undergraduate education? An assured answer to these questions poses obstacles. As Rothblatt states, “history provides no assurance that the definition of a liberal education rests solely or primarily upon a particular set of subjects or disciplines. History does suggest that certain conceptions of the end purposes of liberal education may be dominant at one time or another. But no conception is ever wholly overthrown and replaced by another.” 5

This paper will use a definition of liberal arts and science education that focuses on its aims rather than form, acknowledging that the specific ways of achieving these goals will vary across cultural and institutional contexts. In cases where the existing research does not highlight the specific aims being sought, a focus on non-specialized education will serve as the defining characteristic.

The Aims of the Liberal Arts and Sciences

To make a judgment about when to pursue the liberal arts and sciences, it is necessary to set the appropriate criteria for judging where they can best achieve their purpose. The reader may here object that it is inappropriate to apply an external, utilitarian purpose to the liberal arts, an objection that is intriguing and worthy of exploration. However, such an exploration would delve into ideas of the good-in-itself and the meaning of uselessness, which are outside the scope of this essay. This paper assumes that individuals study, and institutions and governments promote, the liberal arts so as to achieve an end that would not be achieved if they were not studied or promoted.

The American Association of Colleges and Universities ascribes the following learning outcomes to the liberal arts and sciences:

• Knowledge of human culture and the natural world (science, social sciences, mathematics, humanities, arts)

• Intellectual and practical skills (written and oral communication, inquiry, critical and creative thinking, quantitative literacy, information literacy, teamwork, integration of learning)

• Individual and social responsibility (civic responsibility and engagement, ethical reasoning, intercultural knowledge and actions, propensity for lifelong learning)

• Integrative and applied learning 6

The Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts Education, a longitudinal study of the learning outcomes from 19 American liberal arts institutions used the following as the primary outcomes measured:

• Effective reasoning and problem solving

• Inclination to inquire and life long learning

• Intercultural effectiveness

• Moral character

• Leadership 7

Similar themes maintain internationally. Van der Wende, reviewing trends in higher education improvement, notes that arguments for liberal arts and sciences in higher education can be grouped into the broad categories of interdisciplinary epistemology, economic advantage of general skills, and moral and social development. 8 In reviewing the history of liberal education in America and Europe, Rothblatt writes that “liberal education strengthens the mind and furnishes it with perspective, judgment, independence, and a tolerance of other viewpoints.” 9 The Bard Institute for International Liberal Education cites aims such as critical thinking, communication, lifelong learning, engaged citizenship, and adaptability. 10

Common themes persist across these proposed goals. As Van der Wende writes, the cultivation of general or 21st century skills forms one category frequently associated with economic gains. 11 This category includes skills such as effective reasoning and problem solving in the Wabash study and critical and creative thinking for the aacu. Similarly, the development of moral character, intercultural understanding, and responsible citizenship constitute key goals for the liberal arts, with Martha Nussbaum as one of the most vocal proponents. 12 Fostering an approach to learning that goes beyond utilitarian goals of studying for employment forms another theme, encompassing the goals of lifelong learning and breadth of study.

To evaluate the best time to study the liberal arts and sciences across these aims and between both secondary and higher education would be a large project. Accordingly, this essay will more narrowly focus on the aim to foster general cognitive skills. Other aims such as interdisciplinary knowledge, social responsibility and moral development are equally important arguments for the liberal arts; using the aim of cognitive skills does not imply that it is of greater importance. Focusing on cognitive skills has the additional advantage that it can use empirical arguments around cognitive gains, which are much more difficult to measure in the case of aims such as moral development. Lastly, as Rothblatt notes, critical thinking is intimately tied with liberal education: “The word ‘critical’ always appears in contemporary discussions of liberal education.” 13

Motivations for the Liberal Arts and Sciences in China

Since 2000, the liberal arts and sciences have been increasingly adopted in China’s premier universities. They come in the form of university-wide reform such as in the case of Fudan University establishing Fudan College and implementing a general education curriculum. They also come in the form of small colleges imbedded within large research universities such as Yuanpei College at Peking University, Xinya College at Tsinghua University, or Boya College at Sun Yat-sen University. And they appear in independent colleges such as United International College and Xingwei College.

