The Importance Of Liberal Education

The Association of American Colleges and Universities simply defines liberal education as “an approach to learning that empowers individuals and prepares them to deal with complexity, diversity, and change.” Liberal education in American schools should be implemented mostly in grade school. As kids grow up and become closer to making career choices, professional education should be intertwined with liberal education to give our future leaders the best education possible and provide them with the most knowledge. Kids should be well equipped to deal with the diversity and complexity of life. Balance is the best way to ensure this. In this essay I discuss the importance of a liberal education and professional education. I then explain at what ages each method of learning is most effective. I remember in school asking myself “when is knowing Hamlet ever going to help me in the future?” Learning how to comprehend Shakespeare’s work seemed like a waste of time to me. I wanted to be a police officer and would never need to quote the words of King Hamlet’s ghost in order to enforce the law. But I did not understand the power of knowledge at the time. American businessman Peter Drucker said “Knowledge has to be improved, challenged, and increased constantly or it vanishes”. If I were never forced to read literature like Hamlet or Catcher in The Rye in school, I would have never taken the time to read some great pieces of literature because they had nothing to do with what I thought