As technology advances into the realms of science fiction, with AI tools like ChatGPT being harnessed in every corner of the internet, it is evident the pace of innovation is only accelerating. With a new billion-dollar start-up emerging daily, while others come crashing down in stunning and farcical ways, in the modern world only the most agile and resilient survive.
Contrast this with a university campus, where students toil away on paper, regurgitating formulas and scraping through with a mindset of ‘C’s get degrees’ – a sentiment that I have heard far too often on campus. This emphasis on outcomes instilled from bygone decades is simply inadequate for the fast-paced workforce that today’s youth will be entering. Students are spoon-fed their information rather than understanding it and replicating work that has already been made redundant by even basic iterations of generative AI. It seems then that a reinvestigation of liberal education and its principles is more important today than ever before, where students need to be equipped with the skills to navigate increasingly complex political, cultural, and social climates.
Liberal education espouses the development of empowered individuals capable of forming independent philosophies while remaining self-critical and challenging the status quo. Fundamentally, students need to be taught not just ‘hard’ or ‘technical’ skills which inevitably will be replaced in the not-so-distant future, but rather learn the mindset to enable constant iteration and personal growth, equipping them to swiftly adapt for a lifetime of seventeen different jobs across five careers.
Rather than inundating students with information, universities, and educators must realise that students not only learn in vastly different ways, but also are often at different stages of their learning journey, even within the same year or course. A fundamental change is needed to reorient the tertiary education landscape, placing greater emphasis on nurturing independent learners instead of moulding them in cookie-cutter form to textbooks and task-sheets.
Championing liberal education principles within the tertiary education landscape will surely face criticism, particularly in a society that seems to value STEM and the pursuit of absolute knowledge above all else. However, reconsidering who we want our students to be – lifelong learners and dynamic future leaders in our community – can ignite a fresh perspective. It’s challenging the status quo and kicking down the door of how we’ve learnt for so long. It’s championing the teaching and cultivation of a love for learning and the courage to face challenges head-on. To best serve students, universities must treat and educate them as independent thinkers instead of seeing dollar signs, recognising their crucial role in nurturing the workforce of the future.