An exhaustive account that analyzed the motivations of each institution’s reforms or an overview of the entire philosophical and policy history of the emergence of the liberal arts and sciences in China lies outside the scope of this essay. However, a brief summary of the research shows that the majority of motivations for liberal arts and sciences in China primarily fit into Van Der Wende’s category of economic gains through the improved employability of graduates by fostering general cognitive skills. 14 In short, liberal arts and sciences education is for talent development. For instance, Chinese scholar David Yunchao Chen summarizes:

As regards the rationale for liberal education revival in China, first, it is directly driven by the domestic social changes in China while transforming itself from a planned economy to a market economy . . . Students trained under the narrowly specialized education can no longer meet the above demands, and undergraduate education needs to be broad and flexible enough so that its graduates are well-prepared to change jobs. 15

Since the exact skill requirements for graduates have become more difficult to predict in a market and knowledge economy, students need to gain flexible skills that will allow them to adapt. The argument goes, in order for China to have the talent to become a knowledge economy, students need to study a liberal arts and sciences curriculum. Through this curriculum students will learn critical thinking and other general cognitive skills. This theory has received broad support in the literature. 16

Examining the logic behind specific institutions’ establishment of las programs affirms the aim of economic advantage through general cognitive skills. At Fudan University the explanation for general education concretely aims at talent development:

By means of general education Fudan hopes simultaneously to transmit the spirit of the science and humanities, foster students’ complete personalities, comprehend different cultures and ways of thinking, foster the habits of independent thinking and discovery, and have a higher state of certainty regarding nature and society. After years of preparation the general education system that has formed takes the core curriculum as the axis and residential colleges and advisers as supports, thereby advancing the improvement the quality of talent development. 17

That one of the eight core curriculum categories is philosophy and critical thinking indicates that general cognitive skills form an essential part of this aim.

Tsinghua University’s newly established Xinya College also places an emphasis on talent cultivation through liberal arts and sciences education. As explained in the announcement of the college’s founding: “By means of the residential college system, the exploration of general education, and the reforms in character and comprehensive education a new structure for Tsinghua University’s development of interdisciplinary and cross-specialized talent was formed.” 18 By broadening the curriculum, Xinya College plans to achieve a new level of talent.

The research cited above and the examples of Fudan and Tsinghua show that in the case of China the question of what arguments exist for pursuing liberal arts and sciences education in higher education is particularly pertinent. Are colleges and universities the best place to pursue these reforms, or could these same aims be achieved through secondary school?

The Aims of Schooling

As noted above, the development of general cognitive skills is a key element of justifications for liberal arts and sciences education. This common argument states that the study of liberal arts and sciences achieves this aim particularly well, as shown in the aacu economic case for liberal education. 19 Moreover, the implication is that these aims would be achieved less well through specialized or vocational education without an las component. Insofar as the aacu does not include secondary schools, it is also implied that these goals belong in higher education. Similarly, the Wabash Center for Inquiry in the Liberal Arts has only higher education institutions in its longitudinal study sample.

In short, the aims ascribed to liberal arts and sciences education by educational institutions and research studies focus primarily on higher education. However, a closer examination reveals that these goals are not unique to higher education settings.

For example, international development organizations promote the goal of developing general skills in primary and secondary education. The Education for All reports aim to track the progress of the Millennium Development Goal of universal primary school education across the world. Addressing educational quality, it emphasizes “education’s role in promoting values and attitudes of responsible citizenship and in nurturing creative and emotional development.” 20 unicef, in its curriculum report card, identifies reasoning, critical thinking, and creativity as key learning outcomes for national curricula. 21 Clear overlap exists between these goals for educational improvement in international primary and secondary education and those ascribed to liberal arts and sciences education.

