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Creating The Capable Public: A Call For Liberal Arts Education In Public Schools, Olivia R. Keithley
Creating The Capable Public: A Call For Liberal Arts Education In Public Schools, Olivia R. Keithley
Educational Studies Honors Papers
I argue that liberal arts education is critically important to the creation of a capable public in a democratic society. I draw on David Labaree and Henry Giroux to assert that education is a public good and must serve the purpose of promoting democratic equality. By promoting democratic equality, public education is capable of creating publicly minded citizens. Publicly minded citizens of a democracy must also be free-thinking. Liberal arts education has at its core the aim of creating individuals who are able to think freely and autonomously. In a democratic society where freethinking citizens are necessary in order to …