Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Liberal arts courses can benefit students
Liberal arts education why is it important
The importance of liberal arts in higher education
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Liberal arts courses can benefit students
For several years, no matter how high tuitions rose, a steady stream of students passed through the gate of a liberal art college. A majority of these students and their families involves considerable expense, time and effort. Was it worth it? I got several reliable answers which suggest that it was. From the discussion in the honor courses, they really got a great insight into what they are looking for in college and got answer that it is worth to fertilize the soul of themselves through a growing knowledge. Some people may insist that they gain more material things from learning such as that it is useful to prepare them for a job. However, students have been blinded by those visible material things and they neglect the transformation of the human characters. While to an extent "seeing is believing", quite often it is what you don’t see that makes the difference. Receiving liberal art education, students are able to have many kinds of perspectives and use them appropriately. For these reasons, I believe learning just like Tangram which is a square divided into seven pieces that can be arranged in many ways. People hold on consistently and persistently to find the possibility of the world and themselves. This journey is permanent and people should enjoy it and embrace it. And students should see invisible changing when they are learning. Fortunately, at Drew University, I did see students were eager to embrace the process of learning from my observation of Chinese classes.
In the class I observed, I found my notion of freedom, a key to embrace learning, was confirmed. More interestingly, there were plenty of ways for the pursuit of freedom. When I observed Chinese class, I saw the classroom had blue wall which differs from the yellow chairs in other class and evoked tranquility, freedom and esteem. To my surprise, the placing of tables and chairs was very special. Four tables, on either side of the classroom, formed a long table. In the middle, each of the four tables was perpendicular to the long tables. And three black boards were on the three sides of this classroom. Every student enjoyed this open environment and lived in this environment for a long time.
All though “The New Liberal Arts”, Sanford J. Ungar uses seven misconceptions about liberal arts on why learning the liberal arts. And explain why is still relevant and will be for coming years. The first misperception that he advocates is that a liberal arts degree is no longer affordable. Vocational training is better alternative to liberal arts in today. In this recession it is a financially wise decision to obtain a career oriented education instead. Students may not able to find jobs in the field that they are training after graduate. Ungar argues that especially collage students find it harder to get good jobs with liberal arts degrees, which is not the case. Which is the second misperception is that graduates with liberal arts degrees
Imagine a cardiovascular surgeon about to crack the sternum of a dying patient; tension is high while the clock of life ticks desperately slower and softer for the poor soul on the cold steel table that saw death the hour before. Is it logical that at that moment the purveyor of life is contemplating whether his freshmen philosophy class back at SMU has thoroughly prepared him for what he is about to do? Not likely. In higher learning institutions, liberal art classes like philosophy are not meant to be directly applied to one’s life or career; however, they are structured and devised to be a strong base that the individual can expand upon through scientific learning and experience. This is precisely the reason colleges and universities require and place much emphasis on these classes; nevertheless, there has been a shift away from the liberal arts towards the direction of highly specialized areas of science and business because of their growing integration in everyday life. Although people need a limited number of liberal arts classes to attain a basic understanding of ourselves and our evolution, state universities are aptly moving towards technical education, because, in this fast paced world, many people don’t have the time or money to spend studying the humanities alone.
In the past several years, there has been a growing trend in the number of college-bound individuals getting two-year degrees from community colleges or earning certification for their desired career field at vocational schools. Such schools certainly seem to have some valuable qualities: all boast of having lower costs than other colleges, of their absence of student loans, of allowing people to make more money quicker, of being narrowly focused so students don’t have to take classes they don’t need. They attempt to point out apparent weaknesses in liberal arts colleges as well, claiming that such an education is unnecessary in today’s world. However, for every reason to go to a community or two-year college, a vocational track, or an apprenticeship, there is another, stronger reason for going to a traditional, four-year college, and the liberal arts degree gained at four year colleges far outstrips the degree gained at a two year school or through a vocational track.
In recent years, many have debated whether or not a college education is a necessary requirement to succeed in the field of a persons’ choice and become an outstanding person in society. On one hand, some say college is very important because one must contribute to society. The essay Three Reasons College Still Matters by Andrew Delbanco shows three main reasons that students should receive their bachelor’s degree. On the other hand, many question the point of wasting millions of dollars on four years or maybe more to fight for highly competitive jobs that one might not get. Louis Menand wrote an article based on education titled Re-Imagining Liberal Education. This article challenges the main thought many americans have after receiving a secondary education. Louis Menand better illustrates the reasons why a student should rethink receiving a post secondary education better than Andrew Delbanco’s three reasons to continue a person’s education.
As mentioned throughout this analysis, Sanford J. Ungar’s main purpose of his essay, “7 Misperceptions About the Liberal Arts” is to inform Americans that liberal arts education is not an unpopular decision to make. Although The Chronicle of Higher Education published this article in 2010, it is still very relevant today. I believe Ungar has accomplished his purpose by adequately refuting each misperception in his essay. By using the three appeals of reason, emotion and ethics equally, Ungar leaves no doubt that liberal arts is an education that should not be sought after.
