The New Liberal Arts- Summary In the article, “The New Liberal Arts,” author Sanford J. Ungar addresses several misperceptions that people have about the importance of Liberal arts education in today’s world. In doing so, he highlights seven misperceptions that people have and then provides a logical correction to them. In his article, the first misperception claims that people should focus more on career education rather than liberal arts education. On contrary, Ungar argues that the society today, demand individual’s who have preparation in all fields, which liberal arts provide.
Summary In chapter three “In the defense of a Liberal Education” author Fareed Zakaria opens up what he believes to be “central virtue of liberal education”(72). He writes that it teaches one how to think critically and clearly. He explains that thinking is the stronger advantage one could have in writing well. Before writing it helps first people to think in a critical sense so work should be using simple language in a well comprehendible way.
Foster Wallace delivers the 2005 Kenyon Commencement Address. During this speech, Wallace accentuates to the students that a liberal art education is all about teaching you how to think. This means you have the freedom to think differently. He talks about having a true education is more about simple awareness. Wallace goes on to discuss that thinking is about being less self-centered and being more aware of the people around us.
Sanford J. Ungar’s “The New Liberal Arts” discusses the common assumptions made about a liberal arts education and how they are often wrong. Ungar believes that a liberal arts education is important for all students and teaches them skills they will not learn elsewhere. He also insists other countries, such as China, should adopt America’s liberal arts system, he says, “The Chinese may be coming around to the view that a primary focus on technical training is not serving them adequately-that if they aspire to world leadership, they will have to provide young people with a broader perspective” (Ungar 231). In other words, Ungar believes only a proper liberal arts education can help students achieve an open mind. Though I concede that a liberal
In Charles Murray’s essay “Are Too Many People Going to College,” he believes that the concept of college has changed over the years. According to him, a four-year college is no longer as necessary as it was when it was first created because most jobs requires more on job training. He also adds to his reasoning by mentioning that because of the advancement of internet, physical libraries and the physical proximity of student and teachers is less important. Because of the changes he noticed he believes that people should go to college but not for liberal education. He makes the claim that the basic core knowledge of liberal education should be learned in elementary and middle school and that only people with high academic abilities should be encouraged to go to college.
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
David Foster Wallace is an American writer. He spoke at the Kenyon Commencement Address in 2005, where he gave a speech to the graduating class of the year. David tells the graduates of Kenyon College what the true meaning of a liberal arts degree is, and how they should go about finding it. David Foster Wallace’s appeals to credibility, emotion and logical reasoning in his speech – “This Is Water” – to strengthen the idea that the meaning of education is learning how and what to think, independently.
The article, “Why we undervalue a liberal arts education” By Adam Chapnick written on March 6, 2013 is informative and insightful because the author talks about the importance of not undervaluing liberal arts. Chapnick tells you that at the end of the day science, technology, engineering and mathematics is what is really important. One of Adam Chapnick main idea is that the large public does not get the value of liberal arts. That it has no money value, it is just important.
In David Foster Wallace’s “ Kenyon Commencement Speech,” he discusses the importance of liberal arts education in “teaching you how to think” (Wallace, 199). He mentions how education is beyond the knowledge we learn, but about simple awareness will impact the choices we make for better or worse. The real value of education cannot be found in a career (you may or may not be fired from), but it can be found in the way you view things through a different perspective and by considering how other factors can contribute to everyday life. This new approach in thinking will allow us to appreciate our lives and overcome our inner “default setting” towards the world (Wallace, 199). I agree with Wallace’s argument because the purpose of higher education should not be about having career-specific skills and obtaining a degree, but about intellectual and personal growth will help us survive in the real world.
The article “Liberal Arts and The Bottom Line” by Lane Wallace suggests that business executives that are being taught more liberal art based courses will be taught how to be a well-rounded human being. Instead of being all about what Wallace refers to as the bottom line, which can do great harm to the economy and the company’s employees, it is presented that business executives that took liberal arts courses are less concerned about the business bottom line and more about the well-being of the people around them. Wallace’s argument that liberal arts shapes a person into a more well-rounded human being is not effectively supported in the article. Being a business executive comes with the responsibility of trying to increase its profits.
Our education curriculum here in the United States has always been under heated debate, as evidenced by the constant curriculum changes made in various educational institutions. Charles Lipson’s article, “A Do It Yourself Liberal Education,” presents critical ideas that add to the debate, describing how many schools today, including the Ivy Leagues, have stepped further and further away from the crucial classics and other works that Clifton Fadiman, in mid-century America, valued as a necessary part to an intellectually stimulating education. As a personal opinion on the topic, I would agree with Lipson’s later argument, arguing too that in order to result in both productive and intellectually stimulating debate on the vital topics that face
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
Martha Nussbaum has experiences in writing about education related topics such as liberal education, already publishing a book called „Cultivating Humanity”. However her inspiration to write her book entitled “Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities” came from a person of the Spencer Foundation named Mike McPherson but also because of the fact that she was resident fellow at the foundation. In addition to this, her association with the Cambridge school in Weston, Massachusetts helped her by giving her optimism in what type of education she wanted to defend in her book. ( xii )
Each method of education can be argued for and against. In Sanford J. Ungar’s essay, “The New Liberal Arts”, his argument supports a liberal arts education. He gives the reader examples of misperceptions of a liberal arts
A student (a young man in his mid-teens and older) can enrol into a university, he needed a basic knowledge of the seven liberal arts: the trivium (which included rhetoric, grammar, and logic)
