This week I made a quick trip to Hong Kong and Shenzhen to meet with Wesleyan folks and to give a lecture on liberal education in these challenging times. Peking University was celebrating its 15th anniversary of operating a graduate campus in Shenzhen, a young, innovative city just a couple of hours drive north of Hong Kong. As a way of marking this occasion, PKU officials are developing a liberal arts undergraduate program, and they asked me to talk about Wesleyan and pragmatic liberal education today. I met with a few dozen Wes folks first in Hong Kong, with lots of help from Carmen Cheung ’05.
In Shenzhen I met many researchers and university officials from campuses around the world, but the great thrill was meeting Xinyue, who was just accepted in ED to join the class 0f 2021. She even had Wesleyan gear! I also had the chance to meet the parents of Milia Chen ’20 (and her guidance counselor). That was also a lovely surprise.
Once I get past the jet lag, I’ll write up the Pragmatic Liberal Education in an Age of Populist Parochialism. The title gives some idea of the themes….