These goals are shared at the national level of education policy and not restricted to higher education. China’s National Plan for Medium and Long-term Education Reform and Development (2010-2020) states the need to foster students’ independent thinking and innovation. 22 The ministries of education in Vietnam, Barbados, and Kenya additionally identified cognitive processes such as critical thinking and creativity as important goals of education. 23

In the u.s., improved development of American students’ general cognitive skills is seen as essential. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills, a coalition focusing on u.s. K-12 education, includes creativity, innovation, critical thinking, and problem solving under the learning and innovation skills of its 21st Century Outcomes. 24 In The Global Achievement Gap, Tony Wagner includes the two groups ‘initiative and entrepreneurism’ and ‘curiosity and imagination’ as two of the seven new survival skills every student will need in the 21st century. 25

The above overview demonstrates that undergraduate liberal arts and sciences education aims at the same development of general skills—such as creativity and critical thinking—as secondary and primary education does. What, then, are the arguments for pursuing them in college in comparison with secondary school or earlier? Would these aims be achieved equally well if pursued through las in secondary education and then higher education was specialized and vocational? Or does pursuing las in higher education allow students to cultivate their cognitive abilities to a greater degree than would be impossible in secondary alone?

These questions have a particular relevance for China. As shown above, many colleges and universities cite cognitive gains, and the corresponding economic gains, as one of the primary aims of pursuing liberal arts and sciences education. For example, the new approaches seen in Fudan College’s general education program, Peking University’s Yuanpei College, and Sun Yat-sen University’s Boya College raise questions of why las are pursued in higher education and what the relationship to secondary education is.

Before analyzing the implications for the emergence of liberal arts and sciences in China, this essay asks the question: what arguments exist for pursuing liberal arts and sciences education in secondary in comparison with higher education? To effectively ask this question the most convincing evidence would come from empirical studies comparing the cognitive gains attributed to liberal arts and sciences education in secondary to those in higher education. Because a search for such studies was not fruitful, a different approach was needed. Therefore, this essay will address the question in two parts. The first part explains why a general education is desirable in secondary education in contrast to a more vocational education or one that splits students between the humanities and sciences. Second, if general education curricula are pursued in secondary school, does it make sense to pursue the liberal arts and sciences in college for the purpose of fostering general skills? The essay concludes by discussing the implications for China.

Liberal Arts and Sciences in Secondary Education

In keeping with the overall focus of this essay, this section only examines the proposition of liberal arts and sciences education to foster general cognitive skills, while acknowledging that cognitive skills, subject matter knowledge, and moral social development are all important parts of a students’ educational path. First the essay examines the case for including a curriculum aimed at general skill development in secondary education. Is a general curriculum most appropriate, or is it preferable to specialize early so as to gain deeper mastery in one area without needing to attend college?

The Economic Argument

Empirical studies on the cognitive abilities gained through a liberal arts and sciences curriculum in secondary education are essentially absent from the literature. This is likely at least due in part to the fact that liberal arts and sciences normally connotes higher education and because elements of general education are almost always part of secondary education. Admittedly imperfect, this section will examine the literature on economic returns to a general education in secondary school.

Because many of these studies involve the labor market, a note about recent trends is needed. In the u.s., middle-skill, middle-wage jobs have steadily decreased and the labor market has become polarized both in terms of skill and wages. 26 As cited in the National Resource Council’s report, Education for Life and Work, “Levy and Murnane (2004) argued that demand is growing for expert thinking (nonroutine problem solving) and complex communication competencies (nonroutine interactive skills).” 27 Because of this demand, they recommend an increase in teaching complex communication and non-routine problem-solving competencies. 28 Rapid change and increased need for non-routine, complex skills characterize the current labor market.

