Essay On American Education

From the outside, it is hard to see why I would want to earn a liberal arts degree. Time and time again, the lifetime earnings of workers who studied in the liberal arts are outpaced by their peers who worked in engineering. These “hard sciences” of math and engineering are lauded as the “right choice” for future success by ambitious parents and counselors, while liberal arts degrees are the butt of jokes. However, for me, a liberal arts degree means a lot more than just making money. It means a global vision and universality across disciplines, as well as many future opportunities to change the world radically.

“I can’t go to a liberal-arts college. My parents are conservatives!” I told my eighth grade teacher. He laughed and then went on to explain what a liberal-arts college actually is. Like many others, I believed a common misperception about the liberal-arts. In “The New Liberal Arts” by Sanford J. Ungar, the writer explains wrong ideas about the liberal-arts to a college-based audience including students, professors, and administration. He explains the importance and relevance of a liberal-arts education. Ungar claims that it is a better investment than narrow, specific technical training because it prepares students for career placement by giving them skills in communicating effectively, thinking creatively, and understanding comprehensively. I agree with Ungar and I think he successfully explains the reasons why liberal arts are important and relevant in today’s society.

Before reading the Andrew Delbanco book, College: What it Was, Is, and Should Be, my view of Liberal Arts education was positive. A Liberal Arts education consists of a curriculum based in the sciences and humanities while maintaining the freedom to pursue interdisciplinary study. Studying at a university with such a curriculum and freedom can be compared to an all-you-can-eat buffet; the student attending would not need to commit to a single area of study, trapped in confined course-load in one building on campus. Rather, that person could dish a little bit of business, with a side of art history, and a healthy helping of biology onto their academic tray and consume to their heart’s content, scraping the sides of the university in order to

In his article “ The New Liberal Arts,” Sanford J. Ungar talks about how undergoing a Liberal-Arts education is criticized by many and in his arguments he brings seven very important points of misconceptions. The first point he discusses how many assume that liberal education is not a necessity but he argues that students need to know what they want as a career. Choosing an education that is right for them rather than being driven by other economic factors. To a job the is unsatisfying and they can barely make a living from. Ungar also argues that even with a liberal arts degree or any other degree, in economically tough times it will be just as hard to get a job. Companies will look to hire individuals based on what other and new skill sets they may have to offer.

Martin Luther King Junior said, “Intelligence plus character-that is the goal of true education.” Higher education does not exist for the sole purpose of preparing students for future jobs; it’s there in order to prepare individuals for life where they are expected to participate in their community, their government, and the lives of those around them. Liberal arts, in particular, exist for the broadening of students’ minds in order for them to be successful not only in their chosen career but also in their lives outside of it. Liberal arts lost their past popularity during the last few decades, but they shouldn’t be disregarded in favor of technical and professional degrees because they still provide students with skills that are perhaps less tangible, but no less necessary for life in modern world.

In recent discussions of liberal arts degrees, a controversial issue has been whether they are worth getting rather than a vocational degree. On one hand, some argue that getting a liberal arts degree is a waste of money and there are very limited jobs out there that a liberal arts degree could be used for. On the other hand, however, others argue that in order to be a well-rounded person and to be more interesting, a student should work towards a liberal arts degree. According to this view, even though there is not one specific job that the individual will be trained for while obtaining a liberal arts education, he or she will be feeding their brain and giving himself or herself a chance to develop better knowledge of subjects in social sciences, literature, and mathematics. In sum, then, the issue is whether getting a liberal arts education is worth it or not. My own view is that I believe being an intellectually developed person is extremely important; therefore, I agree that pursuing a liberal arts education can be very valuable.

First and foremost, I am an African student very proud to be an African and going through an American system of education. There is so much we learn as Internation students in America. For instance, being independent, being culturally aware and being open minded just to mention a few. I came to America when I was only 19 years old. In Africa, I am considered underage.

In 1635, the first American public school was founded (historyeducationinfo.com). Located in Boston Massachusetts, and soon to spread all over, our American Right, to a free and public education still exist today. Unfortunately recent studies suggest that the American Education system might be broken. In the 2013 PISA Education Ratings of international developed countries, America ranked 28th out of 34. These results were mind blowing as America at the same time, also ranked fifth, in most amount of money spent on education. These uneasy numbers led to change in congress and in 2001, under President Bush, the “No Child Left Behind” bill was passed.

Colleges should require students to take liberal arts classes but the students should be able to choose which liberal arts class they would like to take. Whether a student takes a literature, art, history, or even a philosophy class, they will benefit from it in many ways. Students learn a lot from practical and technical training but they could learn so much more with liberal arts classes. Taking liberal arts classes can help a student develop grit, relate to real life situations, and help overall development.

Recently a study was done on the earnings and career paths of college graduates by the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems and the Association of American Colleges and Universities. In their report they found that “Nearly all employers surveyed (95 percent) say they give hiring preference to college graduates with skills that will enable them to contribute to innovation in the workplace… [furthermore] eighty percent of employers agree that, regardless of their major, all college students should acquire broad knowledge in the liberal arts and sciences” (Hart Research Associates). This data indicates that the skills taught from a liberal arts degree are advantageous when seeking for and acquiring work, but elicits the question of what kind of employment it might lead to in respect to

about because of how much it has changed from the past to the present. Education first was

When someone thinks of liberal education most of the time they think of someone who is interested in art or music but the more that I learn about liberal education the more I realize there is a lot more involved in that kind of education. By reading these articles, liberal education is making someone more knowledgeable in a subject or area that person would of never thought about learning on their own. The University of Wisconsin in Oshkosh is trying to promote liberal education by doing the University Studies Program (USP) set in place.

Instructions: As you watch the Barton DVD, complete the Barton DVD Notes document.  Provide at least 3 sentences for each section, except for the final section, which requires a complete, substantive paragraph. You will be required to submit the completed chart during Module/Week 4.

Who does not want to be considered more skilled, versatile, understanding, and accomplished? The only problem lies in the fact that access to this approach to education is not available to everyone. Only a small number of colleges worldwide are liberal arts- based, and even those numbers are diminishing. In the same way, there are people unable to attend college at all, whether for financial or other reasons, so these people will not receive a liberal arts education. This is a problem, as liberal arts thinkers are needed for society to continue at the level it is now. Further, according to a study conducted by the AAC&U, 93% of employers agreed that an employee’s ability to communicate, think critically, and problem solve, all skills developed through the liberal arts, are more important than their major (Liberal Arts Research and

Over the course of my life I have read a great number of books, mostly nonfiction, and each one has given me some insight into the world around me and into who I am. I tend to read books in phases, with each phase centering around some particular idea or subject. In the past I've had phases in microbiology/virology, foreign policy, economics, computer science, and most recently mathematics. Through reading I've been able to obtain a second education of sorts, a liberal arts education to subsidize my high school education, and I am better off for it. Even though I don't want to study microbiology or be a foreign policy official, I can understand the value in such subjects and how they relate to me and my education. In short, a liberal arts education