the idea of liberal education at hsmcctl.hsmc.edu.hk/upload/20160429/150ebbc3469bc3880f… · ·...

The Idea of Liberal Education

at HSMC

Cheung Chan-Fai

April 29, 2016

What Is a 21st Century Liberal Education? Liberal Education is an approach to learning that empowers individuals and prepares them to deal with complexity, diversity, and change. It provides students with broad knowledge of the wider world (e.g. science, culture, and society) as well as in-depth study in a specific area of interest. A liberal education helps students develop a sense of social responsibility, as well as strong and transferable intellectual and practical skills such as communication, analytical and problem-solving skills, and a demonstrated ability to apply knowledge and skills in real-world settings. (From AAC&U, https://www.aacu.org/leap/what-is-a-liberal-education)

Liberal Arts: Specific disciplines (i.e., the humanities, sciences, and social sciences). Liberal Arts College: A particular type of institution—often small, often residential—that facilitates close interaction between faculty and students, and whose curriculum is grounded in the liberal arts disciplines. Artes Liberales: The historical basis for the modern liberal arts, consisting of the trivium (grammar, logic, and rhetoric) and the quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music). General Education: That part of a liberal education curriculum that is shared by all students. It provides broad exposure to multiple disciplines and forms the basis for developing essential intellectual, civic, and practical capacities. General education can take many forms, and increasingly includes introductory, advanced, and integrative forms of learning.

Often-Confused Terms

(From AAC&U, https://www.aacu.org/leap/what-is-a-liberal-education)

Meaning of GE

• Not an academic discipline

• No clear definition

• Free electives / Distribution requirement

Core curriculum/ Great books programme

• A broad and balanced programme contribute to a “Whole-man” education

The Problem of General Education in Hong Kong

Meaning of GE

“Core-curriculum” (Lingnan, PolyU),

“Gateway Education”(CityU),

“Common Core” (HKU,HKUST)

“General Education” (CUHK, HKBU, HKIEd)

boosting a large number of courses (sometimes over 200) listed under several “Cores”, “Clusters”, “Areas” or “Areas of Inquiry”


The University of Hong Kong Common Core Curriculum

• Divided into four Areas of Inquiry (AoIs):

• normally required to take 6 six-credit courses, one from each AoI and not more than 2 from any AoI. (http://commoncore.hku.hk/introduction/#prog_req)

The Chinese University of Hong Kong General Education

CUHK General Education

Total: 21 units

College GE

6 units +

College Life

University GE

15 units

UGE Four Areas 9 units

Area A Chinese Cultural Heritage Area B Nature, Science and Technology

Area C Society and Culture Area D Self and Humanity

GE Foundation (GEF) 6 units

In Dialogue with Humanity

In Dialogue with Nature

The HK University of Science and Technology Common Core Program

Common Core Areas Credits

Note Required Elective

Humanities (H) 6 *

6

* 3 credits must be from H SSCs

Social Analysis (SA) 6 * * 3 credits must be from SA SSCs

Science and Technology (S&T) 6 * * 3 credits must be from S&T SSCs

Quantitative Reasoning (QR) 3

Arts 0

English Communication 6 ** Nil **Must be taken in the 1st year of study

Chinese Communication 3 Nil

Healthy Lifestyle Non-credit Nil

Total credits required 36 SSCs = School-Sponsored Courses

http://uce.ust.hk/web/courses/course_curriculum_8.html

Hong Kong Baptist University General Education

Core Requirements Distribution Requirements

Units Units

University English 6 Areas of Learning (b)

University Chinese 3 Arts 3

Public Speaking 3 Business 3

Information Management Technology (a) 3 Communication/Visual Arts 3

Numeracy (a) 3 Science/Chinese Medicine 3

Physical Education (a) 2 Social Sciences 3

History and Civilization (a) 3 Interdisciplinary (c) 3

Values and the Meaning of Life (a) 3

University Life 0

Total 26 Total 12

(a) Each of the above denotes a category in which a list of courses will be available for students’ selection. (b) Students will take one course in each of the four areas outside of their own Faculty/ School/ Academy, for a total of 12 units; ONE of these 4 courses may be an interdisciplinary course. (c) Interdisciplinary courses will be listed for two (or more) areas of learning (i.e. with two course codes starting with GDXX18XX or GDXX19XX). Students have to decide which area (outside of their own Faculty/ School/ Academy) they would like the course to fulfill. Students can only take ONE interdisciplinary GE course to fulfill their Distribution Requirements. http://ge.hkbu.edu.hk/programme-structure/