A general education appears to be advantageous to job seekers in such a complex and rapidly changing labor market. Hanushek, Woessman, and Zhang conducted a multinational study comparing the employment rates over the years 1995-2005 of those who received vocational or general education across 18 countries. 29 An individual’s categorization of general or vocational education was self-reported and determined by the highest educational level reached, either secondary or higher. The authors found that those who received general education were more likely to have a steady increase in employability over time. This increase ultimately eliminated an initial employability advantage to those who undertook vocational education. This trade-off was particularly pronounced in countries with established apprenticeship programs such as Denmark, Germany, and Sweden.

These results suggest that the current rapid technological progress and job market transformation reward a general education over time. While the exact mechanism for this has not been empirically established, the correlation between general education and increased employability suggests a greater ability to adapt to labor market changes. Such adaptability itself could be considered a general cognitive skill that is a result of an emphasis on problem solving in general education. In this case, liberal arts education should be pursued in secondary school so as to foster in students the skill of adaptability, which might otherwise be lost.

Receiving a general education is also correlated with greater growth in occupational status over time. To evaluate the relationship between occupational status and occupational specificity of education, Roksa and Levey used data from a longitudinal survey of college graduates entering the labor market in the u.s. in the 1980s (NLSY79). 30 They found that credentials with more general skills and less occupational specificity showed the greatest growth in occupational status, although initial earnings were lower. The authors conclude that gains in general cognitive ability during higher education might account for this trend. By extension, one could argue that a highly occupationally specific education in secondary school would inhibit students’ acquisition of beneficial general and flexible skills. At the least, in secondary school the general skills conferred by a liberal arts and sciences education would be desirable in order to ensure later growth in occupational status over time.

In conclusion, the economic argument for liberal arts and sciences education has two points. First, general studies in either secondary or higher education on average are correlated with steady increases in employability over time, perhaps indicative of students’ increased ability to adapt. 31 Second, recent research shows that non-routine skills are increasingly valuable in the labor market, which is further borne out by Roksa’s study showing that occupational status increases over time for those with more general skills and abilities. 32

Timing Argument

Empirical research reviewed by the National Resource Council has shown that general skills development requires sustained, systematic instruction over many years of education. 33 They also find that much skill development is subject specific or requires overlap of general skills in order to transfer to a new context. Thus, for students to have enough time to develop transferable general skills, it would seem essential to have a general education curriculum in secondary school.

Waiting until college/university to aim at cognitive skill development in college is too late. The 2012 nrc report, Education for Life and Work is a comprehensive study around deeper learning, that is, learning that can be transferred between disciplines. The section on deeper learning in English Language Arts, Mathematics, and Science corroborates the need for time, concluding that, “development of higher-order 21st century competencies within the disciplines will require systematic instruction and sustained practice. It will be necessary to devote additional instructional time and resources to advance these sophisticated disciplinary learning goals over what is common in current practice.” 34

The nrc report ends with a strong recommendation: “instruction for transfer should be introduced in the earliest grades and should be sustained throughout the K-12 years as well as in postsecondary education.” 35 This implies that extensive vocational education beginning in primary and secondary will narrow the possibility of studying to acquire a larger variety of skills to be applied advantageously in new contexts that arise over the life course.

Liberal Arts and Sciences in Higher Education

The above shows that with the goal of general skill development, studying the liberal arts and sciences in secondary education is appropriate both because of potential economic advantages and because of students’ stage of life. This section examines if there is an argument for continuing their study in the undergraduate years, with the goal of further cultivating general skills.

Cognitive Skill Gains

In 2008 Lindsay noted that only a limited number of studies exist on the general benefits of a liberal arts and science college education. 36 Since then, more studies have been conducted, though the number is still limited. Most of these studies evaluate gains in cognitive skills as measured by various indicators, and are largely based upon data from the Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts Education. The existing studies show that in many cases cognitive gains can be attributed to good educational practices rather than the specific institution itself.

