IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nos/voprob/2016i3p80-109.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Paradox of Practical Liberal Arts. Lessons from the Wagner College Case for Liberal (Arts) Education in Eastern Europe

Author

Listed:
  • Daniel Kontowski

Abstract

Daniel Kontowski - PhD student at University of Winchester and University of Warsaw. Address: Department of Education Studies and Liberal Arts, Alwyn Middle, University of Winchester, SO22 4NR Winchester, UK. E-mail: daniel@kontowski.com The article presents the case study of Wagner College curriculum as an example of paradoxical transformation within contemporary liberal education. The Wagner Plan for Practical Liberal Arts is an important example of overcoming the traditional liberal/vocational distinction in higher education, that has been increasingly challenged by both the economic condition of colleges and wider changes in skills required by the workforce of developed countries. The Wagner College case is not widely acknowledged, yet it may be important for European liberal education institutions. Even though they are mostly public colleges/programs, they operate in a context that has become increasingly similar to that which Wagner College was facing in the early 1990s. Calls for more liberal education go against governmental expectations, study choices and disciplinary traditions of institutions. Wagner buildson the triple assumption that learning is really practical, that higher education can have a practical impact on a local community and that broad interdisciplinary knowledge is even more useful preparation for a future career. Such claims, even though controversial, fit well with the pragmatic consensus in American pragmatic consensus that strengthened around liberal arts in last three decades. For Eastern European liberal education, which is a growing field, Wagner provides an interesting example of holistic educational vision that was implemented with relatively limited resources. Apart from administrators, this study may also be of interest to teachers and students who consider the traditional academic setting due to be revamped, even in liberal education programs. Any strategy of development of liberal education in Eastern Europe require scaling up and making it more relevant for major stakeholders (as happened in the Netherlands and is now taking place in the UK), as well as overcoming the neoliberal pressures and academic reluctance. The Wagner case example may spark much needed discussionon how to accomplish it without losing our soul. Eastern Europe, civic engagement, liberal education, liberal arts education, pragmatism, higher education, practical liberal arts.

Suggested Citation

  • Daniel Kontowski, 2016. "The Paradox of Practical Liberal Arts. Lessons from the Wagner College Case for Liberal (Arts) Education in Eastern Europe," Voprosy obrazovaniya / Educational Studies Moscow, National Research University Higher School of Economics, issue 3, pages 80-109.
  • Handle: RePEc:nos:voprob:2016:i:3:p:80-109
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://vo.hse.ru/data/2016/10/11/1108820797/Kontovsky%20EN.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Steven Brint & Mark Riddle & Lori Turk-Bicakci & Charles S. Levy, 2005. "From the Liberal to the Practical Arts in American Colleges and Universities: Organizational Analysis and Curricular Change," The Journal of Higher Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 76(2), pages 151-180, March.
    2. Aleksei Kudrin, 2015. "Liberal Arts and Sciences in the Russian University Education System," Voprosy obrazovaniya / Educational Studies Moscow, National Research University Higher School of Economics, issue 4, pages 62-71.
    3. Julia Ivanova & Pavel Sokolov, 2015. "Prospects for Liberal Arts Education Development in Russian Universities. Overview of Proceedings of the Liberal Education in Russia and the World Conference," Voprosy obrazovaniya / Educational Studies Moscow, National Research University Higher School of Economics, issue 4, pages 72-91.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Manuel Crespo & Houssine Dridi & Marie Lecomte, 2013. "Vocationalization in the research intensive university," CIRANO Working Papers 2013s-16, CIRANO.
    2. Куренной В. А., 2020. "Философия Либерального Образования: Принципы," Вопросы образования // Educational Studies Moscow, National Research University Higher School of Economics, issue 1, pages 8-39.
    3. Brian P. An & Chad N. Loes, 2023. "Participation in High-Impact Practices: Considering the Role of Institutional Context and a Person-Centered Approach," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 64(4), pages 520-546, June.
    4. Brian P. An & Wei-Lin Chen, 2015. "The Role of Cognitive and Cultural Sophistication on Diversity Outcomes: Differences Across Fields of Study," Journal of Social Science Studies, Macrothink Institute, vol. 2(1), pages 144-164, January.
    5. Vitaly Kurennoy, 2020. "Philosophy of Liberal Education: The Principles," Voprosy obrazovaniya / Educational Studies Moscow, National Research University Higher School of Economics, issue 1, pages 8-39.
    6. Parker, Lee, 2011. "University corporatisation: Driving redefinition," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 434-450.
    7. Steven Brint and Allison M. Cantwell, 2011. "ACADEMIC DISCIPLINES AND THE UNDERGRADUATE EXPERIENCE: Rethinking Bok’s “Underachieving Colleges” Thesis," University of California at Berkeley, Center for Studies in Higher Education qt83q89897, Center for Studies in Higher Education, UC Berkeley.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nos:voprob:2016:i:3:p:80-109. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Marta Morozova (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://vo.hse.ru/en/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.