City University of Hong Kong Education Development and Gateway Education

GE Requirements Advanced Standing I (Note 1)

Advanced Standing II (Note 2)

University Requirements

English University English and Discipline-specific English 6 credit units

Discipline-specific English 3 credit units

Chinese Civilisation – History and Philosophy

3 credit units Not compulsory requirement

Distributional Requirements

A minimum of 3 credit units from each of the three distributional areas below: Area 1: Arts and Humanities Area 2: Study of Societies, Social and Business Organisations Area 3: Science and Technology

6 credit units 3 credit units

College/School-specified Requirements 6 credit units 6 credit units

Total 21 credit units 12 credit units

http://www.cityu.edu.hk/edge/ge/ge_requirements_new.htm

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University 4-Year Curriculum

http://4yc.polyu.edu.hk/curriculum.html#

The Hong Kong Institute of Education General Education Curriculum

http://www.ied.edu.hk/ge/web/page.php?id=9

Lingnan University Core Curriculum

Common Core

• CCC8001 Logic and Critical Thinking • CCC8002 The Making of Hong Kong • CCC8003 Understanding Morality • CCC8004 World History and Civilisations

5 Clusters

Creativity and Innovation

Humanities and the Arts

Management and Society

Science, Technology and

Society

Values, Cultures and Societies

Curriculum Requirements The Core Curriculum is made up of a Common Core and 5 Clusters. Students are required to take all 4 courses in the Common Core and a total of 7 courses from the 5 Clusters, with at least one course from each cluster. The number of cluster courses students can take is capped at seven, except for special cases with the approval of the Director of Core Curriculum and General Education to take more. http://www.ln.edu.hk/ccgeo/corecurri.php

General Education: Meaning of “General” 1. Studium generale: General = for all students and scholars, a formal concept 2. General studies/knowledge = All areas of knowledge beyond the major disciplinary study, a content concept • Can any student understand the intended meaning of all

these areas by just taking one or two course from each core? • The large quantity of courses is a camouflage of the

superficiality of General Education / Distribution requirement / free Electives.


General Education:

The term “General Education” is a liability

HKDSE: Liberal Studies (通識敎育)

General Education is part of Liberal Education

(from AAC&U)


Liberal and Professional Education at HSMC

Objective of the Task Force:

To develop a high-quality, defensible and manageable Liberal Education curriculum for HSMC students

Liberal and Professional Education at HSMC Stage One The Task Force reviewed the Foundation module GEN1000 and identified the major weaknesses of the GE curriculum. Foundation module The module content should be modified and simplified, as the content sets too wide. Classical texts could be introduced as teaching materials. Students will be required to read the texts by themselves before class and discussed during class by leading questions provided by teachers. Cluster modules The existing list is too arbitrary. The modules in the clusters should be rearranged in thematic dimension.


Stage Two

• The existing GE Programme (Common Core Modules) is recommended to rename as “Liberal Education Programme” (LEP)

• and to adopt a new structure of 3 Sections

1. Liberal Education Generic Capacity

2. Liberal Education Foundation

3. Liberal Education Core


A global and contemporary perspective on the conceptualization of learning • With reference to the UNESCO paper Learning: The

Treasure Within (1996) and Revisiting Learning: The Treasure Within (2013), the Task Force has incorporated the four pillars of learning (Learning to know; Learning to do; Learning to be; Learning to live together) into HSMC education model and Liberal Education Programme.

