<p>I am all for liberal arts education but I am finding that the so called 'values based education' can be a thinly veiled name for religious based.</p>
<p>What is the difference and do you have a preference? </p>
<p>Have you found the schools to be totally upfront when describing their 'values based' education?</p>
<p>I’m sure values based is code for a traditional moral system often tied to religion.</p>
<p>We didn’t encounter any schools with religious agendas, but then with a single exception–Georgetown, which he was interested in for reasons OTHER than its religious affiliation–S would not consider any school with a significant modern-day religious affiliation.</p>
<p>What kind of school are you talking about? I would expect Catholic and Christian schools to have a religious agenda, to some degree, and I would expect that it would be made manifest in their academic life, to some degree. There is always discussion about whether students of other religions or atheists will feel comfortable at such schools, and most people pooh-pooh the idea that they would not. I tend to be skeptical. I think that when a school like BC decides to add a crucifix to every classroom in the university, they are making a clear statement about what they are about and who is welcome there. (Something which they have every right to do, of course.)</p>
<p>As non-believer (baptized Protestant) who attended a Jesuit university, I would take issue with Consolation’s emphasis on religious agenda. I encountered almost none and that was nearly 30 years ago. Initially I was shocked by the crosses, but I got over it–you can’t expect them to take them down. These schools were founded by religious orders, but I have found many of them to be quite open and tolerant of modern social issues. I toured a Jesuit school last month and saw posters encouraging students to celebrate LGBT week. I toured a different Catholic school a day later and found the tone quite different. It varies from school to school. Most schools have a theology requirement, but in my case I took one on “world religions” (studied Islam and Hinduism) and a course on “Liberation Theology” When I attended there was an active Hillel. Many of the Catholic schools (but not all) have a majority of non-catholic students attending. In some cases, these schools expect applicant’s to have EC’s that include community service–but it’s hardly expected to be church-based. </p>
<p>“Values based” can mean lots of things–including code for socially or politically conservative. Or it can mean they expect all students to participate in community service organizations like soup kitchens. Schools like Pepperdine, don’t sound religious but they are. I found that the Princeton Review guide gives a pretty accurate reading on campus mood.</p>
<p>I think you are placing too much emphasis on the perceived negative connotations of the word “agenda.” Perhaps I should have said “mission” instead.</p>
<p>In what context did you see the term “values-based education”? Are you referring to it as used in a college’s mission statement? Here’s an example of what I think you might mean:
[Values</a> Based Education](<a href=“http://www.plu.edu/admission/first-year/academic-distinction/lives-of-service.php]Values”>http://www.plu.edu/admission/first-year/academic-distinction/lives-of-service.php)
</p>
<p>What do we mean by the term “liberal education”? I like the simple definition provided by Wikipedia:
“A Liberal education is a system or course of education suitable for the cultivation of a free (Latin: liber) human being.”
([Liberal</a> education - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_education]Liberal”>Liberal education - Wikipedia))</p>
<p>In my opinion, the “cultivation of a free human being” does not necessarily entail any religious indoctrination or any commitment to “living a life in service to others”. The primary goal of higher education, in my opinion, is to create and share knowledge (not to inculcate morality). Free people express their commitment to this goal in a variety of ways.</p>
<p>“Liberal Arts” refers to a very specific classification of a type of higher education institution. Usually a college, but it can also be a university. It’s usually based on a core-curriculum which requires students to take courses in a broad variety of subjects, math, science, language, english, history/social sciences". Schools that offer a liberal arts focus are not necessarily “Liberal” in a political-social sense, though they often are. I assume that was the nature of your question as regards the moniker “values based”. Often, that IS code for a more orthodox religious focus–but not always. It really depends on where you see the school applying it in their materials: community service requirements vs. exclusively single sex dorms, for example. It can be hard to read between the lines and sometimes only a campus tour makes it abundantly clear.</p>
<p>^^^^Liberal arts colleges frequently have no distribution requirements. The thing that distinguishes them in most cases is the ease in moving from one department to the next with no separate “schools” or applications. This is not true of all of them. Bard, for instance, requires an application into many majors. So does Yale for some majors.</p>
<p>Smith and Amherst are examples of liberal arts colleges with no distribution requirements.</p>
<p>The OP’s question is phrased in a confusing way… I guess liberal arts and values based are not mutually exclusive. If you assume that “values based” is defined as a school with a required religious curriculum as part of what a student must take, then there probably are a few liberal arts colleges that meet that criteria. For example, St. Olaf has a few requirements along this line, I think. But I think that number is pretty small.</p>
<p>I think nyermom and mythmom have done a good job of defining “liberal arts” colleges.</p>
<p>The “liberal arts” are taught in the undergraduate programs of virtually every comprehensive research university in the country, as well as at liberal arts colleges. They are taught at colleges with Core Curriculum programs; they are taught at colleges with Open Curriculum programs. They are not exclusive to any of the Carnegie college classification types. </p>
<p>The modern liberal arts evolved out of the medieval “Trivium” (grammar, rhetoric, logic) and “Quadrivium” (arithmetic, geometry, music, astronomy). The Trivium and Quadrivum in turn evolved from subjects taught to free citizens in ancient Rome and Greece. These subjects distinguished free citizens from slaves, who learned only technical skills. Likewise, the modern liberal arts (literature, history, philosophy, physics, chemistry, mathematics, etc.) are not technical or pre-professional subjects (like engineering, nursing, or business). </p>
<p>Religion or “values education” may or may not be considered an essential part of undergraduate education. Some of the Latin mottos of liberal arts colleges and universities do have strong religious overtones (or even direct reference to scriptures). The American Association of Colleges & Universities describes its mission follows:
[quote]
From its founding in 1915, AAC&U has focused on advancing and strengthening liberal education for all college students, regardless of their intended careers. While the term is used in multiple ways, AAC&U sees liberal education as a philosophy of education that empowers individuals with broad knowledge and transferable skills, and a strong sense of value, ethics, and civic engagement.<a href="%5Burl=http://www.aacu.org/resources/liberaleducation/index.cfm%5DResources%20%7C%20Liberal%20Education%5B/url%5D">/quote</a></p>
<p>In my opinion, the aims of liberal education are distinct from the aims of religious or “values” education. The liberal arts might examine religion, but liberal education per se does not necessarily strive to instill a particular set of religious beliefs, although the liberal arts may be incorporated into a program of religious or moral education (whose advocates may label it as “values-based” education, Christian education, or something else ).</p>
<p>I don’t think it matters much. My reason is somewhat idiosyncratic: you are what you are and that is all nearly everyone needs in life. It doesn’t matter to me if people go to a fundamentalist college or some other one that distorts truth to fit a religious agenda. That’s their choice. It only matters to me if they choose to inflict their beliefs on me and that is happening in society anyway. </p>
<p>Note that I don’t count Boston College, for example, as having a “religious agenda” though it is in some ways more responsive to the Church’s specific orders than it was for a time. But Liberty University, where the front page says they’ve “been Training Champions for Christ through Christian Education” since 1971? I don’t care if people go there. That’s their lives. I wouldn’t hire them. I think less of them because I reflect their judgmental values back at them, but I don’t care about their choices in life. And it doesn’t matter for them either. They can run businesses, raise families, etc. just like godless heathens. Some will be happy, others will be miserable. Some will be alcoholics. Some will be nice people. Some will be terrible parents. And so on.</p>