Historically Speaking, What are the Liberal Arts?

In recent discussion of the purpose of a liberal arts education, a controversial issue has been whether it is “just filling you up with knowledge”. On one hand, some argue that it is just a good prerequisite to have. From this perspective, the point of earning a degree is to get a better career. On the other hand, however, others argue that a degree “has actual human value”. In the words of David Foster Wallace, one of this view’s main proponents, “a liberal arts education is not so much filling you up with knowledge as it is about ‘teaching you how to think’”. According to this view, having a degree affects how you think. In sum, then, the issue is whether a liberal arts education teaches you how to think positively or not through your banal “adult life”

Liberal arts and sciences differ in that it’s designed to understand human relationships to the social, cultural, and natural environment. In chapter three of the book, Zakaria hits on three of the ideas of a liberal education. To begin, he talks of the importance of learning how to think which is a critical skill in any field of higher education that a student pursues. His belief is that while a liberal education teaches one how to think, it does more so by teaching one how to write. Zakaria values “writing clearly, clearly and reasonably to be an invaluable skill.” The second advantage of a liberal education is that it teaches students how to speak. Zakaria believes that the ability to speak is just as important as writing clearly and with reason. He states this by saying “whether for public or private communication, the ability to articulate your thoughts clearly will prove to be a tremendous strength.” The third and possibly most influential strength of a liberal education is how it teaches students how to learn. Not only does it help students gain knowledge from studying but it helps students acquire knowledge on their own, for personal gain. Zakaria state that a liberal education helped him “how to read a book fast, search for new sources to find data, take notes and understand lectures.” These three values are continually stated in many articles or liberal education by both Zakaria and other professors who have wrote similar articles about a liberal

In the article The Liberal Arts Are Not Elitist written by Martha Nussbaum it was said that “Education is not just for citizenship. It prepares people for employment and for lives of rich significance.” That to me is what the goal of a liberal education is, to provide a basic knowledge in multiple areas of content such as: math, reading, writing, history, and science, with addition to preparing a person for global citizenship and to live a fulfilling life. To be a global citizen, means that the person needs to be aware of what is going on in the world around them, to contribute to society, understands how the world works, takes responsibility for their own actions and to be self-sufficient. I strongly believe to receive a true liberal

Sanford J. Ungar, a journalist and president of Goucher College, is one of the faculty members actively trying to disprove the accusations against liberal arts colleges and educations. In his February 2010 article from the academic journal The Chronicle of Higher Education, Ungar gives readers multiple examples of common misunderstandings about liberal arts and then informs them why those examples are incorrect. Appropriately titled, Ungar’s “7 Major Misperceptions About the Liberal Arts” is an easy “go to” guide when a person wants to learn more about liberal arts. These readers, mainly students and parents looking toward a higher degree of education, can read Ungar’s essay and find new knowledge about the liberal arts discipline.

Cicero’s Orations , and the Aeneid. The major purpose of the school was to prepare a student in the liberal arts so he can follow the same path at college. The foundation of the school was classical languages, but with his mastery of the ancients, he also acquired knowledge of history, philosophy , and theology.

A Liberal Arts education has helped people to lead a life of great circumstances. The message established in “The New Liberal Arts” by Sanford J. Ungar is clear. Throughout the article it talks about the misperceptions of going to a liberal arts school and how it affects the outcome of ones future. Throughout the passage Ungar states misperceptions of a liberal arts education and then after he gives his response on why he disagrees. When addressing “The New Liberal Arts” I agree with Ungar when he states the misperceptions throughout the article. The misperceptions are what society has developed about people who graduated from Liberal

In the article “The Death of Liberal Arts”, Nancy Cook acknowledges the importance of liberal arts on society, and how the death of them impacted the nation. By giving the reader information on the impacts liberal arts have, Centenary College should not have the qualification to abolish the humanity courses. Even though, liberal arts are dwindling in purpose for our everyday lives, they still play a huge role in society. Ultimately, the article is intended to render one various thoughts about the death of liberal arts.

