I quote from the article,
"The small college environment bonds students and faculty together, creating lifetime friendships and connections. Liberal arts colleges have high rates of alumni giving.

Almost two thirds of Carleton alums give back to the college — signifying not only their endorsement of their alma mater, but also an indication that liberal arts colleges do produce successful graduates."

It is about time for a liberal arts college in Singapore. Such a college would instill positive attitutes in its students. Such students would be a great benefit for the country and the public sector, where skills of people bonding and giving are the basis of effective public administration and of a gracious and globalised society.

Hopefully the funding would come from people or institutions who can recognise the significant benefits from such a college.

I think the site's html coding for italics is faulty. The html tag for italics doesn't seem to require a closing tag.

WBG: I'm trying to figure out what's happening. In the meantime, did I adjust your italics correctly? (Ultimately, I suspect that "it's a feature, not a bug"--we need to figure out exactly how Movable Type converts the line breaks.)

While acknowledging the benefits of the liberal arts college, I'd like to draw attention to the fact that our 1st 2 universities, NUS and NTU do have their own Arts colleges/faculties. At least on NTU's front (through my personal experience), the faculty members do instill the same kind of spirit into their undergrads and the atmosphere and camaderie among undergrads is rather strong.
However, for years, my particular school's deputy head gave me the same response when I asked them whether we could promote the knowledge of our faculty [it is largely unknown to the general public that we had the first Music-related degree available in Singapore] on a larger scale. Basically, we were such a small part of the whole school that we had no power to toot our own horns. And that was my major frustration.
Sometimes, it's a matter of managing what we already have, and taking things to the higher level, rather that constantly coming up with new things and offshoots.

Yes, the italics was adjusted correctly.

To tornadoM: Seems to me you are talking about your own lack of power (as a student), but I think it is mainly a matter of lack of "status". I think the profs in your department are also trying not to rock the boat too much - lest they jeopardise their positions.

My frustration begins at the way students are streamlined again and again. In primary school it is tragic - esp for late bloomers. In secondary school and beyond it becomes more and more like your destiny is sealed. Don't you remember how only kids with the best grades got to the Science streams then proceed to aim for med school or law school or the engineering dept at university? I know lots of my friends who were only in commerce or arts fields because they couln't get to attend NTU's school of communication or study their passion: medicine.

This is where the funding and the research money goes, this is where it all begins and ends.

So unless you are talking about managing (in the most PR "spin" sense) the outlook of most Singaporeans on what it means to be a critical thinker (the most "marketable" value one could extract from a liberal arts education), BETTER YET, if you could change Singaporeans' perspectives on the importance of being ARTISTS (in the largest all-embracing sense of the word)...then I think what you are proposing (quote: "managing what we already have, and taking things to the higher level, rather that constantly coming up with new things and offshoots.") is frighteningly vacuous, deliberately vague and lacks foresight at best, and (perhaps I am being harsh) is ultimately futile in what needs to be a sea change of ideals.

*phew*
reading stuff like this always arouses a deeper anger. I don't mean to demean anyone's opinions.

Letter from a TODAY reader:

Look out of a different window with liberal arts
Letter from Heng Cho Choon

THE news comment, "Time's ripe for a liberal arts college" (Jan 17), provided readers with a host of benefits that accrue to those who opt for a liberal arts (LA) college education.

It cannot be denied that LA colleges prepare their students to think critically and independently, communicate clearly and be problem-solvers — skills highly valued in many careers.

Many LA colleges are designed to train students well-versed in the humanities, sciences, social sciences and arts. These students are taught to interact a great deal with faculty and peers, and learn in a setting that focuses on the integration of ideas. This helps them to look at the world through different lenses and whets their appetite for lifelong learning.

While a LA education does not focus on specific career training, it is the ideal preparation for the future. Graduates will be ready for an environment in which people change jobs and professions frequently.

It has also been found that a LA education is beneficial for students from minority groups and for those with less developed academic abilities.

Some LA colleges such as the Honolulu Community College (HCC) offer a night schedule of LA courses that allow students to complete their associate degree by attending evening classes. The HCC also conducts courses via the Internet and cable TV. The bulk of coursework can be completed at home and at a time that works best for busy, mature students.

In addition, the HCC has a close connection with industry and alumni, and hence offers the Coca-Cola and Truman scholarships for needy students.

It is time for our Government to allow private enterprises to run LA colleges in Singapore. LA colleges will produce quality graduates qualified to impact our culture, our society, our government and our world.

Dear tornadoM:

'While acknowledging the benefits of the liberal arts college, I'd like to draw attention to the fact that our 1st 2 universities, NUS and NTU do have their own Arts colleges/faculties.'

Well, I graduated from NUS Arts.

And I do think that something like a liberal arts college would have been more insightful.

There is often, even at NUS Arts, the idea that some disciplines are more superior than others; just as there's an undercurrent of Political Science vs. History.

