Kenyon Commitment Speech Summary

Divergent and analytical thinking are vital skills. Humanities and Liberal Arts majors encourage critical thinking, and a broad knowledge of diverse topics. For example, English majors work well with analysis, grammar, and writing. Those skills can be applied to politics, law and business. Liberal Arts and Humanities majors learn to form strong opinions, evaluate, reflect, and problem solve because they are given opportunity to experiment, create, and collaborate with others. The Liberal Arts and Humanities can also be a great foundation for students who are determined to become leaders. Students will acquire all sorts of abilities that are necessary for leadership success like critical thinking, emotional intelligence, and communication skills. These majors teach students how to think critically, and this is a key skill needed in all disciplines. A Liberal Arts degree does not equal total ignorance of how a computer or the economy works, nor does it mean that those students are missing out on critical knowledge. As a matter of fact, they have very important skills to offer. All the STEM in the world is useless without context. People need the ability to interpret data and incorporate humanity. It is important to have all aspects of education, STEM, liberal arts, and humanities. While STEM degrees may appear more translatable into a paycheck six months from now, some of the most successful people I have known were Liberal Arts majors. If you ask any employers what skills they would like to see in recent graduates, its communication skills, the ability to write well, and the ability to work well in groups. Liberal arts focused on reading, language and writing are equally important to society as STEM subjects are. Liberal Arts and Humanities graduates may not go on to jobs that are as profitable as engineering of physical science careers, but they fill jobs that are important to a

The essay “A New Liberal Arts,” which was written by Sanford Ungar, first appeared in the Chronicle of Higher Education on March 5, 2010. In his essay, Ungar uses many different rhetorical strategies to convince his reader that a degree in the liberal arts is not a lost cause but can actually be very beneficial and lead to success. In Ungar’s opinion, there are many wrong ideas and misunderstandings about the usefulness of a degree in the liberal arts. In the essay there are seven specific misperceptions that he addresses specifically. By listing out these misperceptions, Ungar is addressing them individually in order to give each one proper attention. He offers explanations to why people may think these things and why he believes that they are incorrect. Ungar’s use of style, format, and emotional and logical arguments help him to create a persuasive and influential essay for his audience and convince them to agree with his opinion.

In his essay, The New Liberal Arts, Sanford Ungar addresses common misperceptions related to a liberal arts education. He speaks to their usefulness, the employment opportunities after graduation, their value despite the cost of tuition, and other misconceptions. His overall message is, despite the recent emphasis on science, technology, engineering, and math degrees, as well as technical or vocational training, liberal arts degrees are still important and are a valid option to consider when deciding on your educational future. While his essay could easily apply to anyone with these misperceptions, it appears to be targeted directly towards students in high school or early college who are trying to decided on the direction of their education

“What Is College For” by Andrew Delbanco, shows the need for both a universal college system; one which caters for all of society, and one which provides a liberal education. Delbanco gives many reasoned thoughts on how, and why the college system has become restricted, to purely those of a higher socio-economic background, rather than being exclusive to people of all backgrounds. The idea of college being a platform for people to learn, advance their skills, and become whatever they want to be has seemingly diminished over time. The ideas in favor of such an educational system are put forward, but they are foreshadowed in my opinion, by the notion that people should have the same educational opportunities in life; regardless of their economic or social background. A universal education system is needed for our society to prosper, especially if it provides a liberal education; this is not just for the individuals that make up a community, but for the community, as a whole.

I agree with Delbanco that college is overcrowded, under resourced, and little attention is paid to the fact that a whole person should be developed (154). I am convinced that a liberal arts education is what is needed to be successful in the world today. Not only is this particularly clear in universities like NYU, but also in specialized schools all around the country. For example, a student at the Stern School of Business is marketable to corporate businesses such as Morgan Stanley and firms on Wall Street, but the students may lack the knowledge necessary to transfer out of that specific field. Liberal arts colleges within universities (or even those that stand on their own) are much more useful today than specified schools because liberal arts classes offer opportunities to be exposed to a variety of subjects. They can also spark interests or passions one never knew they had. Delbanco says that colleges offer students too wide of an array of classes to take, and believes that they are too unrelated. While it does seem like classes such as the history of Australia’s koala population may seem unimportant, it is less about the specific class and more about the university creating a well rounded person that can integrate well into

Education in America is important; due to rising costs, he claims many think liberal-arts degrees are too expensive for the average family to afford. Ungar suggests that a liberal-arts degree prepares people for adapting in their respective career field. Career specific majors are not offering students the broad range of qualities one needs for job opportunities. While he acknowledges the stronger start of students with prior experience in college, it is those students with little experience that end up with the most original ideas, making them valuable to an employer.