• Two more pillars of learning are added: Learning to live in nature; learning to be a global citizen

HSMC “Liberal + Professional” education model

1. Professional component incorporates “Learning to do” into major studies of the existing 5 Schools

2. Liberal Education Generic Capacity (21 units) takes “Learning to know” into the existing Language and Quantitative Methods and IT Skill. Intensive first year writing seminar in English and Chinese would be introduced


3. Liberal Education Foundation: (6 units)

“Unless students and professors (and particular professors) have a common intellectual training, a university must remain a series of disparate schools and departments, united by nothing except the fact that they have the same president and board of trustees.” Robert Hutchins: The Higher Learning in America, 1936



Considering the importance of freshman sharing common learning experience, two core modules have been suggested. The idea of these two modules is to introduce students of classics texts (6 texts per module) and enhance students’ ability in reading, thinking, writing, discussing and speaking.


3. Liberal Education Foundation: (6 units) Prior to the reminding 4 Pillars of learning, two Foundation modules of reading classics texts.

a. Foundation of Liberal Education I: Virtue / Value

e.g. Plato: Symposium, Epicurus: letter to Menoeceus, Seneca: On the Shortness of Life, Newman: The Idea of a University. 論語, 道德經, 金剛經

b. Foundation of Liberal Education II: Wisdom / Knowledge e.g. Newton: The Principia, Darwin: The Origin of Species. Carson: Silent Spring, Watson: DNA: The Secret of

Life


3. Liberal Education Foundation: (6 units) • All students are required to takes this LEF • The selected classics texts, in Western and

Chinese tradition should be readable and manageable.

• The pedagogy to teach the classics texts will be developed by a teaching team

• The selected classics texts should anticipate the themes of the Liberal Education Core modules.



Pedagogy

• Delivered in small class, i.e., 25 students for each group; supplemented by web-based learning

• Student-centered active learning

• Complemented by optional learning activities such as cultural visits, campus seminars



Vision • Effectively enhance students’ intellectual and cultural

quality through the reading of classics texts

• Nurture in students the habits of reading on, thinking about and discussing serious topics

• Help students understand the relatedness of learning and life, thus nurturing in them an internal drive for learning

• Facilitate students’ transition from school to university

• Build a learning community through common learning experience


4. Liberal Education Core: (15 units) a. Learning to be b. Learning to live in nature c. Learning to live together d. Learning to be a global citizen Ideally all the modules (Should be less than 8 in number) in these 4 cores are developed from the 12 classic texts, which are the advance study of the themes discussed in the Foundation.


4. Liberal Education Core: (15 units)

a. Learning to be

To develop one's personality and be able to act with ever greater autonomy, judgement and personal responsibility. In that connection, education must not disregard any aspect of a person's potential: memory, reasoning, aesthetic sense, physical capacities and communication skills.

To know oneself and the meaning of life and death through the study of philosophy, literature, religion, art and music

- Possible classic texts in LEF: Plato: Symposium, Epicurus: letter to Menoeceus, Seneca: On the Shortness of Life, Newman: The Idea of a University



b. Learning to live in nature

How human understands nature and the universe through science and philosophy, and manipulates nature through technology. The place of human in the cosmos. Human destruction of the balance of nature How to achieve harmony with nature.

- Possible classic text in LEF: Newton: The Principia, Darwin: The Origin of Species. Carson: Silent Spring



c. Learning to live together

by developing an understanding of other people and an appreciation of interdependence - carrying out joint projects and learning to manage conflicts -in a spirit of respect for the values of pluralism, mutual understanding and peace, through the study of ethics, politics and sociology.

- Possible classic text in LEF: Aristotle: Ethics, Politics, Machiavelli: The Prince, Mill: On Liberty



d. Learning to be a global citizen

How do we learn to live in the ‘global village’? Without an understanding of the international political, cultural, economic and financial relationship and the complexity of the globalization, we do not know our place in the contemporary world.

- Possible classic text in LEF: Z Bauman: Globalization: The Human Consequences


Drew Faust, President, Harvard University Baccalaureate address to Class 2008:

June 3, 2008

Successful life / Meaningful life “A liberal education demands that you live self-

consciously. It prepares you to ask and define the meaning inherent in all you do. It has made you an analyst and critic of yourself, a person in this way supremely equipped to take charge of your life and how it unfolds. It is in this sense that the liberal arts are liberal – as in liberare – to free.”

Thank you

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