I was invited to speak because PKU-Shenzhen has decided to start an undergraduate liberal arts college and I've been making the case over the last several years for a pragmatic liberal education. This is a fragile time for liberal education, making commitment to it all the more urgent. It was a propitious moment for Dewey to advocate for a broad, liberal education to prepare the Chinese to be informed, productive members of society. If we are to prepare the soil for the more effective cultivation of pragmatic liberal education, we will need the nutrients of creative individuality, cosmopolitanism and community. Now, at this fragile time and on both sides of the Pacific, pragmatic liberal education matters more than ever.

Source: Huffington Post January 14, 2017 18:20 UTC