Experiential learning cannot be a liberal art
by Matt Lawrence
Columnist
Columnists | 9/15/09
Posted online at 2:25 AM EST on 9/15/09
Much has been made recently of the idea of experiential learning. The proposed Justice Brandeis Semester, which, according to the Justice, the University hopes to make mandatory, will cement our increasing commitment to this concept.
The temptation for the Justice Brandeis Semester to grant credit for internships and other more worldly pursuits is too great. This is my most obvious concern. The report from the Sept. 1 issue of the Justice ends most tellingly: The last sentence of the article quotes a student glad her work in one of these classes will now seem more appealing on a résumé. This particular student had signed up for the class before the change in policy, but one can see how this mentality of résumé-boosting is inevitable. This is particularly demeaning to any academic pursuit-the pursuit of career goals should be kept farther away from the classroom in order to maintain a high level of genuine academic discourse. Some would argue that people already pad their résumés anyway and that at least they will be doing some good for the society at large. I would largely agree with that, but I would hasten to add that neither of those objectives have anything to do with the liberal arts.
More generally, I'm concerned that mandatory experiential learning challenges the role of the liberal arts at Brandeis. In an e-mail, Academic Administrator for Experiential Learning Audra Grady said that "a liberal arts education … is truly enhanced because of the real world settings" in which the student may be placed. I'm skeptical of this division between the "real world" and the classroom. This type of thinking holds the value of pure knowledge as something inferior. I have no doubt that for some students in fields such as the life sciences, the union of knowledge and extracurricular experience could have tremendous benefits. I'm less certain, however, that this is valuable for all students, particularly humanities and fine arts students.
The temptation for the Justice Brandeis Semester to grant credit for internships and other more worldly pursuits is too great. This is my most obvious concern. The report from the Sept. 1 issue of the Justice ends most tellingly: The last sentence of the article quotes a student glad her work in one of these classes will now seem more appealing on a résumé. This particular student had signed up for the class before the change in policy, but one can see how this mentality of résumé-boosting is inevitable. This is particularly demeaning to any academic pursuit-the pursuit of career goals should be kept farther away from the classroom in order to maintain a high level of genuine academic discourse. Some would argue that people already pad their résumés anyway and that at least they will be doing some good for the society at large. I would largely agree with that, but I would hasten to add that neither of those objectives have anything to do with the liberal arts.
More generally, I'm concerned that mandatory experiential learning challenges the role of the liberal arts at Brandeis. In an e-mail, Academic Administrator for Experiential Learning Audra Grady said that "a liberal arts education … is truly enhanced because of the real world settings" in which the student may be placed. I'm skeptical of this division between the "real world" and the classroom. This type of thinking holds the value of pure knowledge as something inferior. I have no doubt that for some students in fields such as the life sciences, the union of knowledge and extracurricular experience could have tremendous benefits. I'm less certain, however, that this is valuable for all students, particularly humanities and fine arts students.
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