{"id":935,"date":"2009-04-11T07:13:01","date_gmt":"2009-04-11T12:13:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/?p=935"},"modified":"2009-04-11T07:30:34","modified_gmt":"2009-04-11T12:30:34","slug":"can-liberal-education-save-the-business-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/2009\/04\/11\/can-liberal-education-save-the-business-school\/","title":{"rendered":"Can Liberal Education Save the Business School?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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This is the second installment of a series on business schools. \u00a0The first was\u00a0Are Business Schools to Blame (4\/7)?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Does the business school need saving? \u00a0Its “soul”? \u00a0Is there a crisis brewing where there is no faith in business knowledge or are the current economic times the result of periodic blips or a few rogue players who aren’t following the “rules”? \u00a0It depends on who you talk to. \u00a0I believe the business school is here to stay, but the challenges for competing business schools will be ones of legitimacy in the eyes of the public and relevance in an increasingly global higher education\u00a0market. \u00a0<\/p>\n

In January, Tom Ehrlich<\/a><\/strong> offered a commentary on business education entitled The Business of Business Education is More than Business<\/a><\/strong>. \u00a0Ehrlich makes this keen observation::<\/p>\n

“The application of critical analysis and good judgment to economic issues is important for all students, but surely it is essential for students majoring in business. Business leaders need to understand the historical, cultural, scientific, organizational, and political contexts of their domain, and these are best gained through liberal education. This need raises for us a question: to what extent are undergraduates majoring in business on campuses across the country gaining these and the other attributes of a strong liberal education?”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I’m all for liberal education infused in the business curriculum, but my vision is less about checkboxes of general education requirements and more about integrating or bridging the liberal arts into the curriculum. \u00a0<\/p>\n

“One point to consider is that, for the most part, business curricula have not ’embedded’ liberal arts into the student’s program of study, but rather have isolated it, by separating it from the business education process.”<\/p>\n

–Chew & McInnis-Bowers (2004), “Blending liberal arts & business education”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I think one of the ways that higher education provides value is helping students connect concepts and synthesize knowledge, but my experience is that it takes quite a bit of work to truly incorporate the liberal arts and social sciences into syllabi, let alone curriculae. \u00a0I’m talking about the epistemology of business<\/a><\/strong>. \u00a0Countering the received-view is no mean feat. \u00a0Given my own liberal education {along with 3 business degrees}, I can draw upon Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions<\/strong><\/a><\/em>. \u00a0Some may argue that the received views of business and business education are fine. \u00a0There is no crisis<\/em> at hand, in Kuhnian terms, leading to “revolutionary science”.*<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Why fix what ain’t broke? \u00a0Well, that’s one way to go.<\/p>\n

The fact of the matter is that the problems\/issues of the financial sector have been in the news for a decade in mainstream sources like PBS Frontline.<\/p>\n