Arts and Sciences vs. Oxford

bernie12
Mon, 15 Aug 2011 14:32:20 +0000

Actually, I wouldn’t say that. That isn’t completely true. Does Oxford have a heavier, more innovative liberal arts emphasis? Yes, but I feel that both employ it as an approach. What do you think CAS is? It’s a liberal arts entity. A place with so many darned interdisciplinary programs and initiatives can’t go w/o being considered liberal arts intensive to a large degree (do you see many non-liberal arts oriented places doing things like having Tibetan monks study science at the institution?). The liberal arts emphasis even reflects in the sciences to some degree even though, again, we’re not as huge about inquiry-based or service based. Such a heavy emphasis on that is something kind of unique to Oxford (some Emory profs. are trying, but they don’t comprise the majority yet. They merely perhaps comprise, more than the normal CAS w/in a research U). I wouldn’t even consider Oxford a normal LAC.

That’s kind of like saying: Swarthmore is liberal arts intensive but Chicago isn’t. Just because one does it differently or has more of it doesn’t mean the other isn’t qualified to claim itself to be LA intensive. In these cases, the bar is set high. One falls short, but could still claim to be pretty good to excellent at doing the same. The other is merely “more excellent”