A Case Study Of Liberal Education In American World-class Universities

Liberal education is the core of Western higher education and the cultural capital of American universities.Since the 20 th century,the development of Liberal education in American universities has been in the leading position in the world,so it is worthy of in-depth study and reference.Based on the advance and typical of Liberal education in American universities,this study takes three representative first-class universities in the United States as case studies.It select Harvard University as the classical university representatives,the University of Chicago as the young university representatives,and Massachusetts Institute of Technology as the the University of Engineering representatives.In order to provide some inspiration for the development of Liberal education and the establishment of world-class universities in China,this study adopts case study method,comparative study method,and literature analysis method to explore the common features and characteristics of the development of Liberal education in the first-class universities in America.This study found that,based on the inheritance and transcendence of traditional liberal education,liberal education in American universities has gone through four stages: inheriting classical,local integration,moving towards generalization,and diversified development.During thisperiod,liberal education runs through all the historical periods of American university education development and is accompanied by the development of universities.The characteristics of the development of liberal education in American universities are different in the four specific implementation levels of university training objectives,subject settings,training models and school governance.The common characteristics of the development of liberal education are mainly reflected in three aspects:first,the pursuit of rationality.No matter in university governance,academic development or talent training,American universities have always implemented a rational soul in it,and therefor strengthened the foundation of university development.Second,stress tolerance.The tolerance of American universities is reflected in the tolerance of university ideas and the university's cultural environment.Because of the two dimensions of tolerance,there is ample room for the rational development of American universities.Third,timely innovation.In the rapid development of the times,adhering to the tradition does not mean universities should never changes.Instead of sticking to the tradition and waiting for the overthrow of external forces,American universities always choose to seek a balance point with the development of the times and tradition through their innovations at the conceptual level and institutional level.Through the case analysis of liberal education in first-classuniversities in the United States,this study puts forward the following suggestions for the construction of first-class universities in China: in the construction of university concepts,strengthen the emphasis on liberal education,liberal the rational spirit of universities;in the governance of university,construct a democratic and efficient governance system,adhere to the academic standard of university governance,and defend academic freedom of scholars;in terms of university education,clarify the university's own development orientation,refine the university's school characteristics,and strive to create "Chinese characteristics,world-class".