But I consider myself lucky in the sense that I was never an Arts student until I matriculated at NUS; that I was always in Science. And that I did do the Art Elective Programme at both high school and JC level and had piano lessons out of school, so I still had a pretty well-rounded education.

Though it did present a lot of problems for me at NUS because it affected the perspective I asked questions from. And some tutors and schoolmates weren't exactly kind about it.

So yes, in that sense, I'd have preferred a liberal arts curriculum over spending time at NUS Arts. And it is from that point of view that I see that a liberal arts college would contribute a lot to the spectrum of debate and ideas available to the polity at present.

Addendum

An objection to my previous comment may go:

'But as tornadoM does put it at the end of his comment: Sometimes, it's a matter of managing what we already have, and taking things to the higher level, rather that constantly coming up with new things and offshoots.'

To which I agree with but it is also important at a more strategic level for Singapore to have students who have studied most of almost everything to the point where the links between the disciplines are fairly clear and that no discipline is necessarily nor sufficiently superior to another.

If you think about the links between the disciplines, you'd sooner see that there are basically only three disciplines 'at large':

Philosophy: 'How to think about things'
Art: 'How to make or work with things'
Mathematics: 'How to measure things'

For 'taking things to the higher level', there are real obstacles to bringing discussion onto higher levels without first conceding that no discipline is superior to another.

And that realisation, alongside the knowledge that all disciplines are primarily just sets of structure with a 'primordial' set of definitions, can only be achieved by intellectual exploration on all fronts, at the same time.

If you read up research on the cognitive sciences for instance, you'd sooner realise that Immanuel Kant's 'Critique of Reason' shouldn't even have existed at all.

Yet the question is by how far people, when using Logic as some uber-technological gadget for accomplishing their ends, will see that Logic in itself is not infalliable; that the circumstances which led Kant to actually write a book like that is mere testament to how badly it can fail.

As for jaded's point about artists, perhaps you might be interested in the 2D Design department doctrine at the Cranbrook Academy of Art.

"Even though only 3 per cent of college graduates in America come from liberal arts colleges, more than 8 per cent of Forbes' listing of the nation's wealthiest CEOs in 1997 graduated from them. Nearly a fifth of all US presidents were liberal arts college graduates — as were 23 per cent of Pulitzer Prize winners in drama, 19 per cent of the winners in history and 18 per cent in poetry from 1960 to 1998....."

This is simply because the liberal arts college graduates come from good families..

I FULLY support the notion of Liberal Arts in Singapore; right now it would seem that the only closest thing resembling it would be the University Scholars Program in NUS.

It seems some of the commentors have a wrong view of what Liberal Arts really means. It's not simply just about 'arts'. It's about the exploration of intellectual life or 'formation', to use the German word, 'Bildungs'. The structure of Liberal Arts curricula, at least in places like the University of Chicago and John Hopkins (which are modelled after the German Universities in the 19th century), focuses not JUST on arts, but also the Sciences. It's the idea of the student as a 'bildungsberger', a person well versed in both the humanities, and the sciences.

As a Singaporean student from the UofChicago, I must say that I aboslutely LOVE the education I get here. Every single class is an eye opener, and you exit class with a completely different view of the world. This opinion might be slightly biased but the sense of liberation, that is the original use of the greek term 'educe', is amazing.

And as the original author pointed out, job prospects are good, though there is an 'expectation' that students will go on to graduate school in the UofChicago. Liberal Arts builds a truly good foundation for those who are interested in intellectual industries such as academia, Research and Development or policy making.

It's high time Singaporeans are allowed the opportunity to explore the experience of intellectual freedom and independent thinking, that is such an amazing thing.

Dear wyngit and all:

You will be happy to hear this. This just in.

The Straits Times (Singapore)
February 5, 2007 Monday
We must be first with liberal arts school: Dr Tan

BYLINE: Liaw Wy-Cin

IF A liberal arts college is not set up here, someone else will do it in the region and it will be Singapore's loss.

This warning came from Dr Tony Tan, who heads a high-powered international panel which advises the Government on tertiary education.

In an exclusive interview with The Straits Times, he expanded on one of the key recommendations that emerged last month from the 6th Meeting of the International Academic Advisory Panel (IAAP) held here - that a small, private college be set up here to provide a broad-based education of the type highly valued in the United States.

Liberal arts colleges there are reputed for providing a general undergraduate education spanning the humanities and sciences. They are also where picking up life skills like communication, social etiquette and networking are considered as important as building the ability to think creatively, critically and laterally.

What distinguishes these small colleges from large, comprehensive universities is their focus on undergraduate teaching rather than postgraduate work and research, areas into which universities pour a fair bit of resources and work.

Such colleges, which originated in the US, are known for producing well-rounded students, some of whom go on to graduate training in specialised professions like medicine and law.

A liberal arts college will complement the options provided by the larger universities here and add diversity to the tertiary education landscape, said the advisory panel.

Dr Tan said the college will have to be of the highest quality, 'an institution where not only the best Singapore students are attracted to attend, but also the best students from Europe and America'.

