Educating American Citizens? Food for Thought

"How can we educate American citizens who do take seriously the reality of lives outside America, and who think of political events accordingly? Citizens who are not simply Americans, but citizens of the entire world, committed to both compassion and justice for the millions who suffer, not only from war, but from daily preventable tragedies such as malnutrition and disease? A child born in the U.S. today has life expectancy at birth of 78.6 years. A child born in Sierra Leone has life expectancy at birth of 38 years. In approximately one third of the world's nations, less than 50% of women can read and write. How can we educate American citizens who think responsibly about such problems, and America's role in forming a world community to work on their solution? And what role does our tradition of education at the college and university level play in this process of forming imaginative and compassionate world citizens?" (I wish I said that. After I read the whole speech, I might even want to be Marth Nussbaum.)

This is quoted from a speech entitled "Liberal Education and Global Responsibility" by Martha Nussbaum, Professof Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago. She talked about "jolting the imagination out of its complacency, and getting it to take seriously the reality of lives at a distance." These quotes are embedded in a large discussion of the essential features of liberal arts and higher education in general: critical thinking, world citizenry, and empathy born out of the narrative imagination. I promise I will only be this philosophical every February 29.