Key role for liberal arts

EMPLOYERS have in recent years complained that far too many Malaysian graduates were unemployable. Why? Their reasons are hardly about graduates lacking skills of their trade or profession. Instead, they repeatedly said graduates couldn’t communicate well, lacked confidence, were weak in English, and could not think on their own or creatively or outside the box to solve problems.

Meanwhile, far too many Malaysians have questioned, even feared, liberal arts education. They dismissed it as a Western idea not suitable for Malaysians with different cultures and civilisations.

Actually, the complaints by employers can be largely addressed by a liberal arts education.

What is preventing many from seeing that is the word “liberal” that has become a “bad” word for many Malaysians. They have an unhealthy fear of it; they believe liberal means no more limits or boundaries to any and every behaviour – no more standards and core values while antisocial behaviour pops up everywhere and in your face.

This is unfortunate and far from the truth. Look up any dictionary and the meaning of liberal is about learning about and respecting any belief or behaviour. This does not mean blindly accepting any and every belief, or merely parroting them.

To be liberal is to have views but willing to learn about others as well. Is this not important in this age of rapid globalisation as the world becomes available to us merely a cursor click or jet-hop away?

In the process of learning, surely, we discuss and debate, which is the essence of higher education, as opposed to memorising or rote learning.

Only through discussion and debates we learn and seek to develop common ground, one that draws the best from different sides. This common ground is the basis for moving forward together to build a future inclusive of as many as possible.

The idea of seeking common ground has profound implications for today’s globalised workplace. Is not seeking common ground the basis for solving problems, including at the workplace where different ideas and egos need to adjust to one another to achieve corporate vision and mission ethically?

But seeking common ground does not simply mean going over the same old ground. It can also provide the basis for thinking outside the box. Far too many are glib about that idea but do not really know what outsidethe-box thinking means or entails.

To think outside the box so as to come up with better ideas, we need to start with knowing what is inside the box. Ignorance of that leads to reinventing the wheel and history repeating itself.

Liberal arts education provides a particular vantage point for examining and understanding what is inside the box. This is done by having us open to ideas and thinking in the different areas of knowledge that liberal arts education provides through psychology, sociology, communication, anthropology, cultural studies, religious studies, literature, political economy. They are also the necessary tools for creative and critical thinking.

This does not mean we abandon the profession or skills-driven mode of higher education, which was the approach before the 1950s and 1960s when educational curricula were motivated and structured along the old worldview of academia based mainly on exploring great thinking and ideas.

On the other hand, ever since the 1980s with educational curricula heavily focused on professional skills, higher education has come to give too much emphasis to industrydriven curricula today, with many academic disciplines narrowly dictated by their particular industry requirements and standards.

It is time to bring back the liberal arts education. But the idea is to create a balance. Higher education will still teach and train graduates the necessary professional skills. But there should also be a mix of liberal arts curriculum to empower students with the lifelong ability of problem solving through thinking outside the box and living meaningful lives through thinking critically and creatively.

This will also return academics and academic institutions the important role they should play to create and shape their curricula instead of simply deferring to the industry.

Of course, the Education Ministry should also re-evaluate, re-vamp if necessary, higher education to provide the necessary balance that Malaysian students deserve and desperately need.

“Only through discussion and debates we learn and seek to develop common ground, one that draws the best from different sides.

Dr Wong Kok Keong heads the School of Communication & Media Arts at Berjaya University College.