An Anti-traditional Tradition: The American Idea of Liberal Education

The American idea of liberal education does not have a consistent thread running through it. The tradition of liberal education pioneered by Thomas Jefferson emphasized liberal learning and the diffusion of knowledge, but its object was still elite education. However, the inheritance of its core ideas of "freedom of speech and useful skills" led to sustained "antitraditional" changes in American thinking about liberal education. Targeting the excesses of American business culture, Ralph Waldo Emerson proposed focusing on reflection and experiential learning, injecting new life into the anti-traditional tradition. American liberal education is still making necessary adjustments to the latest trends of our new era, and will continue to do so.