We live the truth every day, working to keep the ideal of democratic education alive. The best reason to care for college, who goes,and what happens to them when they get there, is not what it does for society, but what it can do for individuals.like the elder guy said, you thought me how to enjoy life. What he meant is college helped him read, help him crave for works of art, heightened his alertness to color from melody. He was grateful for such an education given to him. As a person regardless of what kind of origin we have, we have the right to pursue happiness. In america today at every kind of institution education is at risk. Student are persuade and program, trained to live from task to task. To many colleges do to little to save them debilitating frenzy that makes liberal education marginal if it is offered at
Turbide, Anne F. "Why Art Programs Are Beneficial to Students." The Synapse. N.p., 15 May 2015. Web. 10 May 2016.
Matthew L. Sanders discusses the necessity of taking responsibility for one’s own education in a section of his book Becoming a Learner: Realizing the Opportunity of Education. In this section, Sanders explains how he initially blamed an instructor for not teaching him sufficiently and then learned that “No matter what kind of teacher you have, no matter what kind of class you are taking, if you are a learner you will set out to understand the material and create opportunities for success.” This statement is true and the concept can be applied through many methods to create success for students if they are willing to put forth effort.
A college education gives a person the opportunity to be successful in life, either financially or morally dependent on the goals that they set for their life. They will choose a college that offer programs for the major of their choice, where they will specialize and receive a degree. The decision to pursue a higher education will give the opportunity to earn a better income over someone who does not have a degree. College is more of life preparation course that will help make sure a successful career. If a person pursues a career in engineering, physics or mathematics their curriculum would include more liberal art preparation courses, in order for them to earn their degree, so someone pursuing a degree in these types of careers are attending college for job preparation. On December 10, 2009 at Hamilton University in Clinton, New York, college professors debated current college curriculum (Liew). They talked about how their college could make a leap from being good to being great. At the 22nd American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges conference held in Long Beach California on November 14, 1996 the topic of changing curriculum was discussed (“Mich”). The University of Louisiana, Lafayette, is eliminating its philosophy major, while Michigan State University is doing away with American studies and classics, after years of decline in enrollments in those majors (Zernike). The purpose of a college education is to meet the student's liberal art’s needs so that they can compete and understand the connection between a degree and a job that will enable them to compete with other world economies, give them a well-rounded education that will enable them to earn a higher income, and retain a lifetime full of knowledge.
Education— or rather, the act of being educated— can take a wide variety of forms; the term education in itself is very broad and nonspecific. People learn new things every day whether they are conscious of it or not, which begs the question “what constitutes an education?” Higher education, for example, typically consists of being affiliated with some institution such as a university, or a lone college. Such educations may also follow the liberal arts methodology, depending on the values of the institution that is being attended. A liberal arts education, as opposed to some more straight forward methods of education such as STEM, allows for far more freedom of choice in your education—in fact, a broad education is encouraged at such institutions. Therefore, a true liberal arts education would lead to a far more-well-rounded pupil than those that follow more direct—or
Many students, including myself are entering college for the first time in our lives. They experience things alien to them and have to deal with an exorbitant amount of anxiety and stress. A major stressor that stands out is learning the academic way of thinking. Reading rhetorically and writing in a formal and academic manner are terms that, until now, were entirely foreign to me. At the high school level, many students are not exposed to these processes. Plain and simple, they just don’t experience this type of thinking and learning. This in turn causes an almost fight and flight response on the student’s part. Many students that struggle through these concepts give themselves the opportunity to stand or fall on their own accord, while others shut down and leave their education in the hands of chance. Students who experience this form of struggle are usually faced with the fear of asking for help.
A crucial topic being debated on in today’s society is core principles and disciplines. When debated and discussed, these two immense topics bring up discussion on liberal art colleges and their education. “Liberal Arts” can be translated in many different ways depending on perspectives. So what exactly is a liberal arts college/education? Patrick Connelly states, “A liberal arts college is a college with an emphasis on undergraduate study in the liberal arts and sciences. It aims to impart a broad general knowledge and develop general intellectual capacities for students” (Pg.18). Students who attend liberal art colleges experience broad and vast knowledge to create intellectual capacities that public universities will not provide. Essentially a liberal arts college gives a selected “Core” education to students to develop their skills and improve their weaknesses. Liberal arts are thought to be extremely necessary or very pointless depending on perspective. For example, two articles by two different authors explain liberal arts in a completely different way and opposite perspectives. The first
I’ve made it my passion to be a life-long learner to sharpen my skills, abilities and God-given talent. When an individual doesn’t make a conscience effort to expand their minds, then they are actually making a decision to begin to digress. Being an older college student, my desire is to learn everything that I possibly can with the aid of Victory University. It was fascinating reading about Rene’ Descartes who grew up in France. Descartes was also a life-long learner. He was the thinker and writer who coined the phrase, “I think, therefore I am” (Gluck, Mercado, & Myers, 2014, p. 7). Although Descartes existed during the time of the Renaissance, his theory that the eyes were significant to stimulating other parts of the body, such as the fingers, arms and legs was brilliant. It is now understood that this” process begins with the stimulus, a sensory event from the outside world entering” through the eyes (Gluck et al., 2014, p. 7).
Many people in history, as well as my mentors, have influenced my personal learning philosophy about early childhood learning.
I selected art education as a major because I have a drive for educating others and because my passion for art is unlimited. My excitement is uncontainable for my future career and to be able to teach others the knowledge I know. Vincent Van Gogh said “I dream of painting and then painted my dream,” and I cannot wait to live my dream in the University of Northern Art Art Education