Liberal education

After doing the readings in class I am starting to get a new idea of what a liberal education is.  Before I did the readings I really did not know much about a liberal education.  I originally thought that a liberal education was more along the lines of liberal arts. I had this believe that to be liberal educated meant you got a degree in a liberal arts field and had taken course in many different subjects as well so that you were a more rounded learner.  These reading have taught me that my idea of a liberal education was even close to what a liberal education truly is.  According to Giamatti a liberal education is the the study of something for its own benefits and not because you want to get an a on a test or a good job later on in life.  To me a liberal education is a little bit more than just how Giamatti states it.  I personal feel that to be truly liberally educated you no not have to have a love for learning but rather you must want to learn because it is want you are truly passionate about. I feel that i had been a liberal educated student in certain subjects and in other class have just got a normal education.  In history I have always study extra not because i want to be the top student or even get an A on the test ( i usually did though) i study extra because i loved study history and want to learn as much as i could about the topic.  At Wartburg i feel that there are some classes that push a liberal education while others just educate you almost as though you are in a factory.  I think that Wartburg tries to liberally educate its students but it is so hard to actually make students be liberal educated.  the first problem is as hard as the college and professors try the students are the ones that decided if they are going to be liberal educated.  if the student wants to be educated in a open minded fashion than it is really easy to educate them liberal because they want it.  on the other hand if they only want to go through college to get a degree than there is no way you are truly going to be able to liberally educate those students.  i feel that the best way to go through life is to try to be a liberal learner because you will be able to learn things better and fast because you want to learn them not because you feel you have to.