Krates' Blog

最近有機會被問起乜叫Liberal Arts (中文又譔博雅教育、通識教育等)，突然語塞，有d內疚因畢竟都接觸咗咁耐，唔緊要，反應唔夠快就將勤補拙啦，冇野係唔可以學嘅，終身學習都係通識精神嘛！從 Wiki 維基或者個名都略知一二，佢係注重通識教育培育通才，同訓練專業如醫生、會計師、工程師等概念相反，據大英百科全書定議：

“college or university curriculum aimed at imparting general knowledge and developing general intellectual capacities, in contrast to a professional, vocational, or technical curriculum”

美國有好多Liberal Arts Colleges，通常都係小規模，注重師生之間的互動及關係，三大長春滕(Ivy League) 大學Harvard, Yale and Princeton 就好多人知，Liberal Arts也有「三小長春滕」，就係Amherst College, Wesleyan University and Williams College，佢地通常都會以小班教學為主(<30人)方便互動討論。通識教育係一個世界大趨勢，香港中學新高中課程都有一科Liberal Studies，大學為應付334新學制都已經有新degree structure加入大量通識科目。

維基 quote咗一本書的作者寫點解通識咁重要：

“In a complex, shifting world, it is essential to develop a high degree of intellectual literacy and critical-thinking skills, a sense of moral and ethical responsibility to one’s community, the ability to reason clearly, to think rationally, to analyze information intelligently, to respond to people in a compassionate and fair way, to continue learning new information and concepts over a lifetime, to appreciate and gain pleasure from the beauty of the arts and literature and to use these as an inspiration and a solace when needed, to revert to our historical past for lessons that will help shape the future intelligently and avoid unnecessary mistakes, to create a sense of self-esteem that comes from personal accomplishments and challenges met with success.”

我會喺呢道再寫多d關於General Education (GE)嘅野，留意！