Critical Thinking

Rothblatt highlights the prevalence of critical thinking as an aim of liberal education: “The word “critical” always appears in contemporary discussions of liberal education.” 37 Additionally, in discussions of cognitive skills, educational organizations and research studies frequently reference critical thinking. 38 Critical thinking, as one of the most frequently cited aims of liberal arts education, has been used as an indicator in studies seeking to evaluate the cognitive gains of a liberal arts college.

However, empirical studies comparing the cognitive gains of attending a liberal arts college versus other institutions show mixed results. In 2005, Pascarella, Terenzini, and Feldman used the 1992-95 National Survey of Student Engagement data from five liberal arts colleges to evaluate gains in critical thinking as assessed by the Collegiate Assessment of Academic Proficiency (caap). 39 They found that in comparison to peers at regional or research universities, those at liberal arts institutions did not show significant gains. However, it is important to note that in later studies they cite that the small sample size of liberal arts colleges calls into question the generalizability of the results. 40

A later study by Lindsay identified gains in critical thinking skills over the course of undergraduate years in liberal arts colleges, but concluded that these are primarily due to the good pedagogical practices. 41 A more recent study by Pascarella et al. found that students at liberal arts institutions in the Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts Education did indeed gain in critical thinking as assessed by the caap. 42 However, they state, “when differences in instructional and learning experiences were taken into account, liberal arts college attendance had only non-significant direct (unmediated) effects on four year growth in critical thinking skills.” 43 Specifically, they found that pedagogical practices that challenged students to evaluate their arguments and analyze problems from multiple perspectives most highly correlated with gains in critical thinking. Interestingly, the study further found that instructional clarity and reflective learning were better predictors of critical thinking than higher-order learning or integrative learning.

Research done in the context of professional education additionally supports the view that cognitive gains have a stronger association with good teaching practices than with general education. Avvisati, Jacotin, and Vincent-Lancrin researched higher education practices for innovative economies. 44 They reference studies conducted in the u.s. 45 and Columbia 46 to show that the quality of teaching and learning has the most significant correlation with students’ critical thinking skills. 47 In the field of medical education, Hoidn and Karkkainen show that problem-based learning appears to aid the development of problem-solving and critical thinking skills. 48

Other studies show less support for the contribution of liberal arts experiences to cognitive gains. Seifert et al. (2008) define a liberal arts environment as one that “(a) values the intellectual arts rather than professional or vocational skills; (b) integrates curricular and environmental structures coherently; and (c) cultivates a culture that values student-student and student-faculty interactions both in and out of the classroom.” 49 Sampling students from four types of universities (research, regional, liberal arts, and community) they found no correlation between liberal arts experiences and moral reasoning, effective reasoning, reflective judgment or problem solving as measured by Defining Issues Test-2 and Reasoning and Current Issues test. The authors note that this could be because of the indicators selected for liberal arts experiences do not foster these cognitive traits and others should be used. They also cite a potential problem with the Reasoning and Current Issues test.

Overall, instructional clarity and reflective learning, liberal arts’ pedagogical approaches and values that have been analyzed, do show positive correlations over time with critical thinking as evaluated by the caap. 50 However, these approaches are not restricted to the liberal arts and sciences. Furthermore, studies that did not have a longitudinal element either found little correlation, or that all correlation was mediated by types of learning that occur at other institutions as well. 51 This suggests that these outcomes could be found in specialized schools or in secondary schools and are not necessarily uniquely accomplished by liberal arts. Further discussion follows below.

Cognitive Skills through Liberal Arts and Sciences in Higher Education

An empirical study that included secondary schools in the sample would contribute greatly to the question of if gains in cognitive skills provide an adequate justification for the liberal arts and sciences in higher education. Similarly, more studies such as the one conducted by Lindsay in 2008 that parse out the pedagogical practices, curriculum, and institution would be a great asset to answering the question of when to pursue the study of liberal arts and sciences. However, through examining the indicators in the studies that currently exist we can explore the argument for the liberal arts and sciences in higher education on the basis of cognitive gains.

