Liberal Arts

I define myself as a curious researcher and reflective practitioner who perceives legal education as a combination of passion and practicality. Whereas my idealistic side wants to thoroughly understand the development of global legal ethics, my pragmatic side asks what actions should be taken by lawyers to solve international legal problems. Hence, Penn Law’s core strengths in providing a remarkably interdisciplinary learning experience and the program of Legal Practice Skills will be the bridge to my academic and professional aspirations.

Higher education in modern day America has become a debated topic, with some saying that it is not worth it due to the debt it leaves upon leaving, and some saying that it opens opportunities that surpass the results of obtaining one. A resulting view from this conflict is that certain forms of education aren’t as beneficial as others. A primary example of one of these less valuable educations is the study of Liberal Arts. Author Sanford J. Ungar discredits this view in his article The New Liberal Arts where he discusses the many misconceptions that have come to form this interpretation. To convince the reader of these misunderstandings, Ungar uses the appeals of Ethos, Pathos, and Logos, with heavy appeal to logic (Logos) over the other two. Each misconception uses and focuses on more of one appeal than others, and by doing this, he is very successful in influencing the reader into considering that these misunderstandings are present.

In an essay from the 1998 Chronicle of Higher Education titled, “The Liberal Arts in the Age of Info-Glut,” written by Todd Gitlin, the author targets College and University faculty members and administrators when advocating for a greater presence of liberal art classes as he directly states, “when information piles up-higgledy piggledy--when information becomes the noise of our culture--the need to teach the lessons of the liberal arts is urgent. Students need ‘chaff detectors.’’’ The author develops this argument by first identifying the toxic relationship that students have with the mass media followed by a description of the positive effects that an increase in liberal art classes would have on students.

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

Ungar believes that the new Liberal Arts program is powerful because it develops character, lifelong learning, and values. He further explains that creating confidence and developing positive patterns is essential to life. He believes that, “Through immersion in liberal arts, students learn not just to make a living, but also to live a life rich in values and character”.On the other hand, Gitlin believes that learning from history ensures common ground and helps people socially accept their lives as well as those of others. He states that “Students need “chaff detectors.”They need some orientation to philosophy, history, language, literature, music and the arts that have lasted more than 15 minutes”. He does agree with Ungar that Liberal

Prewriting- Explain to the students that the first step in the process approach to writing is prewriting which includes choosing a topic, planning and rehearsing.

heavily focuses on the law, cases, rules and courts. The students are taught to debate, argue,

In today's generation college students struggle to attend higher education. Tuition has been higher than ever before to attend college. This is true, college students battle to go to college. A book that I read "They Say, I say" mentions, "many families are indeed struggling, in depths of recession, to pay for their children's college eduction." (Sanford, 191). Paying for college funds affect families as well as the student.

Why are many young Americans so uncomfortable with liberal arts? And why are countless high school graduates shying away from this particular form of education? Just like anything else that is popular, once liberal arts has been accurately, or inaccurately, discredited, the aftermath inevitably spreads. As more information is being mistakenly spread, numerous liberal arts colleges are taking the fall. To combat the onslaught of negative publicity, university officers are beginning to speak out to discredit the invalid claims.

Critical thinking means to think correctly in to find knowledge that is relevant and reliable. In terms of a liberal arts education critical thinking is crucial because a liberal arts education teaches students skills that are needed in the rapidly changing world that usually requires a lifetime of self-learning and understanding. Critical thinking is something that people usually must learn on their own; however, as a liberal arts school it is taught, so we have a better understanding of thinking critically.

To secure these rights, a sincere covenant must be made between student and educational institution to ensure that grades are a measure of learning and gain in knowledge. That when any form of schooling becomes destructive of this end and betrays its true purpose, it is not only the right but the imperative of the student to reject such schooling at the earliest opportunity and to institute a new form of knowledge assessment. Such a new form of assessment must lay its foundation on principles of learning, intrinsic inquiry, and natural curiosity.

It may seem like a Liberal Arts degree is for someone who can understand the depth of it, but that is completely untrue. The flexibility and use of a Liberal Arts degree is for everyone who is interested and is worth more than the loud politicians that wave them about so eagerly to raise their credibility which is why Sanford J. Ungar, former president of Goucher College, wrote The New Liberal

Education is a process where one learns and apply the same learned information to a practical situation. Isaac Newton, a physicist and a mathematician, managed to discover the indescribable universe we now know, because of what we call liberal education. He did not study physics only but he learned other subjects including mathematics. He understood the basis needed to discover now called the imaginary world, universe. Moreover, author Sanford J. Ungar also portrayed the same idea about the importance of liberal education. He pointed it as a way to create capable and cultivated human beings. Liberal arts broaden the way humans think, such that we not only focus on one skill to tackle a problem but to look at range of skills. Additionally, the author also answered the wired misconceptions that are already in peoples’ minds by proving them wrong.

All types of education, whether technical or liberal, possess their own inherent merit. The distinction between the two lies in the spectrum of a particular study’s application. A higher education in any study should be encouraged because more knowledgeable individuals benefit both society and themselves through the continuation of their education. The value of one type of education does not negate the value of another. In today’s society technical studies, that is studies with a direct application in the workforce, are more widely encouraged due to the practical merit of the study. It is true that technical studies are valuable, but their value does not negate the immense value of liberal studies because of it lack of a single application. Therefore, the conjunction of both liberal and technical classes in college provides the greatest amount of benefit. Specifically, higher education in the liberal arts is the most valuable for it allowance of a broader application in every field of study and also the larger social realm because of the critical skills it helps students to develop.

Though looked down upon by many schools, Arts and Humanities play quintessential educational role in developing moral imagination. The Arts and Humanities allow individual to grow and mature into their own person and not society ideal easily manipulated tool. Arts and Humanities gifts its students with the ability to think critically and build a sense of moral imagination. Which despite the misconception, does support the cause of democratic education.