The article “The New Liberal Arts” by Sanford Ungar argues that the people who have studied the liberal art are not beneficial for the society, however the author states several facts to prove against it. The author believes not only the Liberal art major is valuable in America, but also other countries have special consideration to this field. These students have strong communication skills and they catch up very fast, in addition they study science and math beside art. A lot of people immigrate to America every year, so they are considered as a second language, thus their communication skills are weak. Liberal art students have been trained to raise the society communication skills, moreover they gain variety of abilities such as:
“The New Liberal Arts” is written from the author's point of view. The author, Sanford J. Ungar, writes strongly on “Misperception” of Liberal Arts. He writes down each misperception and gives his reasoning, backed up with facts as to why he, the author, considers each one a misperception. The author writes about each misperception by numbering them and also gives reasoning. For example, “Misperception NO. 1: A liberal-arts degree is a luxury” and reasoning, “families can no longer afford… depths of the recession” (p. 227).
In William Cronon’s essay “Only Connect” he poses the question to his audience on trying to deduce the concept of liberal education. Cronon makes it clear within his essay that a liberal education goes beyond earning a degree and fulfilling credit hours; to him there's something more deeper in a liberal education that helps shape an individual’s life. He discusses some historical background information on where liberal education came from by citing how the word “liberal” developed throughout time and he even mentions how the liberal arts curriculum developed. Throughout, the majority of the essay Cronon makes a valid argument on what the purpose of a liberal education does for individuals pursuing college. In his opinion, he believes a liberal
In Charles Murray’s article, “Down With the Four-Year College Degree”, he discusses how he believes the four year degree is ruining college education. Murray exemplifies the ludicrousness of the four year degree when he says: Imagine that you have been made a member of a task force to design America’s post-secondary education system from scratch. One of your colleagues submits this proposal: First, we will set up a single goal to represent educational success, which will take four years to achieve no matter what is being taught. We will attach an economic reward to it that often has nothing to do with what has been learned.
Jobs are looking for you to be well rounded, and having a liberal arts degree opens the door for you to be able to accomplish that. Ungar goes on to explain how there is a misperception about college graduates not being able to find jobs with a liberal arts education. Ungar uses a survey to show that companies actually prefer employees that have the skills and knowledge that a liberal arts education offers. Ungar states that some believe a liberal arts education is unsuccessful.
In the article "The New Liberal Arts", author Sanford J. Ungar takes a stance on the benefits and the need for students to pursue a liberal arts education. Ungar argues that despite modern day critique of liberal education, from his point of view as a liberal arts college president the criticisms and naysayers are futile. He swiftly and authoritively defends the affordable cost of a liberal education, employers desiring graduates with liberal education degrees, and the ability for those holding liberal arts degrees to compete with those pursuing science and mathematics majors. While Ungar's work has a great general idea, some of his specified points lack the evidence to truly stand on their own two feet. A liberal arts education is a useful
There are advantages to this though, someone who gets a liberal arts degree might be better at certain things such as comprehension, problem solving, and critical thinking. Many of those skills are wanted by employers when they are looking to hire a college graduate. On the other hand, Murray believes pursuing a liberal arts degree is a waste of time. Murray, claims are mostly valid because on average it takes longer for a liberal arts graduate to find a job, and they start off making less than the average professional career. He believes people are looking for innovators not just
Jamaladeen Obaid English 5 Professor 10/21/2015 Knowledge is light and the darkness of ignorance In the early days Liberal art education provided students with information that allowed them to expand their knowledge. It brings a strong foundation for students because it highlights the necessity of science, writing, art, philosophy, and history. These are fundamental to being a well-rounded and successful student.
In the article “Why We Undervalue a Liberal Arts Education” by Adam Chapnick, the author points to reasons why the liberal arts degree is undervalued. While his article lacks direction, it is effective because he talks about the topics he promised and he backs up his claims efficiently through the use of ethos,pathos and logos. Overall his argument is legitimate and the article is well written. To my understanding, the article is analyzing the way the world looks at liberal arts degrees and how they should be teaching the students to appreciate them. Chapnick clearly thinks that the liberal arts degree is unappreciated by today’s society as you can see in this quote, “The message coming from the policy world is clear: if you want
Things like that is what student these days see and find unappealing. So let's take Adam Chapnicks’ advice and conceive and developed more way to appeal students to think about the liberal arts. Teacher should learn how to make it fun to learn. One thing Adam does not mention, which seem to be a great idea is that students should not be required to take intensive classes of liberal art. Once you enter high school you start to think about your career.
Ever wanted to throw down that textbook and read something enjoyable for once? Well, go ahead! Chunk that dull textbook out a window and pick up a comic; it will be more beneficial to your education than you think. The skills and values that liberally educated people should posses can vary from different views, yet the list of ten qualities that William Cronon created in his article, “’Only Connect…’ The Goals of a Liberal Education”(1998), is an inspirational goal for the liberally educated. Cronon’s list of qualities includes solving problems and puzzles, empowering others, and understanding how to get stuff done in the world.
One specific item that was brought to my attention from the article was the purpose of the liberal arts education, and the “requirements” as noted from an institution but interpreted in my understanding. It is competency in communication, using the modes of thought characteristic of the major areas of knowledge, a knowledge of our basic cultural heritage, and a thorough understanding of at least one subject area (Cronon, W., 1998). My interpretation of this would be agreeing on the importance/competency of communication, but emphasizing the knowledge of culture as it applies from a global perspective, critical thinking as it should be applied and accentuating the understanding of at least one subject area. After reading the article, my understanding of the meaning of a liberal arts education, is heightened by the learning outcomes and prominence of the breadth areas as they are applied to my knowledge and life
I have always been someone how if I believe in something or believe I can do something I will do. Reading these articles, it showed be that I can do it no matter how hard it gets. I’m choosing the Career Project to connect to the three articles because the Career Project has showed be a lot of what I will have to do to achieve by goal of the career I want. With William Cronon’s Only Connect article about freedom to choice was you want in your education. Is a big part that is involved in the Career Project because I am given information that I will need to do to get the education I need to get the career I want.
Ungar’s essay, Charles Murray discusses why a liberal arts degree is unnecessary in his essay, “Are Too Many People Going to College?”. Murray believes that the basics of a liberal education are indeed important, but that students should be provided the basics of liberal arts in elementary and middle school (Murray 223). In this essay, Murray cites E.D. Hirsch Jr.’s book Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know.” Hirsch Jr. and Murray believe that there is a “body of core knowledge” that all students should have, and that “this core knowledge is an important part of the glue that holds the culture together” but that this core knowledge should be taught in grades K-8 (Murray 224). Murray discusses how young children are much better at memorizing facts than adults are, to support his position that kids should be memorizing this core knowledge at a younger age (Murray 224).
With the year-round pressure pertaining to college applications on high school seniors follows the impending decision of choosing an appropriate college major. Generally, the decision-making process involves prioritizing one field of interest over another, however, due to globalization and constant innovation in technology determining a college major has increasingly become the modern day equivalent of the metaphorical line between life and death. Even so, the obvious choice would be the prestigious STEM fields over liberal arts due to the instant job opportunities which are seemingly ludicrous to a recent graduate. Nevertheless, liberal arts education should be encouraged to be pursued at higher education institutions in USA because it helps