Only Connect: The Goals Of A Liberal Education

I am writing to you today in response to a piece I just read called “Only Connect…The Goals of a Liberal Education” that you wrote almost two decades ago. As you’ve probably been told, this is one of the clearest arguments that I have ever read. I was presented with the article and your definition of a liberal education sounded like it lined up with what I had perceived be the purpose of a liberal education without even taking a shot at it. The piece I most admired is “A liberal education is not something any of us ever achieve, it is not a state. Rather, it is a way of living in the face of our own ignorance, a way of groping toward wisdom in full recognition of our own folly, a way of educating ourselves without any illusion that our educations will ever be complete”. This quote resonates with my own personal qualities because someone such as myself that attends a school like Wentworth Institute of Technology is told to always hone and desire a lifelong education. If we didn’t continue to learn and acquire the newest information we wouldn’t be successful in our fields. Adapting to the times keeps you proficient in your work. As you mentioned a liberal education is not something you achieve today or tomorrow but rather a way of life.

Published in Harper's Magazine’s September 1997 issue, Mark Edmundson’s essay, “On the Uses of Liberal Education: As Lite Entertainment for Bored College Students,” presents a very personal argument for an apparent crisis in liberal education–the lack of passion in students. According to Edmundson, a professor at the University of Virginia, “liberal-arts education is as ineffective as it is now…[because] university culture, like American culture writ large, is, to put it crudely, ever more devoted to consumption and entertainment, to the using and using up of goods and images” (723). He believes that consumer culture is responsible for students’ dispassionate attitude towards his class because they view liberal education as a paid service or product that should cater to their wishes. Further, he writes that universities feed into consumer culture, maintaining a “relationship with students [that] has a solicitous, nearly servile tone” (725). In this way, Edmundson lays out the reasons for why he thinks liberal education is failing.

In the 1997 article, “On The Uses of a Liberal Education: As a Weapon In the Hands of the Restless Poor,” published by Harper’s Magazine, the social critic Earl Shorris described how political power could be achieved by a rather non-vocational educational discipline, the humanities. He emphasizes on how the knowledge of a liberal Education can be used as a form of weapon within the lives for the poor.

In the article, “Only Connect: The Goals of a Liberal Education,” by William Cronon, William lists and explains the qualities of an educated person that he admires the most. While reading this article, I related to a lot of the points that he listed. William lists qualities that I value in myself and in others around me. As I read through the article, I also noticed that I am starting to see these qualities in me and that they are growing as I get older and as I complete a higher education.

A Liberal Education? Not According to Cronon. A Critical and Rhetorical Analysis of Cronon's Only Connect.

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.

It has been argued that University culture and education is slowly moving toward a schooling designed to please students that have little fire and passion, rather than “an educational institution designed for instruction and examination of students” as Oxford Dictionary defines it. Mark Edmundson 's "On the Uses of a Liberal Education" explains how university education is becoming ineffective due to the University’s “ever more devot[ion] to consumption and entertainment” (40) in American culture as well as the focus on pleasing privileged students who have inevitably been devoured by the same sense of commercialized consumption. Likewise, Sherman Alexie affirms the idea that university education is marketed toward the “elite” groups of students who are able to shop for and afford college in his story, “Saint Junior”. Alexie accomplishes this through his contrasting characters: Roman Fury, a member of the Spokane Tribe of Indians and valedictorian of Wellpinit High, and Alex Webber, a wealthy, white legacy, who doesn’t necessarily have the grades universities are looking for, but has no problem getting in anyway. While Edmundson and Alexie approach the conflict through different forms of writing, both authors argue that by way of commercialized American culture, universities have isolated students of various ethnicities and cultural backgrounds by gearing a college education in favor of students with a privileged status. Both Edmundson and Alexie argue this point, finding

Fareed Zakaria, author of “In Defense of a Liberal Education,” characterizes India as a technology-focused and economically driven country that values the idea of a liberal education about as much as someone values a fork when soup is for dinner. India is portrayed as a place that only cares about STEM related fields, stifling curiosity and denouncing the idea of learning for learning’s sake. When India and the United States are compared in “In Defence of a Liberal Education,” India comes across as uptight and old-fashioned while the United States is seen as a place of intellectual freedom. Zakaria maintains this view of India throughout the book, using his parents (his father is a lawyer and his mother is a journalist) to show there are exceptions to the rule.

