Skip to main content

General Education as the Nexus between the Liberal Arts and Leadership Studies

  • Chapter
Leadership and the Liberal Arts

Part of the book series: Jepson Studies in Leadership ((JSL))

Abstract

In the past two decades, leadership studies programs have fought to win an intellectual space in American higher education. Faculty have labored, at times alone, on college/university campuses to plant the “leadership seed.” Within liberal arts institutions, the challenge has been even fiercer. The false dichotomy between the two sides seemingly suggests fundamental incompatibilities—one (leadership development) suggesting a utilitarian approach, the other focusing on the creative imagination of the human spirit.1 In reality, the acceleration of globalization promises to bring about a convergence between the liberal arts and leadership studies. For many institutions, a general-education curriculum can actually serve as the nexus between the two camps.2

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 89.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Notes

  1. This false dichotomy between “practical” and “liberal” education has become even more pronounced with the advent of globalization; see Grant H. Cornwell and Eve Walsh Stoddard, “The Future of Liberal Education and the Hegemony of Market Values,” Liberal Education 87, no. 3 (Summer 2001): 6–16

    Google Scholar 

  2. For an overview of the leadership literature and its many debates, see Joseph Rost, Leadership for the 21st Century (New York: Praeger, 1991).

    Google Scholar 

  3. Thomas L. Friedman, The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century (New York: Picador, 2007).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Eddie Shapiro and Debbie Shapiro, eds., The Way Ahead: A Visionary Perspective for the New Millennium (Shaftesbury, Dorset [England]: Element, 1992)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Akira Iriye, Global Community: The Role of International Organizations in the Making of the Contemporary World (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002).

    Google Scholar 

  6. Dennis C. Roberts, ed., Student Leadership Programs in Higher Education (Carbondale: American College Personnel Association, 1981).

    Google Scholar 

  7. William Damon, The Path to Purpose: Helping Our Children Find Their Calling in Life (New York: Free Press, 2008).

    Google Scholar 

  8. Robert E. Hiedemann, ed., The American Future and the Humane Tradition: The Role of the Humanities in Higher Education (New York: Associated Faculty Press, 1982)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Mary Allen, Assessing General Education Programs (Boston: Anker, 2006).

    Google Scholar 

  10. R. Thomas Simone, Reclaiming the Humanities: The Roots of Self-Knowledge in the Greek and Biblical Worlds (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1986)

    Google Scholar 

  11. Moses Hadas, Humanism: The Greek Ideal and Its Survival (New York: Harper, 1960).

    Google Scholar 

  12. Cicero is probably the most cited humanist of the period with his training program for orators. See Donald G. Tannenbaum and David Schultz, Inventors of Ideas: An Introduction to Western Political Philosophy (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1998).

    Google Scholar 

  13. Charles Trinkaus, The Scope of Renaissance Humanism (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1983)

    Google Scholar 

  14. Jack D’amico, Knowledge and Power in the Renaissance (Washington: University Press of America, 1977).

    Google Scholar 

  15. David Harrison Stevens, The Changing Humanities: An Appraisal of Old Values and New Uses (Freeport: Books for Libraries Press, 1970).

    Google Scholar 

  16. Christopher Newfield, “Criticism and cultural knowledge,” Poetics Today 19, no. 3 (Fall 1998): 424–438.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. T. H. Adamowski, “Radical Ingratitude: Mass-man and the Humanities,” University of Toronto Quarterly 63 (Spring 1994): 381–407

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. L. Robert Stevens, G. L. Seligmann, and Julian Long, eds., The Core and the Canon: A National Debate (Denton: University of North Texas Press, 1993).

    Google Scholar 

  19. Patrick Fuery, Cultural Studies and the New Humanities: Concepts and Controversies (Melbourne, NY: Oxford University Press, 1997).

    Google Scholar 

  20. Richard Paul Janaro, The Art of Being Human: Humanities as a Technique for Living (New York: Harper and Row, 1979).

    Google Scholar 

  21. Keith Grint, The Arts of Leadership (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000).

    Google Scholar 

  22. Rick Rylance and Judy Simons, “The Really Useful Company, Employment and the Humanities,” Critical Quarterly 43, no. 1 (Spring 2001): 73–78

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. William Casement, “Liberal Learning Needs a New Public Relations Campaign,” Midwest Quarterly 41, no. 1 (Fall 1999): 88–106.

    Google Scholar 

  24. For a complete text of The Prince, see Alistair McAlpine, ed., The Ruthless Leader: Three Classics of Strategy and Power (New York: Wiley, 2000)

    Google Scholar 

  25. Steven M. Cahn, ed., Classics of Political and Moral Philosophy (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002).

    Google Scholar 

  26. Amélie Oksenberg, ed., The Many Faces of Evil: Historical Perspectives (New York: Routledge, 2001).

    Google Scholar 

  27. Mary Keys, Aquinas, Aristotle, and the Promise of the Common Good (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007).

    Google Scholar 

  28. Lewis Vaughn, The Power of Critical Thinking: Effective Reasoning about Ordinary and Extraordinary Claims (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005).

    Google Scholar 

  29. Troy Jollimore and Sharon Barrios, “Creating Cosmopolitans: The Case for Literature,” Studies in Philosophy & Education 25, no. 5 (September 2006): 363–383.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors

Editor information

J. Thomas Wren Ronald E. Riggio Michael A. Genovese

Copyright information

© 2009 J. Thomas Wren, Ronald E. Riggio, and Michael A. Genovese

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Perruci, G. (2009). General Education as the Nexus between the Liberal Arts and Leadership Studies. In: Wren, J.T., Riggio, R.E., Genovese, M.A. (eds) Leadership and the Liberal Arts. Jepson Studies in Leadership. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230620148_5

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics