Scope of Liberal Arts education in Indian Universities

Scope of Liberal Arts education in Indian Universities

Sajit M Mathews

A recent article in The Hindu (February 10, 2014) made me think of the importance and effects of Liberal Arts education in a country like India.

Liberal arts or artes liberales are those subjects or skills that in classical antiquity were considered essential for a citizen to know in order to take an active part in civic life. Grammar, rhetoric and logic were the core liberal arts subjects. Arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy were also added to the list later. Today's notion categorizes these subjects as literature, languages, philosophy, history, mathematics, psychology, and science. There are many universities that offer undergraduate and post graduate degrees in liberal arts. (Source: www.wikipedia.org)

The idea of learning Liberal Arts is becoming strange to Indian students. It is slowly becoming unheard of in Indian classrooms these days. Indian parents choose ‘job oriented’ courses for their kids at an early stage. This is at the expense of the inclinations and tastes of their children. That is why we see a mushrooming of engineering colleges and other professional colleges even as the industry does not require those many engineers/professionals. This kind of education without a vision in fact spoils our future generation. According to many educationalists, we create a generation that is capable of nothing but despair and deviance. Over-flooding of the market with homogeneous professionals diminish the employability of youngsters and create a generation of idlers who can endanger societal harmony. That is where Liberal Arts has a say.

Liberal Arts as a broad field of study encourages students to have a look at diverse areas of learning without bothering too much about specialization at an early stage. It is like having a foretaste of items on a menu card before deciding what to order. Instead of deciding to specialize in a discipline at a very early stage which stunts the possibilities and scopes of students, Liberal Arts provides students with a world view so wide that they would be able to diversify beyond traditional boundaries. Thus a student might be enabled to consider broader career areas to venture into. It is nothing but an empowering element that trains the students’ minds to think and learn beyond text books. Once a student goes through liberal arts education, he/she can choose area of specialization.

At Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies’ (RGUKT) RK Valley campus, I coordinate the Liberal Arts section. We have many courses ranging from Shakespeare to English Grammar and Big History. These are great courses that wouldn’t be available to engineering students in ordinary Universities. This engineering university gives students an opportunity to graduate with a minor degree in Liberal Arts if they secure sufficient number of credits through their BTech years. Courses like Big History are of international repute and extreme relevance in the development of one’s understanding of the world and everything around. So along with an engineering degree the young professional also has awareness and knowledge of very different fields of learning that could greatly help in his/her future decisions and choices. At present there are only a few courses. If expanded properly with wide variety of subjects RGUKT's curriculum could be a guiding light for other universities to follow suit.

If students at early stage are given an opportunity to explore wide range of options available, they would be at a better position to judge what is compatible with their aptitude. I have often heard my students say that they are here by chance or by compulsion or because of lack of options. This is not the best scenario one can imagine. Universities like RGUKT that educate mass student bodies have to offer Liberal Arts before letting students commit to one particular branch of study. It is not enough that one earns well. It is important that one becomes what one actually desires and what one is fit for.

Indian parents have to learn to consider the choices and aspirations of their children before making decisions about their future careers. Proxy decision making has to take a back seat. Let the youngsters make decisions about their careers. Liberal Arts education would be a great help in enabling them to do so. Let us wish that our universities promote liberal arts education for the good of our young generation.