From the Gainsville Sun's editorial board
In the increasingly politicized debate over liberal arts vs. STEM it is easy to lose sight of the fact that a higher education has never been, nor should it ever be, exclusively about career-preparation.
As institutions of higher learning, the University of Florida and Santa Fe College are appropriately charged with preparing students to take their place in an increasingly high-tech, interconnected workforce. But from the time of Socrates, the most fundamental mission of colleges and universities has always been to induce students to examine the broader meaning of life beyond simply making a living.
Santa Fe College did not build its new performing arts theater exclusively to train students for careers in music or drama; but rather to provide all of its students exposure to the arts and humanities.
Likewise, UF's multi-disciplinary humanities course "What is the Good Life?" provides freshmen a gateway to the intellectual universe of arts, literature, history, religion, philosophy and so much more.
"That's the goal here; to make certain that students who come to the university have a rich experience rather than an entirely specialized one," Ferdinand Lewis, one of the "Good Life" instructors, told The Sun last week.
UF's mission to introduce freshmen to the humanities has been complicated by the fact that, increasingly, high school graduates are arriving on campus with so many Advanced Placement and dual enrollment credits that they are apt to enroll almost exclusively in their major course studies. To help maintain the university's fundamental mission, UF is seeking legislative approval to require all freshmen, regardless of AP credits, to take 9 to 12 general education credit hours; enrolling in the "Good Life" and similar humanities courses.
If Socrates was right, that an unexamined life is not worth living, then a university education devoid of such examination, is hardly worth possessing.
http://www.gainesville.com/article/20120214/OPINION01/120219819/1076/opinion?Title=Editorial-Life-examined
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