I was given the opportunity to attend the lecture given by Dr. Harry Boyte on Thursday in Lincoln Hall. I was surprised to find out just how many great achievements Dr. Boyte has accomplished in his life. From being an assistant to Martin Luther King Jr. to being an advisor to the presidential campaign of Barack Obama, and publishing several books I was in awe that I was in the presence of such an influential person. I was surprised to see that there were so many faculty members and students alike, everyone seemed very interested in what Dr. Boyte came to say. I was very happy to see a lot of people there because it shows that the Education program here at the University of Illinois really wants to move in a direction of change for the better. …show more content…
Boyte mentioned several anecdotes from different events that were related to a certain topic, I really enjoyed that he did this because it retained the interest of the audience but also brought a more “real” factor to him that he is a human too. A term that was used often in this lecture was “citizen professional” Dr. Boyte defined this term as someone who is 1) patriotic and 2) understanding of such patriotic citizens in a society. What stood out for me in this lecture was the mention of the three parts that need to be enforced in education: the head, heart, and hand. Dr. Boyte said “Liberal education (head) must always be connected to vocational (heart, hand).” This statement I thought really connected to what we are discussing in class and was interesting to see how the concepts we use in higher education are used in real life scenarios. The last term that Dr. Boyte used that I really enjoyed was the concept of a public narrative; this means that everyone has a story. Dr. Boyte asked us to think of two or three key impactful events that had occurred to us in out lives and to later decide what we did. Dr. Boyte even asked a student in the audience who was shaking their head in agreement to what he has said, and asked him why he connected to the public
As I waited to observe the audience as they filled the seats with pencil in hand, I was amazed by the amount of diversity I saw before me. By the time the lecture was ready to set foot, I observed that nearly the entire lecture hall was filled. I would say that the hall where our discussion was being held in could probably hold around 300 people. The majority of the audience was not students forced to write a paper on the Brown v. Board Commemoration events, but rather scholars who were on average in their mid-40s. It seemed as though everyone knew each other to some degree. At one point, I saw a woman walk in with her young son and they were greeted by one of the first presenters. Oftentimes, groups of 2 or 3 walked into the room and they would sit down in no particular section of the seating and proceed to talk moderately loudly and peacefully. There was a sense of joy and rejuvenation in the air. After making my final observations of the crowd, I noted that it was a predominantly white showing! Not something I would expect to see when attending a discussion on slavery. It was a spectacle for me to see a group of Asian Americans nodding in unison when points were made during the seminar relating to black and white race relations. I would say that African-Americans wer...
...ntegration of student-faculty conferences, educational facilities will become places full of smiling, bright scholars. As a current student in high school, it is very easy to see these issues in the education system. Each day I walk the halls beside exhausted zombies who debate whether they should use their lunch periods to get math help in the library or sacrifice a club so they could read a chapter of anatomy that is not even relative to what they talk about in class. Due to the ever-increasing competition and subsequent elevation in performance standards, kids’ academic and emotional prosperity is only going to get worse. When I am an adult and have children, there is nothing more that I would love to see in their long drives through high school than an improvement in the education system, so that they would not have to struggle through school my peers and I did.
Newman says that the scope of education should broaden and encourage more learning outside of the career track, while Freire says how the material is learned should be broadened and laid out where it is learned for its entirety and not just its basic ideas. They feel that “the learned professions altogether... [are] the most popularly beneficial and… most intimately divine of all human pursuits” (Newman, 57). Simply said, education is something of high importance that should be desired and acquired by all. If one does not embrace education, he or she will not gain knowledge or understand its importance. Fredrick Douglass, a famous slave that worked to gain knowledge, and ultimately helped abolish slavery understands this concept. In his biography, “Learning to Read,” he describes his struggle of learning to read and write. He says, “I wished to learn… [and] after a long, tedious effort for years, I finally succeeded in learning” (Douglas, 50). As a slave, being educated was a difficult task, but Douglass understood its importance and desired to pursue it. At first, he despised, the education, “while they [(the arguments in the Columbian Orator)] relieved me of one difficulty, they brought on another even more painful than the one of which I was relieved,” but it eventually lead to his understanding of “abolition” and helped him free “[him]self and fellow-slaves” (48,49). The education Douglass learns from the Columbian Orator and local newspapers, among other places, is a prime example of liberal knowledge. He learned it “for the sake of knowing it.” Douglass’s example solidifies Newman’s idea that liberal education is valuable because it is proven to have “value and dignity” (Newman, 58). His example also exemplifies Freire’s point that “Liberation is a praxis: the action and reflection of men and women upon their world in order to transform it” (65). Freire believes that one
The issue of whether HBCU’s are still needed have been occurring constantly in today’s nation. HBCU’s have been in existence for almost two centuries now. Their principal mission is to educate African Americans, and they have. HBCU’s graduate more than 50% of “African American” professionals and public school teachers. But, HBCU’s have been facing challenges such as their decrease in diversity, financing, and graduate rates which has caused a speculation of their importance in today’s communities. I believe that HBCU’s are still needed.