Relevant to the question of the liberal arts in secondary versus higher education is that, with a few exceptions, the indicators in many of the studies would not have been unique experiences in liberal arts institutions as compared to in secondary schools. 52 This is likely because they were developed based on an operationalization of the liberal arts experience, which, with the exception of the emphasis on student affairs and out of classroom academic experiences, could equally as well describe a college preparatory secondary school. In a comprehensive secondary school integration of environment and curriculum, valuing academic activity over vocational, and fostering student-teacher and student-student interaction likely occur more than in certain types of higher education institutions.

The 2013 study by Pascarella et al. suggests that fostering students’ critical thinking ability relies more on pedagogy than content, given that their results for critical thinking were highly mediated by instructional practices that are used at other types or levels of institutions. 53 While a broad curriculum may have advantages in other areas, this correlation suggests that a unique ability to foster critical thinking is not one of them.

Liberal Arts in Secondary and Higher Education

We return to the questions above: what arguments exist for pursuing liberal arts and sciences in secondary education in comparison to a vocational school track? Does pursuing liberal arts and sciences in higher education allow students to cultivate their cognitive abilities to a greater degree than would be impossible in secondary alone?

Economic studies on the returns to a general education and cognitive research on the time needed to develop transferable skills found that it is desirable for students to pursue liberal arts and sciences in secondary school. Removing it to focus on vocational education does not adequately enable adaptability to the quickly changing job market or enough time to foster cognitive skills.

As for pursuing the liberal arts and sciences in higher education, while research supports the argument that good pedagogy aids in the development of critical thinking, a unique case for the development of cognitive skills is difficult to make. The research suggests that insofar as the practices associated with the liberal arts and sciences took place in research universities or regional institutions, presumably with a more focused or technical curriculum, one could expect corresponding cognitive gains.

Taking cognitive skill acquisition as a key goal of a liberal arts institution suggests that the liberal arts and sciences could be studied in secondary school, with increased attention to teaching and learning in all of higher education to achieve similar cognitive gains in students.

Looking towards the Future

Considering the global future of liberal arts and sciences education, two themes emerge: focusing on alternative purposes for studying liberal arts in higher education and a better integration of the aims of secondary and higher education.

This paper has defined the liberal arts and sciences in terms of their ability to foster students’ general cognitive gains. So often cited as an aim for liberal arts colleges and general education curricula, little empirical evidence suggests that this uniquely prepare students with critical thinking skills. However, cognitive skills form only part of the overall aims of a liberal arts and sciences education. Nussbaum, in her discussion of when to pursue the liberal arts, focuses on social education. She acknowledges the argument that critical thinking could have been taught prior to college and university, eliminating the need to study it later on. However, she counters with an astute analysis of some of the key differences in college:

At this age, students are living away from home — or, if they are not, they are at least somewhat more independent of their parents. (Usually they have at least some financial independence as well.) They can dare to take stands on political matters that go against parental values. (There is a reason why college campuses have traditionally been hotbeds of dissent and rebellion.) Supported by a surrounding peer culture, college students can engage in forms of debate and political mobilization that would be difficult if not impossible for high school students . . .

For all these reasons, then, we may conclude that the liberal arts portion of college and university education supplies valuable ingredients for citizenship that cannot be replaced by a combination of broad-based secondary school education with a narrower single subject education at the university level. 54

Here Nussbaum does not make an empirical argument, but her observations about students’ life stages highlight essential differences between secondary school and college or university. If we were to expect great differences between the success of pursuing these aims in secondary or higher education, we may well expect them to originate from these differences.

Existing research supports the view that a better justification for studying liberal arts and science in higher education is a student’s social and moral development. As cited in Lindsay, studies suggest that pursuing the liberal arts influences students’ views towards philosophical and societal issues. 55 The 2008 Seifert et al. study, which found no correlation between a liberal arts environment and reasoning ability, did in fact find strong correlations with openness to diversity/challenge, personal growth, life purpose, and socially responsible leadership. 56 However, the criticism does exist that attitudes such as the previous present great challenges to being accurately measured. More research is needed, but existing studies suggest that in higher education the liberal arts’ unique value may lie in the kind of person they help foster rather than that person’s cognitive skills.

