Making the Case for Liberal Education

Convocation Address

Freeman A. Hrabowski, III
University of Maryland Baltimore County, August 2002

This past May, I had the honor of speaking at a number of college commencements around the country, including my own alma mater, Hampton University in Virginia, where I was a freshman 35 years ago. My undergraduate experience there not only filled me with a sense of hope and excitement, but also shaped my philosophy of education. I learned about the importance of putting students first, expecting the most of them, giving them the support they need to succeed, and emphasizing leadership and service to others. Most important, I learned that all students grow from being challenged intellectually and receiving support, both academic and personal.

Returning home to my alma mater gave me a chance to walk around the campus and to think about my college experience. As a freshman, I had no idea that college would open my mind to so many possibilities, and while I had heard that college would be different from high school, I wasn't convinced. What became very clear in a short period of time, however, was that much more was expected of me in terms of studying, being on my own, and being serious about the work.
For the past 35 years, I have been fascinated thinking about what colleges do for students, and what it means to be an educated person. But before I share some of my ideas with you, let me ask you some fairly simple questions. How many of you think you know what profession you want to enter when you graduate? How many of you really aren't sure? How many of you can tell me exactly why you've chosen to attend college? Let me suggest some possible answers: to become educated; to prepare for a good job; because your parents told you to; because you don't have any other plans right now.

Regardless of your responses, there are many advantages to coming to UMBC, or any university that offers you a strong liberal education that will broaden and stimulate your thinking. Most important, what exactly do we mean by "liberal education?" The word "liberal" comes from the Latin adjective "liber," meaning "free." And the word "education" comes from both the Latin verb "duco," meaning "to lead," and the prefix "e" which means "out of." Literally defined, "liberal education" therefore means "the free act of leading out of." How has this literal definition been applied throughout history? Most often, "liberal education" has been associated with free people, who, unlike slaves or indentured servants, had time to cultivate the intellect. Another popular interpretation of "liberal education" is education for its own sake – much like climbing a mountain because the mountain is there – and freedom to think and explore ideas in any direction.
The freedom to think and explore is precisely the opportunity awaiting you here, and it's why you're in the right place, whether or not you know what you want to do when you graduate. And even if you think you know, you'll have opportunities to change your mind. In fact, over the next four or five years, you may change your major several times; and over the next 50 years, most of you will have multiple careers. We know this because change is inevitable. Most important, we will need to be prepared to adapt to change, both as individuals and as a society.

Here at UMBC, unlike in high school, every course you take and every experience you have can help prepare you for the future, add something to your life, and lead you in directions you have not thought about. This is true whether you take a course in literature, the arts, history, or philosophy. Your classes and experiences will help you develop the skills and values you need for a productive and personally satisfying life. The most important of these – identified by a group of Princeton University undergraduates and faculty in 1993 – include "the ability to think, speak, and write clearly; reason critically; conceptualize and solve problems; think and work independently; take initiative; work with others; and see connections among disciplines, ideas, and cultures."

I assure you that your UMBC experience also will be vastly enriched by the diversity you'll find here. With students and faculty from nearly every state and scores of different countries, the university community is a microcosm of our nation and the world. You will meet people from all over the globe, representing a multitude of racial, ethnic, and religious backgrounds.

In this exciting environment, I encourage you to make a conscious effort to move beyond your personal comfort zones. Look for opportunities to interact with people whose appearance, background, and culture are different from yours, and to explore unfamiliar ideas and topics. By definition, growth involves change, and change is often accompanied by feeling ill at ease. This is the lesson of Plato's allegory of the caves, found in Book VII of The Republic, in which a group of men have been living in an underground cave from childhood and have seen only their shadows in the darkness. When they emerge from the cave, they are greeted by the light of day and all its realities, and though they are dazzled by what they see for the first time, they must first endure the glare and discomfort of the sun's light. Intellectual, emotional, and physical growth is never free of challenges and some discomfort – that's a natural part of life. But it is only by moving outside our comfort zones and facing new challenges in the light of day that we grow. I guarantee you that the effort will be exciting and rewarding.

I also urge you to recognize and develop your potential as leaders – not just of tomorrow but today. As a young person, I had the experience of being thrust into a leadership role in the Civil Rights movement in my native Birmingham, Alabama, and of going to jail with Dr. Martin Luther King. I learned then that young people, through the choices they make and actions they take, can profoundly affect other people's lives today and in the future. It's important that you see yourselves as leaders, and that you become liberally educated in order to lead. Do this by developing your ability to read, think critically, make connections across disciplines, and to ask questions. Do this by reading all kinds of books, appreciating music and art, and relating history to your present situation and the future. Do this by thinking about the big issues of the day and asking significant questions that don't have easy answers: What does it mean to be human? What is the connection between humanity and technology? Does every person have a right to a higher education? How much wealth is too much? Are we Americans parochial and limited in our view of the world?

The Princeton group's recommendations for undergraduate education also included encouraging students to develop an appreciation and passion for "lifelong learning." This reminds me of Irish writer Samuel Beckett's novel, Molloy, in which the main character, by the same name, is enraptured by what he sees when he observes the dancing behavior of bees. Molloy says, "Here's something I could study all my life and never understand." The lesson from Beckett is that none of us ever reaches the end of our education – the more we learn, the more we appreciate how much more there is to know. The key to a rich life is maintaining a passion for learning and growing.

Being passionate and engaged about your education also means occasionally making mistakes and being knocked down. These inevitable setbacks aren't what's important. What's important are the lessons we learn from the setbacks, the growth we experience, and the resilience we build by bouncing back and continuing on the journey. Being passionate and resilient will allow you to reach for the truth – for what is good in both yourselves and others – and to advance much further in life than you can possibly imagine right now – to soar. Allow yourselves to be inspired by the journey ahead. Like Tennyson's Ulysses, let the journey call passionately to you.

...Come, my friends.
'T is not too late to seek a newer world...
For my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down;
it may be we shall touch the happy isles...
Tho' much is taken, much abides; and...
That which we are, we are–
one equal temper of heroic hearts,
made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

Again, welcome to UMBC, and best wishes on your journey.

The Presidents' Campaign for the Advancement of Liberal Learning is supported by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. For more information contact Bethany Zecher Sutton at 202-387-3760.