Life's "Important Questions"

In his essay "Ave Atque Vale," Donald Kagan laments the current state of liberal education in the U.S., comparing it to the education received by English gentlemen in the eighteenth century, which "prized sociability over the solitude of hard study." According to Kagan, liberal education has abandoned its quest of knowledge as an end in itself, failing to provide undergraduates with a common philosophical and historical foundation upon which to discuss life's important questions.

"...when there was a general agreement that there was a core of knowledge worth learning," Kagan writes, "one that all educated people could share, and one, therefore, that could readily serve as the basis for serious discussion of important questions and thereby, perhaps, yield wisdom, there was a far greater chance of success than there is today."

While I agree with Kagan that an understanding of history is an absolutely essential component of any education - after all, those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it, right? - perhaps my important questions are different than Kagan's. Perhaps the core of knowledge that I am concerned with is the one that teachers me about social justice, about poverty alleviation, about treating my fellow human beings with grace and compassion.

Despite Kagan's worries, I do not feel adrift and isolated, failing to understand my role as a citizen of a free society. In fact, I feel more engaged in my community than ever. My understanding of my role as a citizen is that I should use my privileges to give back to the community that has helped me grow.

If my liberal education is helping me to explore my important questions and helping me seek a core of knowledge that will enable me to do some good in this world, I'd say it's doing a pretty good job.