Faculty members and students alike argued that a liberal arts education is still marketable these days—at a time when specialization and innovation are the focus.
Discussing the theme of "Toward an Abundant Life" during a faculty symposium on May 3 that helped kicked off Inauguration Month at the American University of Beirut, speakers concurred that multicultural awareness and ethical values are still needed in a world that has a shortage of people working for the common good.
"Specialization and innovation are needed; but so is multicultural awareness," said Professor George Fallis, an economics professor and former dean of arts and sciences at Canada's York University. Fallis, who delivered a lecture titled "Liberal Arts Education in the 21st Century: Anachronism or Vanguard?", concluded that "liberal arts education can be in the vanguard of thinking about undergraduate education for the 21st century, but will have to a renewed and re-imagined liberal arts education."
Similarly, the Inauguration Student Essay Contest winner Edmond Gaspard, a first-year electrical and computer engineering student, also reasoned that a liberal arts education produces a more ethical, open, analytical, and dynamic professional. "A liberal arts education forces engineers to consider the ethical repercussions of their work… A liberal arts student sees the world as a whole and understands that his or her area of knowledge is only one of many," he wrote in his essay. "The benefits of a liberal arts education surpass what is concrete or measurable… [it] will undoubtedly generate better members of society… who are open to new ideas, …willing to stand for what is right, and whose horizons are far broader than their area of expertise.
Gaspard also found that a liberal arts education could help Lebanese accept each other better. "Let us not forget that ignorance breeds fear and skepticism; in a society that is plagued by hatred and sectarianism, education is the only hope for people to understand each other and go beyond their differences," he wrote.
In conclusion, Gaspard said: "AUB has always been a place where difference did not mean inferiority; where diversity is looked upon as a blessing, not an obstacle; a haven for all those who fear prejudice, a home, as reverend Daniel Bliss stated, 'for all conditions and classes of men without regard to color, nationality, race, or religion.' We should all know how blessed we are to seek a more abundant life at the American University of Beirut."
Gaspard's winning essay was announced at the Faculty Symposium, by President Peter F. Dorman. The engineering student will receive a $5,000 cash prize for his essay, "Liberal education, a way of life." Meanwhile, second and third runners-up, Lotfi AlSalah and Jalal Imran, will receive, respectively, $3000 and $2000. They all also received plaques for their achievement.
AlSalah, a first-year architecture student, wrote on "Academic Freedom: Overcoming Self-censorship and Promoting Freedom of Action." As for Imran, a first-year biology student, his essay was titled, "Liberal Arts Education: Science with a Soul."
The symposium was inaugurated by Education Chair Saouma Boujaoude and Civilization Sequence Assistant Professor David Wrisley. It included a lecture by Professor Christopher Davidson, from the Center for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at Durham University in England, and another by Professor Ali Fakhro, a former Bahraini education minister.
Davidson addressed the challenges and trends of higher education in Gulf states, while Fakhro argued for the need for a humanistic approach in Arab development.
The symposium was meant to discuss whether a liberal arts education is still valid and competitive in a world interested in technical expertise and whether AUB's liberal arts education compares favorably with other models of education.
"I am sure that this symposium organized by the faculty will be only the beginning of this kind of critical self-inquiry in the University in the coming years," said Wrisely in his welcome speech. "The examined life is after all, the one worth living, to quote a famous ancient scholar."
