...The Bright Side of a Liberal Arts Education Now that I am in college, I have pondered upon whether a liberal arts education is better than a vocational education; a topic that did not cross my mind in high school. A liberal arts curriculum includes the studies intended to primarily provide general knowledge such as language, philosophy, literature, and abstract science and to develop general intellectual capacities, such as reason and judgment, as opposed to professional or vocational skills (merriam-webster.com). As students wanting to achieve a higher education, we have to think about what we want for ourselves. Either you want to grow as an individual and obtain a major in whichever field you chose, or just learn what best interests you. People have many misconceptions toward what the liberal arts are and how they can benefit you. We often hear things like, “A liberal arts degree will not get you a real job.” or “A liberal arts degree is a luxury not a necessity.” Although this is what the majority of the people who are not aware about the actual facts say, this is not true. An examination of, The New Liberal Arts by author Sanford J. Ungar, and Are Too Many People Going to College? by author Charles Murray, will reveal to us why one gains more knowledge at a liberal arts school. Murray argues that a liberal arts education is only for the elite, but I believe that they shouldn't be the only ones to attend because my vision of a liberal arts college is one where all students...
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...As Arthur Holmes asks questions pertaining to liberal arts education, he asks “What can it do to me?” A liberal arts college has many positive aspects with few downfalls. I believe that a liberal arts college can be very key to into shaping a person because it is beneficial for multiple reasons, it should prepare one for the future, and one gets out of it what they put into it. First, a liberal arts education is extremely beneficial to ones collegiate experience for multiple reasons. Many state colleges and universities focus on the student getting the degree the student has selected as a major in the shortest possible time with all the courses being driven solely for the degree. With fewer students in a class, the student to teacher ratio...
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...LIBERAL ARTS BREADTH AND MY EDUCATION 3 Liberal Arts Breadth and My Education There are many benefits to getting a Liberal Arts degree in today’s economic market. It is a message to your employer that you are willing to take on new information, and learn more then what is necessary to succeed. It shows initiative and the ability to expand your horizons beyond yourself. In a Liberal Arts education there is more purpose then just learning the career field of choice. It is a program that teaches critical thinking and self-thought. It teaches the student how to learn and teach themselves, to achieve more than just memorization of facts. In the Ottawa University Liberal Arts degree they have four breadth areas that are required for completion of their program. The breadth areas are as follows: Art/Expression, Social/Civic, Science/Description and Value/Meaning. Art/Expression According, to the official curriculum laid out by the school this category is that is highly concentrated in being capable of expressing self through art or speech. It spans from painting, to music, dance, language and communication. The manual’s description is, “how we express ourselves in spoken and written communication and the arts, looking at strengths, experiences, and new opportunities for challenge and growth.” Like, most people art has always been a part of my life. It followed me through my elementary school years to high school. I took ceramics, painting and woodworking 1, 2, 3, and 4 though...
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...Liberal Arts education and a changing time Today, an education is deemed necessary to get a good paying job, at least that is what our parents told us growing up. Although, our parents failed to mention the most important part, an education is more than going to school to get a job that pays well, it is where you find your place in the world, where some find lifelong friends, and many find what they love in life. With all of the new technological advancements going on around us, it seems that with all that change, education is also evolving. Back when only high class men attended universities, the middle class moderate never had a chance to get a higher education. Things like, “How quickly do i want to achieve my degree?” And “What do i want to major in?” Were not topics of conversation, but that is not the case in this modern world. Now a days, there are hundreds of Vocational “training” schools popping up what seems to be everyday. They are career specific schools, with little or no emphasis on the humanities. They are broadcast frequently on our television commercials with catchy slogans and songs, “Get your degree online in less than 10 months” and “Don’t wait! call now for a quick, easy and affordable college degree!” Are all of these readily accessible “training schools” really helping our society flourish? Or are they having a negative effect on the future of our country? But I must debate that college is a place of development, and should not be a school of fast paced...
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...Liberal Arts Education With the economy the way it is today, there is much more pressure for students to get a good education and be able to have a successful career. Students across the country have a few different types of high schools that they can choose to attend, including vocational and liberal arts. A vocational school focuses on training for a specific job, while liberal arts schools teach general information about many different subjects. Both liberal arts schools and vocational schools are a better fit for different types of people, but a high school that emphasizes liberal arts would better prepare students for a global economy because it teaches skills that are valuable in any career; it makes graduates more desirable to some employers and helps students to find a career that would suit them best. A liberal arts high school teaches skills that are valuable in any career, instead of just one. Newsweek magazine found that the average American changes careers eleven times before they reach age forty. People have to change careers more than ever because the job market is becoming increasingly competitive. A liberal arts education would allow students to change careers more easily because they wouldn’t have been trained in only one profession. Liberal arts not only teach students general information, but they also teach them how to think and learn. In A Talk to Teachers, James Baldwin says, “The purpose of education, finally is to create in a person the ability...