Perry, Robert T. ""On 'Real Education'"." Practical Argument: A Text and Anthology. Ed. Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2011. 625-627. Print.
This book is an absolutely phenomenal first-hand account of Horton's and Freire's progress in educational reform and social change. From descriptions of Horton's Highlander school and its contributions to the civil rights movement, to Freire's philosophies on education and civic duty, this book was captivating in every sense of the word. Freire and Horton instill in the reader the values of both educational and civic responsibility that are found in few books today. The interview format made the book very easy to understand. Both men were obviously committed to making their views clear to the reader.
The commencement speech given by David Foster Wallace in the autumn of 2005, is a very deep speech that examines the whole idea of a Liberal Arts education at an extremely deep and intellectual level. In the 22 minute long speech Wallace talks about how higher education not only teaches you to think but “how to exercise some control over how and what you think.” (Wallace). Wallace later in his speech stresses the importance of this level of thinking by saying “if you cannot exercise this kind of choice in adult life, you will be totally hosed” (Wallace) What he means by saying this is that if you cannot think at a higher level and make sense of real world problems your life will become meaningless and you will become dead inside your head.
Ungar, S. J. (2010). The new liberal arts. In G. Graff, C. Birkenstein, & R. Durst (Eds.). “They say, I say”: The moves that matter in academic writing with readings. (2nd ed.). (pp. 190-197). New York: W. W. Norton. This article looks to prove that liberal arts education is just as valuable as “career education” because contrary to general belief, career education doesn’t guarantee high-paying jobs after they graduate.
From reading the book, I have developed my own stance that the book education system is similar to today’s education system. I can relate with the text because I have noticed most of my history fails to mention successes of the Negroes. In fact, I was astonished that Dr. George Washington Carver had invented peanut butter. I can relate to chapter four’s solution because in my school system, Teach For America teachers who were from different areas and ethnic backgrounds were ill equipped to teach African American students while an older teacher would be able to raise test scores and teach students
Pring, R. (1995). Closing the Gap: Liberal Education and Vocational preparation. London: Hodder & Stoughton.
Cronon writes of liberal education in modern society and what it means him. He tries to condense liberal education down for the reader, as he thinks that society has let it become too broad of a term. Making "lists" for a person's education can make them forget the real purpose that it is to "nurture human freedom and growth." (p.113) He then makes a list of his own ideals of what liberal education should provide the student the student with. (of what qualities they should pocess after being liberally educated) He deems liberal education in society today as having had become too broad and that the real purpose has been forgotten.
“Hence you see why “liberal studies” are so called; it is because they are studies worthy of a free- born gentlemen. But there is only one really liberal study – that which gives a man his liberty. It is the study of wisdom”, said Lucius Annaeus Seneca, the Roman Stoic philosopher who lived during the time of Jesus Christ. Historically speaking, learning liberal arts we learn ourselves to be passionate, loyal, brave and what is more important, generous. The word “freedom” has been the fundamental component of any American Dream. Today we celebrate our nation’s independence and allowance to govern ourselves.
When I first read David Foster Wallace’s Kenyon Commencement speech, I instantly gained a reaction from it. What struck me the most was the way that I felt, I had actually had a connection with what he was talking about. I felt as if I had actually been in the audience and was sitting right below him listening to every ounce of word he was saying. His sole purpose in his speech was to introduce and redefine what education was. Not only did he make his point across through his speech thoroughly but the way he did it with his choice of words, tone, and style were what impressed me the most.
Nussbaum, Martha C. "Chapter 10 Democratic Citizenship and the Narrative Imagination." Why Do We Educate?: Renewing the Conversation. Ed. David L. Coulter. Comp. John R. Wiens and Gary D. Fenstermacher. Chicago: National Society for the Study of Education, 2008. 143-57. Print.
The two articles that helped solidify my idea of personal identity were “Only Connect” and “The Truth About Boys and Girls”. This is so because they both gave a brief explanation towards what a person needs to achieve in order to become who they are. To becoming how we are, we learn from our surroundings and we take in what we think is best for us. According to the writer of “Only Connect”, Cronon concludes his description of a liberal education giving ten different ideals of his own. According to Cronon (1998), “the “liberal arts” were required courses, more or less, that every student was supposed to learn before attaining the status of a “free man” (p. 2). He believes that these ten different ideal traits are personally recognized in