LIBERAL ARTS FAQs

• What are the “liberal arts?”

  The term “liberal arts” can be traced back to “artes liberales,” a Latin term used in the Middle Ages to describe education that trained the “free man.”  As the Greek philosopher Epictetus also said many years ago, “Only the educated are free.”  The American democracy was founded on these same principles — that education and knowledge give people the power to think for themselves, inform their opinions, encourage them to be engaged citizens, and place upon them the responsibility of shared self-governance.

• Most college students must take some form of “core” or common “general education” curriculum that encompasses a basic set of academic disciplines — English, mathematics, social sciences, humanities, etc.  Isn’t the “liberal arts” just another term for “general education requirements”?

  Many general education curricula simply stipulate that a student must take a certain number of credits from a given category (e.g. physical sciences, natural sciences, arts, humanities), without consideration given to the order in which courses are taken or the potential for synergy between courses. At Eastern, students take their liberal arts core sequentially in three stages, with introductory courses preparing students for more advanced learning.  Curriculum is designed so that students must make connections across different fields of study.

• Are the liberal arts taught differently at Eastern?

  At Eastern, our liberal arts courses are taught in small class settings that allow close faculty-student interaction and provide opportunities for students to learn independently and in teams.  In addition, a liberal arts education emphasizes discussion and inquiry, a learning style not always possible in the large lecture hall settings found at larger universities.  Students in Eastern’s liberal arts core also are required to develop their own independent projects, ranging from artistic performances, to independent research, to working in an internship setting as part of a “capstone” or culminating course.

• Will Eastern’s focus on the liberal arts prepare me for the world of work?

  The list of doctors, attorneys, architects, educators, engineers, economists, musicians, and other professionals who have received a liberal arts education is long for good reason.  The liberal arts are perhaps the best foundation for a successful career because they prepare students to be successful no matter what their major.  The ability to develop new ideas and evaluate them; learning to work independently and in teams; understanding  history and culture; and knowing how to find and use information are just some of the skills that liberal arts students learn to prepare for a specific career field.