In the Article “Only Connect” by William Cronon, he defines what he considers to be a liberally educated person, as well particular standard of being a liberally educated person. Cronon discusses the values that a liberal education is built on. Cronon goes on to describe the origin of the word liberal which derives from the Latin word liberalis, meaning “of or relating to the liberal arts”. Cronon also states that freedom and growth are one of the two main principles in a liberal education. One of the most intriguing questions he brought up is when he asked whether schools should require certain courses such as History, Writing, etc. He questioned whether some of these courses truly help people who are enrolled in colleges

Broadly speaking, a liberal arts education is concerned with the pursuit of knowledge as an end in itself, rather than for the sake of acquiring skills targeted at a career. The liberal arts philosophy is traced to the Greek philosopher Socrates, who famously proclaimed that the “unexamined life is not worth living”. To that end, traditional liberal arts education emphasizes the scholarly, the gentlemanly and the liberating. However, contemporary liberal arts education is marked by the integration of liberal and practical education. Consequently, a Christian liberal arts education should provide knowledge and intellectual skills to help students become functional and capable of

First and foremost there needs to be an established understanding of what liberal arts are. In the article “Why Choose Liberal Arts?” Mark William Roche explains that liberal arts were originally intended for free men, those who weren’t being educated for the sole purpose of gaining a livelihood, but rather for the sake of being educated and included things like grammar, rhetoric, arithmetic, music and astronomy. He then goes on to clarify the meaning of liberal arts today as “a general education that is a broad grounding in the diverse disciplines.” Furthermore, in his article, “The Liberal Arts Bubble” John Agresto writes that today liberal arts are still called liberal not

The system of higher education that is known in the present day society was established during the Middle Ages. The university was established to provide students with basic liberal arts education and optional further studies within an area of choice: law, medicine, or theology. Courses were taught in Latin and students had to pass a comprehensive exam to obtain their degree (256). The language choice of Latin allowed for anyone in Europe to attend, regardless of country of origin. The first European university was in Bologna, Italy, followed by Notre-Dame, Paris, and the University of Oxford and Cambridge University in England. “ …universities proved important to medieval civilization, not only for growth of learning…but also by providing a mechanism for training the personnel who served as teachers, administrators, lawyers, and doctors in an increasingly specialized society” (258). During this period, the concept of scholasticism was introduced. Stemmed from theological origins, the scholastic method became the main instructional mode at the universities. The method consists of posing a question, presenting contradictions to counter it, and thus coming up with a conclusive thought. Peter Abelard was one of the main teachers responsible for the scholastic method and concluded that “by doubting we come to inquiry, through inquiry to the truth” (259). The intellectual revival also brought back to life the important scientific and philosophical works of great minds like Hippocrates, Ptolemy, Euclid, and Aristotle, which were translated into Latin. Furthermore, the 12th century was the period in which lived one of the greatest minds still known today, Saint Thomas

Some variation of this curriculum prevailed in universities throughout the classical period, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Its early articulations in Plato, Boethius, Nicomachus, Martianus Capella, Ptolemy and St. Bonaventura and others give way to the advance of modernity.. Jonathan Swift recorded the first great battle of the "new" versus the "old" learning. Matthew Arnold and T. H. Huxley engaged in a debate about the respective roles of literature and the sciences at the end of the nineteenth century. that now seems a rearguard action. When Arnold defended letters, he did so by advocating what was left in the nineteenth century of the liberal tradition. When Huxley put education in the sciences forward as the appropriate wisdom for his time, he had already absolved himself and his society of debts to transcendent values. Hopes for a consistent and inclusive schema of meaning were buried along with the ancient division of a complete education into the studies of the trivium and the quadrivium. The practical man is the man of the age, but his practicality lacks purpose. The man of letters in the nineteenth century, not yet but on his way to imprisonment in the ivory tower, makes no difference. About this time,

Further immersed in this controversy, the word liberal in liberal arts has been embraced by both ends of the political spectrum, and can scarcely be uttered without turning the conversation into a verbal duel between conservative reformists on one side, and liberal traditionalist on the other. However clear we present the term, the thrust and parry continues as the nation's leading academia and political activists attempt to separate liberal education from an education that indoctrinates students in the values of political liberalism (Horowitz, In Defense, 3).

Liberal Arts also nurture other hidden talents that the student might not have realize before attending that said liberal art college.