Wesleyan University President Michael Roth Speaks to Educators at Greenhill

Greenhill welcomed Wesleyan University President Michael Roth to campus on Thursday, October 9, for a lively discussion about his new book, “Beyond the University: Why Liberal Education Matters.”In a room filled with leading educators from across the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Roth shared insights that he gained throughout the process of researching his book. He started by exploring the historical tension between education’s role as a means of having students conform to fit specific roles in society, versus its role a liberator, as a means to achieve freedom for the disadvantaged.He also touched on philosopher and education-reformer John Dewey’s insight that education may lead to independence and self-reliance, but that we are an interdependent society and that we must learn how to interact with one another as well. Roth acknowledged that he believed that an important role of education is to empower students to learn how to effect change in school and community settings, and that due to departmental silos and the individualized nature of evaluation and grading, higher education had not done a particularly good job of that until recently.In closing, Roth shared that the broad education with skill building, or “intellectual cross-training,” which a liberal education offers, is critical to ensure that our students will succeed in a rapidly changing world.“The argument against a purely utilitarian and self-interested form of education is a nuanced one that is hard to convey in our age of small sound bites and he’s done a masterful job,” said Greenhill Head of Upper School Laura Ross. “It was such a privilege to have President Roth come to Greenhill to speak to us. It helped to reinforce for me, and for most of us in the room, that the critical thinking skills and the connections across subjects that we so actively cultivate at Greenhill will benefit our students in college, and in their roles as members of an interdependent world.”