Wesleyan University President Champions Liberal Education

Contentious debates over the benefits—or drawbacks—of a liberal education go back to Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. Critics have attacked its irrelevance and elitism, supporters believe that nurturing a student’s capacity for lifelong learning is essential for science, commerce, and democracy. Wesleyan University President Michael S. Roth explores America’s long-running argument over vocational vs. liberal education. In Beyond the University: Why Liberal Education Matters he looks at the state of higher education today and argues that since the beginning of the nation, liberal education has cultivated individual freedom, supported civic virtue, and instilled hope for the future.