A Liberal Arts Education

The term “liberal education” is conventionally taken to mean a philosophy of education that empowers individuals, liberates the mind from ignorance, and cultivates social responsibility.  Liberal education is characterized by challenging encounters with important issues, and is more a way of studying than specific content. 

As a liberal arts college, we facilitate close interaction between faculty and students, while grounding our curricula in the liberal arts disciplines: the humanities, social sciences, and sciences.

• Knowledge of human cultures and the physical and natural world, through study in the sciences and mathematics, social sciences, humanities, histories, languages and the arts.
• Intellectual and practical skills, including inquiry and analysis, critical and creative thinking, written and oral communication, quantitative literacy, information literacy, and teamwork and problem solving.
• Personal and social responsibility, including civic knowledge and engagement–local and global, intercultural knowledge and competence, ethical reasoning and action, and foundations and skills for lifelong learning.
• Integrative learning, including synthesis and advanced accomplishment across general and specialized studies.
• Experiential learning, including integration of the academic world and the external world, application of skills to practical challenges, reflection on practical experiences.

Outcomes of a liberal arts education at Earlham:

• skills at collecting and interpreting information and formulating judgments;
• experience and confidence when confronting diverse viewpoints;
• strong written and verbal communication skills;
• excellent leadership potential;
• sensitivity to issues of values, justice and peace; and
• engagement with social responsibility and global citizenship.