What does “liberal arts” mean?

What does “liberal arts” mean?

When I arrived at Macalester nearly three decades ago, I had just finished my Ph.D. in Canada and was crossing the border to take up a job in political science. I thought I knew what universities were for. What I didn’t understand — at all, really — was what an American liberal arts college was supposed to be, or what people meant by the liberal arts.  The phrase ‘liberal arts’ didn’t mean much to me. It sounded vague, a bit ornamental, like the…