The Death Of Liberal Arts Analysis

Critical examination of the four liberal arts breadth areas, in their natural state, demonstrate that each area of study brings value and purpose to life. It is important to focus on developing weaknesses to gain fulfillment while using strengths to help others succeed.

History is an important role into being a citizen. History shows the importance of identifying critical skills, and leadership.Without learning about history, citizenship wouldn’t be possible. Having historical events shows how to grow inside communities and within the liberal art division. Learning History shapes who a person truly is and allows growth.

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

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.

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 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

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.

In the” Are college worth the price of admission “Andrew Hacker and Claudia Dreifus, Professors of political science and international relationship at Queen College, focus on what Liberal arts college are doing good .They urge different things college have done to promote high education and give examples of college that are putting effort in liberal arts education .The authors also note the most important thing of liberal arts education are the small environment , affordability and the religious affiliation .Finally the author argues that liberal arts education is promoting higher education

In the article “We ignore the liberal arts at our peril” which was written by Alan Wildeman and appeared in The Globe and Mail on September 07, 2015, Wildeman claims that liberal arts degrees are valuable investments for people of the twenty-first century. Wildeman backs up his argument by providing facts from a study that lasted thirteen years in which the annual earnings of graduates from 1998 were tracked. Over the thirteen years, the earnings of the liberals arts graduates rose to $80,000 - the same earnings as a math or science graduate. This proves that liberal arts degrees pay as well as a math or science degree. Wildeman also uses information from the Ontario university systems which tracks graduate performances. Two years after graduating from an Ontario university, ninety-two percent of liberal arts graduates were employed.

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

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

Mr. Ungar, President of a liberal arts college, most clearly devised the essay The New Liberal Arts to show that liberal arts is a competitive education compared to any other degree. Ungar has a high standards for liberal arts and is driven to spread the word on various common misperceptions of liberal arts today. Ungar strongly believes that people underestimate the resources, and general future lifestyle that liberal arts provides. Personally, I disagree with his opinions especially with him being a Liberal Arts College President. I think that his opinions on the misperceptions are biased, just a ploy to get people to join the liberal arts education.

There are many benefits to offering the humanities courses as a liberal arts degree and has been an option for students for ages. Conversely, due to the rising, uncontrolled costs of college tuition, colleges and universities need to streamline a goal oriented education at the end of each student's college commitment to make their financial commitment justifiable. Additionally, the students enter college with the anticipation that they will be gainfully employed which will eventually make them wealthy. The decision at Centenary College to cut courses in the humanities is controversial for a variety of reasons. For instance, in advanced degrees such as engineering, some feel it is not necessary to take unrelated courses, such as, music, arts, religion, and philosophy. These are all just extras that are taking time away from students who want to major in something that does not involve these things. On the other hand, some humanity courses are important because they are believed to teach

In this paper you will learn my insights into my life. I will touch on my formal and informal education. I will reflect on the four Breadth areas of Ottawa University’s program of liberal arts studies. Future goals, philosophy, values, and obstacles will be discussed. This will include significant people and events that have happened in my life.