The liberal arts connection

Occupational therapists need to be critical of who teaches, what is taught, how it is taught, how it is applied, and to whom it is taught in the entire education program of prospective occupational therapists. Further, I recommend that occupational therapy educators on campus take the lead in initiating meetings and discussions that facilitate a functional conjoining of occupational therapy practice, occupational therapy theory, and liberal arts studies. An initial effort in this regard might be for the three mutually interdependent and equal partners in the education of occupational therapy students to read and discuss Ernest L. Boyer's work entitled, A Quest for Common Learning--The Aims of General Education. I believe that all occupational therapists would benefit from reading this text, individually and collectively, and the profession and our community would benefit. The question is not whether or not this subject should be incorporated into an occupational therapy student's curriculum. The question for discussion should be at what point in the student's education--the student's intellectual growth and development and professionalization--would this topic and this treatment be best applied? Perhaps from this beginning the three partners--practice, theory, and liberal arts--would recognize and respond to their mutually interdependent and equally important role and responsibility in the design and implementation of the entire occupational therapy educational program, which is future responsive and ensures the highest probability that graduates will be professionally competent.