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.
