Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs (SACPA)

Liberal Education is rooted in an approach to learning that empowers individuals and prepares them to deal with complexity, diversity, and change. It provides students with broad knowledge of the wider world (e.g. science, culture, and society) as well as in-depth study in a specific area of interest. The philosophy of Liberal Education traces back to the Classical Era of the ancient Greeks and Romans, who developed a logical and systematic approach to looking at the world around us, and an education system to produce informed leaders who would engage in the running of their city-states. Thinkers like Thucydides and Plato discussed politics, forms of government, and civic engagement. These ideas came to life again with the flourishing of the scientific approach in the late 1600s, and on into The Enlightenment or Age of Reason, as thinkers explored politics, economics, government and social systems. Questions about the relationship of a liberal education to citizenship, are questions with a long history in