The dean of Nanyang Technological University's business school, Professor Hong Hai, echoed his sentiment about Singapore being well positioned to offer such a college in the region.

He told The Straits Times: 'The 21st century is the Asian century. A lot of people from Australia, the US and Western Europe want to come to Asia to take in the culture and to network, and Singapore is seen as a clean and safe place.'

Prof Hong and and two other academics, Linda Lim from the University of Michigan and Pang Eng Fong from Singapore Management University - all of whom have taught in American universities - wrote a feature in The Straits Times in 2004 advocating such a college.

Besides the economic pay-off from having foreign students here, there is also cultural and political mileage with the college an international magnet for students seeking an all-round education, he added.

'We get top students from the region, who may some day be leaders in their own countries. They would have already forged strong links and good will with Singapore,' he explained.

Before the gains can be enjoyed, however, there is the question of the cost of setting up such a college. This will be high because of the low teacher-student ratio, which could be one teacher to each pair of students, said Dr Tan.

Dr Tan estimates an endowment of US$1 billion (S$1.7 billion) will be needed, and hopes for a 'generous soul to give that money'.

Opting for a liberal-arts education is still an unusual move among Singaporeans, though its popularity is growing. Public servant Tan Shin Bin, 22, who went to Wellesley College in Massachusetts on a scholarship in 2003, said she was the only Singaporean there in her first year.

'By the time I graduated last year, there were more than 10 Singaporean students in my college.'

Hi, I've written a blog post titled "Liberal Arts for Liberal Arts' Sake." Thought it would be relevant to post it here.

What disturbed me and prompted me to write this post? Singapore is pursuing a liberal arts college as if it is another business opportunity and approaching starting a school like starting a factory. Education in a liberal arts sense is about seeing more than the business and practical side of things. Education is more than about being best and "first."

You can read the rest by clicking the
link. Thanks.

But you see... Just what is the 'liberal arts' when one speaks of 'for liberal arts' sake'?

As in, insofar as something like 'arts for arts' sake' is difficult to define, we ought to ask ourselves what is it of liberals arts education that we think ought to remain the focus?

It is very easy to start a 'x for x's sake' discussion.

What is not so easy is to pinpoint just:

1) What the govt sees the 'liberal arts' as?
2) What we see ourselves in wanting a liberal arts college, see the 'liberal arts' as?

I have my own 'definitions' so to speak of course.

But I really want to hear yours.

Because I think the whole idea behind the liberal arts in fact answers the question of: 'What is the meaning of life?'

But maybe you disagree. And I'd like to hear your story.

kh

Hi I am Sandra Davie, a journalist from The Straits Times and am currently working on a piece on liberal arts colleges. Am looking for liberal arts college grads who can tell me more about their experiences. Thanks, I can be reached at sandra@sph.com.sg

Sandra,

I happen to read classics in Oxon bfr serious pursuing a career as a researcher. The former was really my passion. The latter was a means to put food on the table. Fortunately, my parents were able to see me through the course as classics isnt really encouraged in SG during my time.

It would be great to share my personal experience with you. As I believe very few ppl realize how similar LA is to hard science.

However we have been told specifically by the chronicler no direct contact should be made without their express permission of the Brotherhood.

I believe things will improve and return to normal again once the National Library Board rolls out the list of the rest of the hundred blogs to be archived.

I so sorry that I cannot help you Sandra. Regs Y

Y,

"we have been told specifically by the chronicler no direct contact should be made without their express permission of the Brotherhood."

This is out of topic. However, I need to make a correction here for the benefit of ALL concerned.

What the Chronicler means is contact (direct e-mail) should ONLY be made via the intranet provisioned in the SLF (single line feed) to the respective read clubs. You can still use the SLF to post in certain blogs that is on our contact list.

The SLF however does NOT have any provision for you to contact anyone outside our approved list.

Y, this does NOT however prevent you from using your own e-mail account either at home or at work to communicate directly with Sandra.

I hope this clarifies matters.

We are currently not in a position to either confirm or deny your last statement Y.

Many thanks. Scholarboy

one of the key features of LACs is that its small and selective intake size makes for interactive learning, active class discussions and up-close interaction/collaboration with professors....the fact that LACs are small and selective means that their students are the academic elites relative to the majority of the population

hence you cannot possibly compare the achievements/wealth ownership rates/PHD numbers with the entire cohort of college grads 70% of which are generally less-academically inclined students from much less selective state unis....if you want to compare, compare it with the OTHER prestigious universities whose students' calibre are on par with LACs....you will find that LACs do not have that distinct an advantage, if they even have at all

the other thing is that to some extent LACs provide less of a "liberal arts education" than some of the major research universities....LACs are relatively smaller, less well-endowed, and have less resources overall, which means that there are less class modules offered and class times are often restricted....There is often only one section or one professor teaching a course, and many courses are only offered every other year or once every three years. It really makes it hard to choose the best possible schedule when the course offerings are limited, so if flexibility is really important to you, be aware that bigger universities may be able to offer many more class times and options.