Citizenship has been a very interesting course to take here at UNE. I have a very open, quasi-Marxist view on societies and citizenship within societies, and I believe the liberal education model supports this. Liberal education provides robust, well round education with variety in learning styles and topics, encouraging students to explore their passions while still maintaining a varied and multifaceted education.

Every modern democracy is also a society in which people differ greatly along many parameters, including religion, ethnicity, wealth and class, physical impairment, gender, and sexuality, and in which all voters are making choices that have a major impact on the lives of people who differ from themselves.

Martha C. Nussbaum, Not for Profit : Why Democracy Needs the Humanities – Updated Edition

This quote from Nussbuam is the perfect example of why I believe in liberal education and the cohesion of sciences, mathematics, humanities, and all other courses that don’t fit neatly into one of those categories. An education that takes in all different perspectives of the world is an education that prepares its students to be compassionate, active members of their society; in essence, good citizens of their community. There should be emphasis on all forms of contribution, whether it be someone who dedicates time to prosthetic limb research or someone who routinely gardens community land or a kindergarten teacher. In my opinion, a liberal education is an excellent pathway to encourage citizens to think this way and apply these beliefs to their communities.