Introduction
The reflective essay focuses on the comparison between liberal arts and radical education philosophies. Important to mention that the paper introduces and highlights the philosophies’ concepts, fundamental theories, founders, and ideas. Therefore, the author critically analyzes both perspectives and presents the crucial impact they could have on educators who are teaching adults.
Liberal Philosophy
Liberal arts originated in ancient Greece, including grammar, logic, and rhetoric, as a way for people to participate in courts and public debates (Zhang, 2021). Furthermore, one of the striking differences in the philosophy of liberal education is the idea of educational institutions and colleges to make students wise citizens through more intensive learning (Haberberger, 2017). Theories and methodology of liberal arts teach people to write and read correctly, think critically, and analyze to navigate and be able to express an opinion on any topic (Zhang, 2021). Palmer (2017) claims that a good teacher should be close to the subject and the students. Consequently, Socratic methods, friendship, connectedness between students and professors, and methods of knowing oneself with an emphasis on self-reflection are the hallmarks of liberal education. In addition, Haberberger (2017) suggests that after such a training system, students will be able to acquire knowledge independently from various sources and analyze the information received critically. It is essential to say that the goal of teachers is to instill the idea of obtaining knowledge by students for their own sake. The goal is to become open-minded citizens and also understand themselves and this world through critical thinking.
Essential to mention some of the foremost thinkers in the liberal arts area, such as Mortimer Adler, Benjamin Bloom, Lawson, and Paterson. The famous American educator of the mid-20th century, Mortimer Adler, believed that the central democratic values of society are intelligent, free-thinking, wise citizens (Spring, 2018). To create such citizens, liberal arts education and thought development are essential. Moreover, Benjamin Bloom claimed that problem-solving skills, innovative thinking, and cooperation are the major principles of liberal arts education (Derreth, 2017). Lawson and Peterson are systematic philosophers who supported “logical reasoning for concepts of argumentation, decision making, and rational thoughts” (Sterling, 2021, p. 13). To summarize, liberal arts education is beneficial because it highlights the importance of learning for the sake of obtaining knowledge and becoming a wise citizen.
Radical Philosophy
The primary founders of radical or critical philosophy are Paulo Freire and Ivan Illich. They emphasized the importance of social justice and critical thinking (Sterling, 2021). For instance, Berdzenishvili and Ketsbaia (2019) mentioned that Freire was illustrating education as a society of oppression. At the same time, Illich aimed at compulsory education rejection and claimed that education should not be a crucial factor when hiring employees (Berdzenishvili & Ketsbaia, 2019). Thus, both founders of the radical philosophy wanted to destroy the link between education and work and focus more on teaching social skills.
Consequently, the researchers suggested that social action is a milestone of adult education. Needless to say, that radical philosophy shows that social factors are more important than intellectual ones. According to Sterling (2021), the radical philosophy of education includes theories that address social justice, feminism, discrimination, inequality, and professional identity. Ross-Gordon et al. (2017) argue that adult students who have a motivation and a desire to study can choose their learning process path. However, the radical philosophy brings social change by concentrating on social class, gender, ethnicity, and human rights values. Therefore, education is only valuable when it addresses the issue of social change.
Conclusion
To conclude, liberal arts education is education for intellectual development, while radical or critical education is for significant social change. Thus, the primary purpose of liberal education is general education with a focus on open-mindedness and the ability to search and analyze information critically. In contrast, the goal of radical education is changing something that matters in society. After an introduction to both philosophies and a discussion of the principal founders, how ideologies affect adult education must be said.
I suggest that liberal arts education’s impact emphasizes that adults should develop and improve their knowledge to become knowledgeable citizens. When choosing the liberal model, educators may provide a variety of disciplines and sources to students to decide on what to study. Additionally, the liberal arts philosophy offers an educator an opportunity to be closer to students and create a dialogue through active interaction and ideas exchange. On the other hand, radical philosophy points out that education will be helpful only if it changes social life. It seems to me that radical education helps professors explain that education exists to highlight critical societal issues and change what contributes to injustice, discrimination, or ordinary citizen discontent. In this case, adult students must think critically and propose solutions to social problems. In my opinion, these philosophies have a strong influence on adult education. Undoubtedly, both philosophies, namely liberal and radical, are exciting and essential for society in their way. Therefore, radical philosophy teaches social values, while the liberal one praises and encourages the intellectual development of adult students.
References
Berdzenishvili, A., & Ketsbaia, K. (2019). Radical humanist paradigm and the problem of the crisis of education. American International Journal of Social Science, 8(1), 53-55. Web.
Derreth, R. T. (2017). A bright future: Liberal arts for the 21st century. Higher Education in Review. 13-21.
Haberberger, C. (2018). A return to understanding: Making liberal education valuable again. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 50(11), 1052-1059.
Palmer, P. (2017). The courage to teach: Exploring the inner landscape of a teacher’s life. Jossey-Bass.
Ross-Gordon, J. M., Rose, A. D., & Kasworm, C. E. (2017). Foundations of adult and continuing education. Jossey-Bass.
Samhita, K. (2018). Liberal arts education: Imparting intellectual vision. International Journal of Scientific Research Engineering & Technology (IJSRET), 7(9), 680-682.
Spring, C. (2018). Great books and critical literacy: Similarities and possibilities. Institute for Education Policy. 1-6.
Sterling, V. (2021). The handbook of adult and continuing education. (Rocco T. S., Smith M. C., Mizzi R. C., Merriweather L. R., and Hawley J. D. Ed). Stylus Publishing.
Zhang, Y. (2021). The importance of liberal arts in the digital age. Journal of Higher Education Research, 2(4), 212-214.