It is the objective of liberal education to create a deep sense of association and close affiliation between an individual and society. When a society declines, the first sign of decline is the decline in morality. It occurs when an individual loses all of his concern in the society and becomes detached from its wellbeing.
History shows that there is no end to decline; it’s more like a bottomless black hole!
I would like to quote an example from history here; in 14th century, the Italian states were facing severe governing problems. There was economic crisis and the political downfall made the lives of people miserable. From time to time the area faced a severe epidemic which wiped out large number of populations. The Italian intellectuals decided to revolutionize the society by reconstructing it on the basis of new ideas and thoughts. It was not merely the revitalization of ancient Greek and Roman culture; creative ideas were produced to liberate the society from the grip of medieval ideology and transform it into a modern progressive one. They introduced a new educational system. A new set subjects were introduced which were; moral philosophy, rhetoric, grammar, logic, history and classical literature. They called it “humanities”. These subjects broadened the outlook and created the inquisitiveness to learn more in order to understand the society and its tribulations.
Poverty pushes people to either kill or rob. Religion, instead of uniting people, is dividing people on the basis of sects. Attempts to bring peace by force have also resulted in failure. We know that our educational system is obsolete and is not producing responsible citizens. If we want to change the society and arrest its decline, there is a need to introduce liberal education. Our educational system should be liberated from the shackles of ideology and include philosophy, history, literature, sociology, anthropology and psychology.
If citizens irrespective of their class and creed are educated, they would not only change the society but make it peaceful and prosperous!