Professor Joseph Scott Lee is the founder and executive director of the Association for Core Texts and Courses (ACTC) in the United States. Due to his outstanding achievement in the field of liberal education teaching and research, he has received both the Violet Ketels Award and Joseph Katz Award.

On the morning of April 2, 2018, Professor J. Scott Lee gave an academic lecture entitled Core Texts and Core Text Liberal Education in the Institute of Education. This lecture was hosted by Prof Shi Qiuheng. Prof. Pan Maoyuan, Prof. Bie Dunrong, Prof. Zhang Yaqun as well as many other professors, doctoral and master’s students attended this lecture.

At the beginning, Professor Scott expressed his thanks to both the Institute of Education at Xiamen University and Prof. Zhang Yaqun who invited him for this opportunity to speak. He mainly focused on the concepts, sources and characteristics of core text and core text liberal education. He also gave an account of the development of Core Text Liberal Education in American Universities. Firstly, Professor Scott pointed out that the concept of core text and liberal education was originated from Great Books and Great Books Liberal Education. He emphasized that East and West have different traditions and both have their own “great books”. Then, he analyzed three sources of core texts, namely, significant human achievements, important human achievements selected by readers over time, and a rich pluralism of canons provided by educational institutions. Then, based on his many years of research, Professor Scott summed up seven qualities of core texts: core text should be primary, basic and original; able to meet the intellectual needs of the world classic; should go far and promote the unification of academic institutions, and recognition of staff and students, to name a few.

This lecture brought a lively discussion among teachers and students. Prof. Bie Dunrong and doctoral students Zhang Chunkun, Huang Fang, Ruan Qinqin etc. respectively had in-depth communication with Professor Scott on topics of interests. In the end, Mr. Pan Maoyuan fully affirmed the value of this lecture and believed that the lecture was inspiring in many aspects, especially the similarities and differences between East and West as well as pluralism in the world emphasized by Professor Scott, which is in line with the call for inclusiveness and tolerance advocated by UNESCO. With enthusiastic applause from teachers and students, the whole lecture came to the end successfully.

（Translator: Zhang Xuwen）