The Prospects for General Education in University Professional Education

Abstract

I am not arguing against professional education; I am arguing against narrow vocational training. The first is large, expansive, having the spirit of the liberal arts, setting skills as means within larger ends; concerned with not “the job,” but with life and with the social goals the profession promotes and the ethical standards it demands. The second is narrow, restrictive, developing specific skills in preparation for routine tasks sometimes very technical or scientific; it involves knowledge for specific ends, raising no questions of larger significance, impervious to social context, oblivious to moral choice. A liberal outlook may be nurtured within the context of professional education. It soon withers in the presence of vocational training.

Vital Speeches, 15 June 1984