General Catalog - John F. Kennedy University

The School of Education and Liberal Arts provides a rich learning environmentwhere motivated, creative students and faculty collaborate in a spirit of inquiry,dialogue, and service. The faculty believes that education at its best encouragesimagination and innovation while grounding students in the diverse cultural traditions thathave formed contemporary life.School of Educationand Liberal ArtsThe school is governed by the premise that a liberal arts education is defined not by subjectmatter but by ways of teaching and learning. Educator Mortimer Adler once commentedthat carpentry and chemistry would be liberal arts subjects if they were taught in ways thatencouraged discovery by students, and that English and philosophy would not be liberal artssubjects if they were taught as facts to be memorized.Educational theorist Paulo Freire called education “the practice of freedom.” InPedagogy of the Oppressed, he wrote: “Education must begin with the solution of the teacher-studentcontradiction, by reconciling the poles of the contradiction so that both aresimultaneously teachers and students.”In problem-solving education, students and teachers develop their power to perceivecritically the way they exist in the world in which they find themselves; they come to see theworld not as a static reality, but as a reality in process and transformation. The liberal artsdo not exist in an ivory tower. Students and faculty live in the world and engage the problemsof the world. The school’s curricula explore the fundamental questions of our time: Howcan we learn to live with individual integrity—and live respectfully together as families andcommunities? How do we share opportunities and challenges among races, genders, sexualorientations, and socioeconomic groups? How do we find a balance between the humancommunity and the natural environment? How do we run our institutions, schools, andmuseums to serve their communities? How do we create our future?The three departments in the School of Education and Liberal Arts—liberal arts, education,and museum studies—are each concerned with a distinct area of inquiry. Theyare also united in a common educational philosophy: they are interdisciplinary—acknowledging and building upon the interconnections among traditional fields ofstudy. The mission of our programs is to prepare students to become lifelong learners,inspiring leaders, and thoughtful collaborators in their chosen field of work and valuablecontributors to their communities. We aim particularly to cultivate in our students thecapacity to think critically and creatively, communicate effectively, engage in meaningful selfreflection,appreciate multiple perspectives, embrace diversity, and act with purpose andvision in the world at large.