布莱恩·克拉克(Brian Clarke)教授自2018年9月起担任UIC文化与创意学部院长。克拉克教授是英国皇家化学学会院士、特许化学家，也是有名的大提琴演奏家和乐团指挥。自1970年代中期开始，克拉克教授在英国和亚洲多所高等院校担任教学和高级管理职务。（更多详情可点击《是化学家也是音乐家，UIC来了位跨界院长》）

布莱恩·克拉克教授年轻时主要学习理科课程，很少关注人文科目。随着人生阅历变得丰富，他对博雅教育有了更成熟的看法。

尽管一直以事业为重，但克拉克教授认为生活经历给他带来了额外的人生价值。除了化学家身份，音乐家和教育工作者也是他的基本角色。旅行、艺术、文学等虽不是他接受过的正规教育的内容，却是他生活中很重要的部分，是更广泛意义上的教育。

克拉克教授感叹当初的学校教育缺少人文元素，令他缺乏增长经历、拓宽视野的机会，反倒是下课后、午餐时或是周末音乐会提供了这些机会。作为社会的一员，人们需要跨学科知识、融会贯通的技巧和创新的才能，而博雅教育能培养这样的人才。

克拉克教授还表示，中西方的博雅教育有相似之处。周朝时，中国学生必须掌握“六艺”（即礼、乐、射、御、书、数），这跟西方的“文艺复兴人”（即文艺复兴时期具有广博知识和多种技能的人）不谋而合。UIC有着独一无二的教育视野和使命，很好地将中西方的博雅教育理念结合了起来。（编译：吴玉棠）

When invited to write this article, I decided to make the view a very personal one and not delve into current and previous definitions of ‘Liberal Arts’. I wanted to reflect upon my education and measure it against my perception of liberal arts education – I decided that it did not in any way reflect my view.

If I had been asked about liberal arts education 40 years ago, I would have probably been very dismissive; my education focused on the hard-edged physics, chemistry and mathematics curriculum during my later years in school and at university. At that stage in my life, the focus was on family, career, making an impression and, of course, promotion. However, age and hindsight has certainly mellowed my view.

Looking back over my career, I sense that even though my priorities were career focused, the ‘added value’ to my life arose from not only elements of my career, but other experiences and skills that I was developing as a part of living and working. Having parallel careers of musician and teacher were fundamentally significant in the quality of my life. Travelling, discovering art, literature and the experience of working with colleagues and particularly young people, in a creative and entrepreneurial environment, were elements which became increasingly significant. Those elements were never a part of my learning curve in formal education, however they have become key factors in my broader education.

To be analytical, I asked myself what was missing in my formal education – well, simply the formal opportunity to broaden my educational experience, become less self-centred and expand horizons. There was no opportunity to have any element of ‘liberal arts’ education. Music opportunities to play were confined to sneaking out of lessons, lunch breaks or weekend gigs. The one exception being the annual school concert when there was a three-line whip freeing up all musicians from their academic timetable, much to the chagrin of the teachers!  The terms interdisciplinary knowledge, transferable skillsand innovative power were a distant glimmer being a member of society and being employable. Thank goodness, most schools and universities have now changed to embrace those broader skills.

In fairness to my school, the focus was on academic success, rather than creating ‘a rounded person’. In that measure of success, it was very successful, but did it benefit most of the school population? I remember my disbelief, that as a science student in school, I was required to study ‘use of English’ as a subject, whereas the arts students were considered sufficiently broadly educated as not to need even a basic knowledge of science and maths! This experience was entirely analogous at University, where the ultimate measure was not employability, but academic success. 

It was at this point in the writing process, that I thought I needed to consult and determine how others defined ‘liberal arts education’. This is in no way an academic analysis but serves as the basis of my subsequent thoughts.

It is interesting to compare the different approaches of East and West. (Not to be accused of plagiarism, I must acknowledge the use of Wikipedia in this part of my article) It seems that during the Zhou Dynasty (1122–256 BCE), students were required to master the "liù yì" (六艺) (Six Arts): Rites (礼), Music (乐), Archery (射), Charioteering (御), Calligraphy (书), Mathematics (数). Men who excelled in these six arts were thought to have reached the state of perfection, the perfect gentleman. The requirement of students to master the six arts parallels the Western concept of the Renaissance man (a cultured man who was knowledgeable, educated, or proficient in a wide range of fields).

Philosophia et septem artes liberales, the seven liberal arts. From the Hortus deliciarum of Herrad of Landsberg (12th century)

西方中世纪博雅教育——人文七艺

In Western medieval societies, liberal arts was the term given to an education based on classical antiquity. It was meant to be a practical education which developed mental capacity. It was designed in the late medieval period (12th/13th centuries) using ideas from Ancient Greek and Roman culture. The students were meant to be young gentlemen from respectable and important families. In medieval Europe the seven liberal arts were grammar, rhetoric, and logic (the trivium) and geometry, arithmetic, music, and astronomy (the quadrivium). Innovators and polymaths, for example, Da Vinci were considered the embodiment of this culture and became know by the 20th century term ‘Renaissance man’. The idea of a universal education was essential to achieving polymath ability, hence the word university was used to describe a seat of learning. 

UIC with its unique vision and mission of advancing the internationalization of Chinese higher education is taking the lead in implementing liberal arts education in China. Clearly evident is how it embraces both the Western and Eastern concepts of liberal arts education. 

Returning to my original thoughts, I wonder how differently my career would have fared had I the privilege to study at UIC?

本文刊载于《博雅行》第七期，

欢迎在校园取阅点“拿一份”！

文字 | Brian Clarke

编译 | 吴玉棠（MPRO）

图片 | 冯莹莹（U新社）何锭（MPRO）部分照片由受访者提供

编辑 | 杨炜民（MPRO）

来源 | 新闻公关处