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...Going into college you rarely hear anyone say ‘I want to pursue an education in the liberal arts.’ You may hear students interest in majors such as business, or nursing, or even engineering, but never liberal arts. Why is that? An education in liberal arts is just as important, if not more, as an education in any other field. Allow me to explain why. The liberal arts teaches more than just one general skill. It of course provides a general education, however, it also provides an advantage in written and oral communication, interpersonal skills, problem solving, critical and analytical thinking, and adaptability to change. When entering the job market employers are generally attracted to those with these attributes. The purpose of a liberal arts education is not to train you for a specific job, but to prepare you for the world of work with an invaluable set of skills. Earning a liberal education is very advantageous not only to one’s career, but one’s life as well. Leo Strauss described liberal education as ‘education in culture or toward culture.’ I could not help but agree. Since attending a liberal college and taking a course in liberal arts, I have been exposed to many new things. I got to hear classical music live from a world-renowned violinist, see a contemporary dance performance, read literature from writers such as Tolstoy and Machiavelli, and experience many other wonderful events. I am sure some may think ‘well what’s so important about culture...
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...The Modern Liberal Arts The “New Liberal Arts” by Sanford J. Ungar refers to when money is tight in the economy people starting to despise the liberal arts education which unavoidably brings criticism from policy makers and news media. However, the critique seems to have the wrong judgement of the liberal arts. Ungar is the president of a Liberal Arts College in Baltimore, Maryland and has states many misperceptions about the complexities, the financial issues, and the diversities of liberal arts. Ungar disagrees with the idea that “Many people think liberal-arts degree is a luxury that most families can no longer afford, it’s only for low income and first generation college students pursue.” (Ungar, 191,192) According to Ungar, this is another...
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...Zachary Wilson Writing 121-037 Z Hitzel Unit #1 Essay February 3, 2014 Liberal Arts: Is it Necessary? Liberal arts education has proven to be a very controversial topic to those concerned or affected by it, and it is questioned how or if it should be implemented into college curriculum. Liberal arts education is defined as “the academic course of instruction at a college intended to provide general knowledge and comprising the arts, humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences, as opposed to professional or technical subjects” (“liberal arts”). Generally, American colleges allow students to choose a major and take prerequisites, however students usually aren’t able to get into the meat of their major studies until their junior year, leaving the first two years of college to liberal arts classes. So, how should it be put into practice? In Patrick N. Allitt’s essay, “Should undergraduates specialize?” and in Mark Jackson’s “The Liberal Arts: A Practical View,” both authors explain how they think such education should be implemented. Although Allitt argues that students should be able to choose whether or not they want a liberal arts education, and Jackson argues that it should be required in order to create versatile students, I believe their ideas should be combined, and that a liberal arts education should be encouraged but not required of students, because I think it is ultimately up to the students themselves what classes they want to take as well as whether...
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...Society today is focused more on what they know and are fearful of the unknown. In the essay, “The New Liberal Arts”, Sanford J. Ungar takes a stance for why having a liberal-arts education is beneficial for all college bound students by stating his claims against the misperceptions of the public about a liberal-arts college. Some of the misperceptions discussed were, college graduates with a liberal-arts degree are finding it much more difficult to find jobs and the liberal Democrats are the reason the country is in trouble and should not be influencing college students. The first misperception discussed was a liberal-arts education becoming a luxury that most families cannot afford as the years go on. He argues this with this type of education...
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...DIFINITION The term ‘liberal arts’ is a college or curriculum aimed at imparting general knowledge and developing intellectual capacities, in contrast to a professional, vocational, or technical curriculum. In classical antiquity, the term designated the education proper to a freeman (Latin: liber, “free”) as oppose to a slave. Martianus Capella1 (5th century AD) defines the seven Liberal Arts as grammar, dialectic, rhetoric and geometry, arithmetic, astronomy, music. In the medieval Western university, the seven liberal WordprType equation here.ocessor | | experienceteacher | | 22+32=Nn | © customize | Arts were: Use mail merge to distribute the document to the address list below: Dear SirMrs. Irene Ofori DIFINITION The term ‘liberal arts’ is a college or curriculum aimed at imparting general knowledge and developing intellectual capacities, in contrast to a professional, vocational, or technical curriculum. In classical antiquity, the term designated the education proper to a freeman (Latin: liber, “free”) as oppose to a slave. Martianus Capella1 (5th century AD) defines the seven Liberal Arts as grammar, dialectic, rhetoric and geometry, arithmetic, astronomy, music. In the medieval Western university, the seven liberal Wordprocessor | | experienceteacher | | 22+32=Nn | © customize | Arts were: Use mail merge to distribute the document to the address list below: Dear SirDr. Pat Amoah DIFINITION The term ‘liberal arts’ is a college or curriculum...
