Liberal Arts Education as a Collective Library

The irony of abundance underlines our modern age. Intelligence has become artificial and concomitantly, the much-eulogized age of information can also be viewed as an age of misinformation. We live in an increasingly globalized world, which is changing very rapidly. Discourse, methodologies, even our education degrees, and skills that we find relevant today may become obsolete in a few years. As Tim Cook, Apple CEO, says, “We’ve looked at the mismatch between the skills that are coming out of colleges and what the skills are that we believe we need in the future, and many other businesses do.” Cook’s statement poses a serious question about the University’s education system and the misalignment between the classroom curriculum and market demands of skills.

Likewise, Sundar Pichai, Google CEO avers, “In the past, people were educated, and learned job skills, and that was enough for a lifetime. Now, with technology changing rapidly and new job areas emerging and transforming constantly, that’s no longer the case.” The World Economic Forum further advances the concerns related to future job skills raised by Cook and Pichai, indicating that we need to train more than 1 billion people on new and evolving skills by 2030.

Each age poses a different challenge for humanity, and the task of our educational institutions is not just to respond to these challenges, but also to envision and carve a way out to overcome them. It is no wonder then that universities continue to occupy a central place in human civilization since they are custodians of our past, present, and future. The post-1980s has been a period underlined with rapid transformations in all walks of life. With the arrival of globalization and the subsequent opening of market boundaries, aided and abetted by digital technology, the human world has been subject to a sea-level change.

So, in a world, that is so rapidly transforming and evolving, what could be the model of the higher education system?

Speaking at the G20 summit on “Universities of the Future”, organized by the School of Liberal Arts, Bennett University, the renowned Indian scholar, Makarand R. Paranajape, underlined the vitality of realigning ourselves with the changes happening around us. Citing Sri Aurobindo that, “humans are transient species”, Paranjape added that the need of the hour is to mark a shift to multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary education models. While praising the New Education Policy for advancing the integral model of education, Paranjape argued that education is a priceless human asset, a tool much needed for the development of any individual, society, or for that matter of any nation. It prepares us to shape our future as much as that of others, thus making it enabling, empowering, even liberating, and inclusive. It is in this context that liberal arts education gains much importance.

While the word ‘liberal’ in education means the creation of ‘free minds’, open to adaptability and problem-solving, one could already see an intertwined relationship between inclusivity and liberal education. An inclusive model of education will lead to the creation of an ever-evolving knowledge system that can align and realign itself with the changing times. This inclusivity defines the spirit of liberal arts education. We can define liberal arts education as a philosophy, which is based on the principle of connecting seemingly unrelated subjects.

I argue that the integral pedagogy advanced by liberal arts education can lead to the formation of a collective library. I define ‘collective library’ not as a storehouse of books from different disciplines, but rather as a framework that encourages a multidisciplinary approach to problem-solving. Apparently, this multidisciplinary approach is the skeleton of the New Education Policy (NEP) on which are added the flesh of life skills, driven as it is by experiential learning. Such a multidisciplinary model, which draws from different disciplines will lead to the formation of ‘divergent thinking’ among students as well as teachers. This is not new to our Indian tradition. For example, in the 5th century, Sage Bhartrihari prefigured this education model in his famous book, Vakypadiya. He said:  “What does one know if one knows only his tradition. And, what does one know if one does not know other traditions?” (Vakyapadiya) The Australian Psychologist, Luke D. Smillie elaborates on the idea of “divergent thinking”, which requires individuals to generate multiple, diverse solutions to a simple problem, such as: “How many uses can you think of for a brick?” Less open people typically generate fewer and more obvious answers to this question—building walls, building houses, building other stuff. But for highly open people, the possibilities flood in. A brick can be used as a weapon, a paperweight, a replacement leg for a broken sofa. Or it can be smashed up and mixed with water to make paint. Open-minded people see more possibilities in even the most mundane of objects.” Through this collective library, learners can sharpen their learning skills while keeping in view the challenges faced by society, thus filling in the existing gaps shown in the figure below:

I argue that this collective library requires the acumen of an ‘everyday scholar approach’, always cognizant of the fact that learning needs to be updated. Through this approach, learners should be able to name, identify, recognize, and practice life skills comprehensively, thus enabling them to apply critical reflection to everyday data. That said, teachers will also need to upscale their learning, seeking feedback from learners constantly – is this assessment relevant, does the rubric sound informative; hold a critical reflective lens of data against practice, thus leading to ‘learning as becoming’. The ‘everyday scholar’ is driven by everyday learning. For example, there is a huge push for online education by the UGC, so the higher education system needs to show an inclusive approach toward this new demand. Faculty needs to make a shift from classroom spaces to digital spaces. Thus, the everyday scholar needs to constantly update its operating system, depending on the needs of learners, thus providing them with cogent and pertinent outcomes. This can be understood more efficiently by having an example of bandwidth. When faced with the problem of a slow internet connection or connectivity issues, our first response is to shed off the load or find a space where the connection can regain its strength. The ‘everyday scholar’ needs to practice this approach to overcome the problem(s). Incorporate self-reflection into daily learning activities or assessments. Any university must serve the needs of society and the nation. Therefore, the central question for this everyday scholar should be “how can students influence the community and society?” In this context, the NEP framework rightly suggests that the new education system must incorporate both local and global concerns. The shift needs to be from local to global and not vice-versa.

The digital technology has undoubtedly connected the global world. However, this digital togetherness is like a mirage that only leads to isolation, frustration, and distraction if the interpretive skills are not honed. It is therefore no wonder that critical thinking is considered one of the most vital skills by the World Economic Forum. Future jobs will require critical thinking skills, which is intricately tied to liberal arts education. The ability to interpret the gaps and silence shrouding the data analysis rendered by the digital world will be the most sought-after skills in times to come.

The fact remains that education is the soul of any nation. That’s why to respond to lurking threats, unseen challenges, and digital advancements, we need to embolden and innovate our universities. The higher education sector in India demands a fundamental reconfiguration as students’ needs are continuously shifting and digital ecosystems for learning and knowledge creation need to respond to these changes. The integrated model of liberal arts seems to be best suited for future generations.