Implications for China

If the research above can be applied in the Chinese context, then it calls into doubt the success of Chinese universities implementing a liberal arts and sciences curriculum with talent-development motivations. Students do not gain general cognitive skills such as critical thinking from studying diverse disciplines, nor from studying classics such as Plato or Confucius, so much as studying them in a particular way. Namely, learning in a way that challenges students to weigh the strengths and weaknesses of their arguments and to look at problems from multiple perspectives. 57 This type of learning could just as well be done in secondary education as in colleges that do not have a liberal arts and sciences component.

As such, one alternative model to achieve the aim of talent development would be to maintain a general education in secondary school and improve teaching and learning practices across all higher education. As professors Shi Jinghuan and Lu Yi note in this journal volume, the size of Chinese universities means that creating a sufficient number of new general education courses requires extensive resources. 58 To foster talent and general cognitive ability, an increased focus on pedagogical practices may be a more appropriate use of available resources. Courses in computer science or engineering could be taught that challenge students to consider the social and philosophical realms of these professions. Computer science students could debate the argument that technology creates itself just as much as humans create it. Engineering students could study epistemological arguments of if it is necessary to know why something works, or if knowing that it works is sufficient. Such a change to the practice of teaching in universities would certainly not be easy, but may be a more direct path to success than implementing a liberal arts and sciences curriculum.

While general cognitive skills have formed the cornerstone of the analysis in this essay, they are not the only goals of liberal arts and sciences education. As noted in the quote by Nussbaum above, the development of students’ social and moral awareness may form a more convincing argument for the implementation of liberal arts and sciences as part of a country’s higher education system. To be sure, in some cases students’ social and moral development is part of Chinese universities’ motivation for curricular reform. For example, Gan Yang, the founding dean of Sun Yat-sen University’s Boya College, explains the need to return to the classics in terms of morality, “I believe that the most essential moral norms of modern society essentially are not produced by modern society, but are all traditional . . . So a truly virtuous modern society is not about establishing a new set of morals that are completely different from the traditions, but is about preserving well the traditional morals in modern life.” 59 For Boya College, the study of liberal arts aims more to solve a moral challenge, than to produce high-level talent.

In her argument above, Nussbaum emphasizes that young people in college may dissent from the values of their parents or from society at large. Even with the introduction of a liberal arts and sciences curriculum, the universal requirement for Chinese universities to have moral ideology courses as part of the undergraduate curriculum raises the question of what the social goal of liberal arts and sciences education should be in a Chinese context. Based on the research above, it is likely that the answer will have at least as much to do with the pedagogies as with the curriculum content. China’s social and political context may prevent challenges in this regard.

Conclusion

This paper reviews the existing research on general cognitive skills development so as to determine where the liberal arts and sciences would most appropriately be studied in order to achieve this aim. The results suggest that critical thinking does not constitute a unique argument for the study of the liberal arts specifically in higher education. Existing arguments for liberal arts higher education’s unique ability to foster social and moral growth are considered a promising justification for their study beyond secondary school. Further research across cultural contexts and with a direct comparison of secondary and higher education liberal arts is necessary to fully evaluate this conclusion.

The implications for China suggest that improving teaching and learning in all of higher education would be an effective approach to achieving the aims of talent development through fostering students’ general cognitive skills. While the liberal arts and sciences may have a potential advantage for fostering social and moral growth at the higher education level the sociopolitical context of China may entail challenges to student and institutional autonomy. In both cases, though the aims may be shared, the Chinese liberal arts and sciences are not and should not be a reproduction of the u.s. model. The best approach requires further research in the Chinese context.