General Education was born out of a desire to retain a spirit of the classics-based curriculum that dominated American institutions of higher education through the 19th century.
- General Education was born out of a desire to retain a spirit of the classics-based curriculum that dominated American institutions of higher education through the 19th century.
- This traditional liberal arts curriculum included rhetoric, philosophy, and foreign languages.
- However, as the industrial revolution also encouraged a rise in the middle class, there was a shift toward a more practical curriculum in the 19th and early 20th centuries, with emphasis on preparing students for the modern work world and the emergence of professional schools for medicine, law, and business.
- The concept of Formal Education, which describes the learning of academic facts and concepts through a formal curriculum, was aligned with this classical education but adapted over time to be accessible to a broader population and focused on giving students the skills they need for social and civic responsibilities.