The Value of Liberal Arts

I have to state that I am by no means on expert on the liberal arts. As a naive freshman from Burgaw NC, if someone would have asked me upon arrival at Guilford College to explain liberal arts, I certainly would not have known the concept. I might have considered liberal arts a strain of the martial arts-possibly close to Tae Kwan Doe or Jujitsu. I began my struggle to understand liberal arts from a blue collar-lunch bucket perspective as a student from rural North Carolina. Looking back on my experience at Guilford, I have many friends, stories, fond memories, along with practical tools related to my profession that I would fiercely defend were a result of the liberal arts education. Yet ironically, as an alumnus, I struggle to put on paper what a liberal arts education really means.

Like any blue collar-lunch bucket intellectual, I looked up liberal arts in the dictionary. I thought this would be an interesting exercise but it turned out to be quite cumbersome. Here is why.

Liberal Arts n pl: the studies (as language, philosophy, mathematics, history, literature, or abstract science) in a college or university intended to provide chiefly general knowledge and to develop the general intellectual capacities.

After finding this accurate and bland definition of liberal arts, I was left without an understanding of the concept's most holistic impact on the active human life. This definition certainly does not capture the life changing experiences I had at Guilford College. This definition does not grab my heart and mind, challenge my values, shake assumptions and presuppositions, and certainly does not help me grow and learn as a person. Liberal arts, as defined above, results in the equivalent of the old Southern metaphor of "making tea without the sugar"-a Southern sin. It's like making spaghetti sauce without a loving mother's spices or human touch. In sum, the sweet and tangy substance of the liberal arts tradition I experienced at Guilford College becomes lost and flavorless as defined in my dog-eared dictionary. I must admit there is little in the above definition I would fiercely defend!

I decided to pursue a different approach. Let's look again at a closer definition of liberal arts. I will first seek a definition of liberal, and arts, and reintegrate them into a definition I believe move us toward the embodiment of a Guilford College liberal arts education.

Liberal is a key word in the concept of liberal arts. From the Latin "liberals"- suitable for the free man or woman, generous, whose root is "libber-free. Building on this foundation, the definition of liberal is considered not narrow in judgement or opinion or judgement: TOLERANT; also: not orthodox.

**It is important to note that liberal in this definition accepts judgment and tolerance. Liberal is not considered without making judgements or forming opinions. Tolerant in this definition is not a form of moral relativism where everyone's views are inherently right so to speak or there is no inherent wrong. The word tolerant within the definition of liberal leads us to a see liberal as an emerging process of being, learning, and doing. Let's look at the word "Art".

Art: the systemic use of knowledge or skill in making or doing things. I also like to use as a definition of art: the use of skill and imagination in the production of things of beauty.

Art is not about general knowledge or general intellectual capacities according to this definition. Art is about developing knowledge in making and doing. Art is about using skill and the imagination in the creation of beauty!

After looking at liberal and arts separately and reintegrating them, liberal arts as a concept is not so foreign any longer and does not betray my personal Guilford College experience. Liberal arts becomes a much deeper pursuit of knowledge in a way that frees us to bring all things into examination, shape wise judgements, and ultimately the rich flavor of beauty is added to the human existence.

I will list some things I have learned about liberal arts tradition at Guilford that has effected my intellectual thinking and personal disposition.

• It is important not just to understand the right answers, but to understand the right questions. If one understands the right questions, one can get the answers that are desired. A question also invites others to share their thoughts, experiences, and wisdom.

• Folks at Guilford College "listened me out of talking so much." It was my own personal transition from trying to know everything toward valuing the question.

• Truth is within each person. I have a piece of Truth and so do you. A successful intellectual experience at Guilford is connected to exploring personal truths.

• Truth can be a friend. Truth can also be troubling. How is truth integrated into our intellectual experience so we are better for this tension?

• The challenge of the liberal arts tradition is that it challenges one's values and assumptions about oneself and the world around us. What are the lenses through which we see the world? Are these lenses corrupted or clear based on what principles or general outlook?

• When a student leaves Guilford, they should not only understand their major- political science, biology, etc. They should understand their political science or biology better because of which they are-how they have grown, and changed as a person through an environment that cares, challenges, and nurtures leaders.

• The Greek notion of the "University" that promotes a place or space where someone finds their place in the universe is a relevant notion at Guilford College. For example, a student at Guilford should not only leave with marketable skills for the workforce or graduate school. A Guilford graduate usually learns how to learn in a way that promotes life-long learning and personal well being.

• The notion of "being" and "doing" or the "internal" and "external" life as individuals are promoted in the intellectual experience at Guilford. I was able to have two majors, go abroad to London, participate in a semester in London, and have two internships. The exposure to different cultures, thoughts and ideas helped me promote self-examination through practical experiences that enriched my academic performance.

• Like the Greek dramatist Aeschylus' metaphor of the lever, Guilford challenges us to find a place personally and intellectually upon which to stand. The belief is that if a person can find a place to stand, to claim his/her celestial truths and convictions, one might change the world. Like MLK Jr.'s quote, "If a person has not found something to die for, he/she is not fit to live." Can we find somewhere to stand at that place within our heart, mind, and soul? If so, then in life's struggles we can live freely and passionately in the pursuit of our common humanity. Justice, under these auspices, becomes not just an end in itself, but an active way of life that promotes the dignity, worth and potential.

In conclusion, a liberal arts education at Guilford College helped me see education and leadership not as simple transactions as one withdraws and deposits knowledge, or by leading in a society by following the status quo. The liberal arts tradition taught me that education is meant to challenge and transform, and it seeks to develop a quality of leadership that always frees us to claim our best selves and by extension---a better world.

Jeff Thigpen, Guilford Class of '93