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...“The New Liberal Arts”, he claims there are some misperceptions present in respects to the Liberal Arts and Sciences. Sanford J. Ungar is an American Journalist, author, and the former president of Goucher College located in Baltimore Maryland. Amongst Ungar’s prodigious texts is his essay, “The New Liberal Arts”, in which he depicts, analyzes, and counters seven misperceptions there are to the field of the Liberal Arts and Sciences; for instance, a few of the common misconceptions Ungar elaborates on in his essay are that college graduates are having little to no luck finding employment with degrees on the liberal arts and sciences, such degrees on the liberal arts and sciences do not pertain to “first generation...
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...that only certain people should go to college, while others believe that everybody should go to college. Two prime examples of these opinions are the opinions of Sanford Ungar and Charles Murray. Ungar believes that everyone should go to college and receive some form of liberal arts degree, while Charles Murray believes that only students in to 90 percentile should go to college. Both men agree that a liberal arts degree is a great thing, but their opinions on when it should be taught and who it should be taught too are very different. While Murray’s points are somewhat accurate I believe that Ungar’s ideas are more persuasive because he recommends that everybody gets a liberal arts degree helping increase the amount of people with the critical thinking and communication skills businesses are looking for. Sanford Ungar wrote the essay 7 Major Misperceptions About the Liberal Arts. In this essay Ungar describes the benefits of getting a liberal arts degree. In misperception 2, Ungar states how even though people believe the notion of “who wants to hire someone with an irrelevant degree?” most businesses actually prefer students to have liberal arts degrees. The businesses want this because they know liberal arts schools mainly focuses on the key factors that they look for. For example, 89% of businesses included in a 2009 survey said that they were looking for more people to communicate orally and in writing more effectively. (Ungar) Ungar also...
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...article, "Liberal Arts for New Millennium", of whether or not a liberal arts background should still be included in the definition of "an educated person". A half a century ago the traditional college degree was a bachelors in a liberal arts discipline. Recently a large number of degrees acquired are in a specific profession or in business, or business administration type discipline. While that worked for a long period of time, we are now in a changing world of advanced technology and globalization and reshaping and remodeling college curriculum to be up to-date needs to be evaluated. One of the issues is identifying the best way for colleges to prepare students in all facets of their life in the new millennium. There is an urgent need for a new set of guidelines, a revamping of our educational system to keep up with the times and to prepare students, as Baldwin puts it, "for life, work, and citizenship, safeguard our democratic society, and meet our obligations in the world" thus preparing students to be well rounded educated citizens. The sharp rise in tuition cost and the expectations of both students and parents have them scrutinizing whether or not they are getting the education they are paying for. Another concern is if the education they receive will enable them the ability to acquire a good job in today's marketplace. Student protesting against the educational system as well as boycotting standardized testing, emphasizing a need to integrate liberal learning...
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...A. Having watched the film “Dead Poets Society”, discuss the notion of the importance of liberal arts. Liberal arts, according to Merriam Webster Dictionary, are areas of study that are intended to give you general knowledge, rather than to develop specific skills needed for a profession. To simplify the definition, liberal arts enhances the intellectual capacities of the person, it enhances his/her reasons and judgement. This movie did and did not really show the real ideals of the importance of liberal arts. As stated in the definition, liberal arts enhances the person’s reasons and judgement, the film did a good job with the development of the characters but there is no enhancement of judgement (of the characters) present in the film. Dead Poets Society, for me, did not really show me the real meaning of liberal arts because of the way the characters decide for their own fate. For example is Neil Perry, because of his amusement to the new teacher (Mr. Keating), he joined the bandwagon and went to acting even though his parents doesn’t allow him to. I know people might contradict me with do-want-you-want statement but I will argue with them about know the consequences of your actions and decisions and how it will affect the people around you. (I know there is a theory about that but I already forgot what it is.) Todd did warn Neil about what will happen but Neil insisted. Another from Neil is him killing himself, Mr. Keating told them, “ ‘….what good amid these O me...
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...Wednesday, Sep 3, 2014 06:15 AM CST Robert Reich: College is a ludicrous waste of money The former secretary of labor on our broken higher ed model and how we can open more gateways to the middle class Robert Reich, ROBERTREICH.org This originally appeared on Robert Reich's blog. This week, millions of young people head to college and universities, aiming for a four-year liberal arts degree. They assume that degree is the only gateway to the American middle class. It shouldn’t be. For one thing, a four-year liberal arts degree is hugely expensive. Too many young people graduate laden with debts that take years if not decades to pay off. And too many of them can’t find good jobs when they graduate, in any event. So they have to settle for jobs that don’t require four years of college. They end up overqualified for the work they do, and underwhelmed by it. Others drop out of college because they’re either unprepared or unsuited for a four-year liberal arts curriculum. When they leave, they feel like failures. We need to open other gateways to the middle class. Consider, for example, technician jobs. They don’t require a four-year degree. But they do require mastery over a domain of technical knowledge, which can usually be obtained in two years. Technician jobs are growing in importance. As digital equipment replaces the jobs of routine workers and lower-level professionals, technicians are needed to install, monitor, repair, test, and upgrade all the equipment. ...
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