A Golden Thread: The Liberal Arts in the Twenty-first Century

By MaryAnn Baenninger

In the speech written for her inaugural address, MaryAnn Baenninger, president of the College of Saint Benedict, reflects on the challenges of liberal education in the twenty-first century. In today's world, she notes, "unsophisticated knowledge of other cultures has become dangerous." As people from different cultures become increasingly interdependent, a liberal arts education can "provide the intellectual, social, cultural, and spiritual tools our students must have to be truly global citizens," she argues.

Baenninger identifies five imperatives for an education that seeks to equip students with those tools. Colleges and universities must teach students "how to reflect upon and understand our own cultural predispositions"; they must draw upon the connectedness of the world to offer "fresh approaches to analysis and synthesis" and to teach students how to sort "worthy from unworthy information"; they must inspire them "to respond thoughtfully and creatively to the needs of people and communities near and far"; they must "prepare them to act"; and they must "provide an antidote" to the polarization and close-mindedness that currently characterize much of public discourse in the U.S. Ultimately, she says, learning that answers these needs can "transcend the classroom and serve as a golden thread to unite us."

MaryAnn Baenninger's inaugural address is available on the Web site of the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University.