Liberal arts are the skills derived from the Classical education curriculum.
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The term liberal arts denotes a curriculum that imparts general knowledge and develops the student’s rational thought and intellectual capabilities, unlike the professional, vocational, technical curricula emphasizing specialization. The contemporary liberal arts comprise studying literature, languages, philosophy, history, mathematics, and science.[1] In classical antiquity, the liberal arts denoted the education proper to a free man (Latin: liberus, “free”), unlike the education proper to a slave. In the 5th century AD, Martianus Capella academically defined the seven Liberal Arts as: grammar, dialectic, rhetoric, geometry, arithmetic, astronomy, and music. In the medieval Western university, the seven liberal arts were:
In the United States, Liberal arts colleges are schools emphasising undergraduate study in the liberal arts. Traditionally earned over four years of full-time study, the student earned either a Bachelor of Arts degree or a Bachelor of Science degree; on completing undergraduate study, students might progress to either a graduate school or a professional school (public administration, business, law, medicine, theology). The teaching is Socratic, to small classes, and at a greater teacher-to-student ratio than at universities; professors teaching classes are allowed to concentrate more on their teaching responsibilities than primary research professors or graduate student teaching assistants, in contrast to the instruction common in universities. Modern liberal arts colleges accommodate the non-traditional student, which allows for - among other things - part-time study. Despite the European origin of the liberal arts college,[2] the term liberal arts college usually denotes liberal arts colleges in the United States.
Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University (PDPU) Gandhinagar, Gujarat is one of the Indian universities which has begun a liberal arts program, a Bachelor of Liberal Studies, through its new School of Libaral Studies. Inaugurated in 2009, the course follows the USA system of liberal studies with some changes. The Foundation for Liberal And Management Education (FLAME) in Pune is also promoting the study of liberal arts in India.
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See also: School of Advanced General Studies
Liberal arts is the term given to an education based on classical antiquity. It is meant to be a practical education which develops mental capacity. It was designed in the late medieval period (12th/13th centuries) using ideas from Ancient Greek and Roman culture. The students were meant to be young gentlemen, that is, from respectable and important families. In modern times, liberal arts colleges educate both sexes, and a wider range of people.
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The seven liberal arts were taught in two groups: the trivium and the quadrivium :
During the Middle Ages, the liberal arts were central to university education. The quadrivium followed the preparatory work of the trivium.
The area and range of the liberal arts evolved in time. Originally, most of the teaching, and all of the text-books, would have been in Latin, the language the students would have learnt at school before they came to college. In the beginning the courses were aimed at educating the elite in the classical works. Eventually, the meaning of "liberal arts" got extended to include both humanities and science. But even today, practical activities as agriculture, business, engineering, pedagogy or pharmacy are excluded from the liberal arts. The liberal professions include only professions which require education at university, mainly law and medicine.
The trivium (Latin for three ways), included the literary disciplines:
The quadrivium (latin for four ways), included the disciplines connected with mathematics. They were:
Liberal arts colleges are a modern re-interpretation of the old idea. Mostly in the United States, these colleges concentrate on good teaching, and are closer to the Oxford & Cambridge type of tuition than most universities. They are mostly or entirely fee-paying institutions, and so continue to offer an elite education to students from prosperous families. The courses are mostly or entirely undergraduate courses.
   | The Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts - Wabash National Study - home |
| | Philosophy of Liberal Education - Philosophy of Liberal Education |
| | CatholiCity: Catholic Encyclopedia - The Seven Liberal Arts |
| | The Seven Liberal Arts - The Seven Liberal Arts |
| | Liberal Arts: Encyclopedia Britannica Concise - liberal arts -- Britannica Online Encyclopedia |
| | European College of Liberal Arts - ECLA Berlin: ECLA Berlin |
| | Ashesi University - Ashesi University College, Ghana |
| | Enciclopedia Católica (spanish) - Enciclopedia Católica |
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