Although, it is common for an undergraduate student to change their career path, adults often alter their job direction as well. The reasons for an individual to begin a new job are endless. In an article by Betty Southwick it is estimated that in the year 2009 twenty percent of workers will start a new job. Especially in our current economic downfall with an estimated 2.4 million Americans unemployed, according to the Associate Press, it is extremely important for one to be proficient in multiple skills and have a broad knowledge base. The background information learned in a liberal arts education gives one the knowledge to succeed if they are forced to find work outside the field in which they have a degree. A liberal arts education creates a well-rounded individual. If liberal arts education were replaced with specialized education, in universities, students would be at a disadvantage. Focusing solely on one area handicaps an individual and limits their knowledge base. Therefore, making opportunities harder to come by during rough economic times like our society is currently experiencing.

Students today have been raised to think that college is just the next step in life after high school. Decades ago,going to college was a huge achievement and not many people enrolled. Today, however it is almost expected that you go to college. The purpose of college has been changing over the years. Students and professors have lost sight of what to get out a college education. Gary Gutting explains in his article, “What is College for?” that students are losing passion for higher education. He also believes that professors are not realizing what their true job really is, and are not doing the necessary procedures to help their students succeed. “In On the Uses of a Liberal Education”, Mark Edmundson shares similar ideas, and gives a first person point of view of Gutting’s ideas about the quality of the college experience. Mark Edmundson would agree with Gary Gutting’s claims that the quality of colleges is declining and is negatively affecting the students and faculty members.

“Misconception No.1: A liberal arts education is a luxury that most families can no longer afford. ‘Career-education’ is what we must now focus on.” (Ungar, 2010, pp.191) As Ungar has claimed, there is a recent misconception that a liberal arts education is no longer a necessity but luxury because it doesn’t provide an instant career launching education. With so many people having to a need to spend as little money as possible, they are determined to only spend money on preparation for their future career. For this reason they go to college only to take courses that are necessary for their future. “She is in college to take vocational training. She wants to write computer code. Start a business. Get a job in television. She uses college to take vocational courses that pertain to her career interest.” (Murray, 2008, pp.228) Murray explained the story of a girl who is in college solely for preparation for her career. Because of this, she isn’t interested in a liberal arts education. If the course doesn’t directly pertain to her desired career, she prefers not to take it.

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 the article “Liberal Arts, and the Advantages of Being Useless” by Nicholas Jones he is basically saying throughout his article that individuals that get a degree in liberal arts are not as successful as the individuals who get their degree in their career field. The author also believes that is why many people would rather go to a trade school to start working hands on, because of the fear of not being successful. In the begging of the article the author is discussing his argument and the evidence to prove it to be correct. Liberal Arts majors would be considered to be all of the following any history, art, music, sociology, english and psychology.

Choosing How You Think In the Commencement speech given by David Foster Wallace, he told college graduates about how their life might change after they graduate from college and how that change will affect them. He about the normal, strenuous, boring, routine, everyday life, of an adult. He also related what a person needed to do to change that outcome; how we need to take time to think, to use the education that was given to us, an how to use that education to think freely and openly.

A liberal arts education as a dictionary defines it, is a holistic teaching approach that provides an overview of many different subjects. It aims to deepen your understanding of the world that surrounds us all, rather than dive whole-heartedly into one concentration right away. The education is focused on the idea that every subject has something to offer your mind that perhaps can be later used in an unexpected way. Knowledge is power, they say. Being able to reference a book you read in your freshmen seminar, in a Chemistry class, encompasses this belief that knowledge can be effective everywhere. When I first began looking at colleges, I didn’t know what kind of education I was searching for. I had an idea that I wanted to go into a medical

Liberal Arts are academic subjects such as literature, philosophy, mathematics, and social and physical sciences as distinct from professional and technical subjects. This approach to education provides students with specialized ability in a chosen major as well as builds a foundation of skills and knowledge that can be applied among many career paths and academic pursuits. Employers value the ability to solve problems, adapt to change, work across disciplines, and collaborate with others, which are distinctive tenants acquired when you pursue a major in liberal arts. Clearly, all successful careers require critical thinking, teamwork, sensitivity to cultural, demographic, economic and societal differences and political perspectives. A

In addition to the social aspects, college teaches how to develop independent thinking. It also “exposes future citizens to material that enlightens and empowers them, whatever careers they end up choosing” (Menand, 3). However, most students today perceive college fundamentally as a party scene and various forms of entertainment instead of focusing on school work. They have forgotten about the academic freedom provided by receiving a proper college education.