This paper briefly outlines one of the central philosophical
and ethical conflicts existing within North America’s corporatist
society: the role of academia in developing ethical
corporate leaders. It looks at why that conflict has been
resolved as it has, and how resolution has produced an
educational system increasingly devoted more to the
training of employable entry-level workers than producing
a liberally-educated, knowledgeable, and thinking
citizenry. At the post-secondary level, schools of business
and management have been especially impacted by the
systematic turn away from the traditional role of institutions
of “higher learning”. This paper is a call for the establishment
of a substantial and focused liberal education
component in the curricula of undergraduate business
programs, a component designed specifically to produce
graduates with the capacity to develop into thoughtful
and thinking leaders as well as efficient and profitgenerating
managers.