In James V, Schall’s A Students Guide to Liberal Learning, he addresses the idea and importance of an authentic liberal arts education. Schall inquires about books and scholars of which centralize around the idea of a liberal education and of which has shaped our society. Schall examines the works of several authors who are in his opinion the guides to learning, and his essay serves as a fundamental building block for the creation of a “Personal Library”.

After I graduated from middle school and entered high school, I experienced numerous changes throughout my learning and education. During my freshman year of high school, I was able to apply the skills, concepts, and knowledge that I learned throughout my years in middle school, which allowed me to gain success as a student. I

Michael Fromm, CEO of electrical Manufacturing, says in an article on CNBC, “I find people that have a liberal arts background have a broader view of the world and will go farther in business.” Practical skills create people trained to do one thing one way and not allowing for deviance. Kelley Holland, on an article “The Case for a liberal arts education,” says, “Graduates that are right out of college, by their peak earning years, from age 56 to 60, people with liberal arts degrees earn an average of $66,185, about $2,000 more than their peers with professional or pre-professional degrees.” Critical thinkers are perfectly capable of performing practical skills, and in fact, since they have been taught to think for themselves, will now be

Jackylyn Dolendo (1,951 WC) Professor Chavez History-102 23 February 2015 Critique: “Death of the Liberal Class” Chris Hedges a former correspondent for the New York Times, and a recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for his work “Death of the Liberal Class” describes in his novel, the downfall of outspoken opinions. Specifically he targets those within the liberal class, whom graciously developed to become none other than a walking corpse, infected by a parasitic virus brought on by the unwillingness to take measures against authoritarianism. Classical liberalism as the author states, began as an amalgamated response from unamused citizens against totalitarianism control, and currently fueled and led by profit making enthusiast, corrupted manipulators,

There are both direct and indirect connections between the three reading: “The Flight From Conversation,” “Build America’s Human Infrastructure” and the reading about Liberal Studies.

To be a productive global citizen one must grow intellectually and the most effective way to accomplish this is to procure a liberal education. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistic, in October of 2016 2.2 million youth ages 16 - 24 enrolled in college (BLS, 2017, P. 1). These students no matter their chosen major will be well versed in an array of subjects thanks to general education requirements. The Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) defines a liberal education as an education that “intentionally fosters, across multiple fields of study, wide ranging knowledge of science, cultures, and society; high level intellectual and practical skills, an active commitment to personal and social responsibility, and the demonstrated ability to apply learning to complex problems and challenges” (AAC&U, 2007, p. 4). For this paper I will be focusing on how a Liberal education is invaluable to those attaining a baccalaureate in a science, specifically nursing. This paper will discuss: i Why I chose to pursue a liberal education. ii The value a liberal education has for me and for my future nursing practice. And finally iii I will explain what autonomy means to me and my future nursing practice.

Some have recently argued that a liberal education, as opposed to a vocational education, is a waste of time, money and effort because so much of these are spent on the pursuit of knowledge not at all relevant to the chosen major. As Bob Newman of Paradigm Media states, "We all know that career colleges and trade schools get a bad rep in the education industry. For many, they’re viewed as the “other option” or Plan B. What surprises me about these stereotypes is that the data available shows that career/trade school grads can make way more in the long run than students with a Bachelors or even Masters degree.” The common consensus is that college is a mere ticket to the corporate world of high pay, early retirement jobs. If this is