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On the uses of a liberal education
Short paragraph on liberal education
The benefit of liberal education
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The article, Our Compassless Colleges, by Peter Berkowitz discusses the current challenges faced in liberal education in universities, how the current education is defeating the purpose of liberal education and the methods to solve the issue and the people who can solve the issue. Perter Berkowitz is former professor of Law in Hoover Institution at Stanford University. Berkowiz also taught political philosophy in the Department of Government at Harvard University and taught law at George Mason University School of Law. In his article, according to Berkowiz, university can be considered as the last chance for people to broadly and deeply read to understand the society they live in and also to study other cultures. However, he strongly believes that the universities are not providing a strong base for the students to learn comprehensive intellectual habits and to familiarize them with long-term ideas about culture, politics and social reforms. …show more content…
Therefore, according to the author, students will graduate college without having a strong base in any particular subject matter as each of them have studied different subject matter and have various views about different subjects; thereby, making all of the students educated and not educated at the same time. According to the author, the current dilemma cannot be changed by students or the parents; but they can be changed by the Provost, Dean of a major university or by the trustees at private universities. Moreover, Berkowitz stand on liberal education is accurate and well-defined, the arguments are logical; but does not have evidence to prove that the current liberal arts education has any particular cons and the view of the author is
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
If they are taught correctly, liberal arts classes have the potential to help “students cross social boundaries in their imaginations. Studying a common core of learning will help orient them to common tasks as citizens; it will challenge or bolster… their views and, in any case, help them understand why not everyone in the world (or in their classroom) agrees with them,” explains Gitlin in his article “The Liberal Arts in an Age of Info-Glut.” By exposing students to this in high school, they will be more prepared when this moment occurs in their careers. I, along with many students throughout the country, have been exposed to incorrectly-taught liberal arts classes. Students taking English, for instance, must read specific novels while assessing a theme that is already pointed out to them. Then, they must answer a question that has only two answers. This type of curriculum not only eliminates the development of opinions, but it keeps the students from being exposed to most of the author's beliefs and the author’s point of view, which is the main purpose of liberal arts classes. Without this exposure, students are left incapable of working with others and accepting their opinions in order to develop solutions to
Liberal educations benefit students in the long run, long after students have paid their loans. People are able to be informed on national topic, while also being able to be self dependent. Two qualities that are essential in the modern society. I believe it is important to have such a basic understanding of education and knowledge, just like what Nussbaum agreed too in her essay. However, I also believe the curriculum should be centered around making students a better person. Institutions should try to produce good people with the right intentions instead of just focusing on testing intelligence, similar to what Cronon focused on in his essay. If we can incorporate both of these important features into our liberal education system, then and only then, will we be thriving as a society. Graduates will have a good understanding of knowledge from an array of different fields, as well as having important traits that will carry on for the rest of their
Have you ever read something and thought “What a bunch of crap”? Well that’s the reaction I had to reading Fareed Zakaria’s book, In Defense Of a Liberal Education. Over the course of the book, Zakaria makes the argument that attending college with the specific intention to get trained for a job is “Short sighted and needlessly limiting”. Zakaria also breaks down the differences between the United State’s education system with other countries across the globe. By attending college with the intention of receiving critical thinking skills and being able to express our ideas, rather than just going to train for a job, Zakaria believes that the average student would be much better off in the world after they graduate.
The right and privilege to higher education in today’s society teeters like the scales of justice. In reading Andrew Delbanco’s, “College: What It Was, Is, and Should Be, it is apparent that Delbanco believes that the main role of college is to accommodate that needs of all students in providing opportunities to discover individual passions and dreams while furthering and enhancing the economic strength of the nation. Additionally, Delbanco also views college as more than just a time to prepare for a job in the future but a way in which students and young adults can prepare for their future lives so they are meaningful and purposeful. Even more important is the role that college will play in helping and guiding students to learn how to accept alternate point of views and the importance that differing views play in a democratic society. With that said, the issue is not the importance that higher education plays in society, but exactly who should pay the costly price tag of higher education is a raging debate in all social classes, cultures, socioeconomic groups and races.
Instead, Sanford J. Ungar presents the arguments that all higher education is expensive and needs to be reevaluated for Americans. He attempts to divert the argument of a liberal arts education tuition by stating “ The cost of American higher education is spiraling out id control, and liberal-arts colleges are becoming irrelevant because they are unable to register gains i productivity or to find innovative ways of doing things” (Ungar 661). The author completely ignores the aspects of paying for a liberal arts degree or even the cost comparison to a public university. Rather, Ungar leads the reader down a “slippery slope” of how public universities attain more funding and grants from the government, while liberal arts colleges are seemingly left behind. The author increasingly becomes tangent to the initial arguments he presented by explaining that students have a more interactive and personal relationship with their professors and other students. Sanford J. Ungar did not address one aspect of the cost to attend a liberal arts college or how it could be affordable for students who are not in the upper class.
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.
College is a popular topic for most, and Sanford J. Ungar and Charles Murray have a unique way of explaining both their opinions. In his essay, “The New Liberal Arts,” Sanford J. Ungar advocates that the liberal arts should be everybody’s education, regardless of the fact that most Americans are facing economic hardship. The first misconception that he begins to explain is “a liberal arts degree is a luxury that most families can no longer afford”. Career education” is what we now must focus on.”
Now, let us define liberal arts or liberal education. According to Michael Lind, liberal arts should be understood in its original sense as “elite skills” (54). We all know that liberal arts include cour...
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
The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB) began as Branch Normal College, which sought to accommodate the higher-educational needs of Arkansas’s African-American population. UAPB is the alma mater of such notable figures as attorney Wiley Branton Sr., Dr. Samuel Kountz, and attorney John W. Walker.
In Charles Murray’s essay entitled “Are Too Many People Going to College?”, he discusses the influx of Americans getting a college education. He addresses the topic of Liberal Arts education, and explains that not many people are ready for the rigorous challenges a liberal-arts degree offers. In addition, Murray explains that instead of a traditional degree more people should apply to technical schools. He believes that college should not be wide spread, and that it is only for those who can handle it. These viewpoints harshly contrast with Sanford J. Ungar’s views. Ungar believes college education should be widespread, because a liberal-arts degree is, in his opinion, a necessity. He argues that a liberal-arts college is the only place that
Doctor Emily Hauptmann is a college professor that holds a Ph.D. from Berkley as well as a publish author. Doctor Hauptmann quotes Jeff Schmidt in her lecture as saying, “professors rarely challenge their institutions being described as Ivory Towers because part of the image, the part that makes universities seem like islands of autonomy is so appealing even when you throw the tried irrelevance in it.” Those institutions are what shape our country through higher education. The students of those colleges and universities are the people that go on to become doctors, lawyers, teachers, business executives and the politicians that run our country. Those politicians are the people that pass laws that direct the education system. It is a huge cycle that is never ending.
Catherine Liu, the author of American Idyll: Academic Antielitism as Cultural Critique argues that, “The very mission of universities has changed. We don’t educate people anymore. We train them to get jobs”(Anti-Intellectualism). Even if our society different from outside, in inside our world becoming more likely like Brave New World. Our society doesn’t care about learning but more care about their grades. Our society doesn’t care about how much they’re learning but how our learning will get us a job. It is the same to World State where they don’t care about learning because they already conditioned to just learn what they have to learn from the government. They are conditioned so they never want to do anything they shouldn’t done by the government.
Nowadays, University Education is becoming the most important thing. There are dozens of benefits such as knowledge, social skill, living experience, living standard, thinking ability for better future lives. However, it has generated large number of discussions and arguments. Opponents claim university education is not necessary for a successful life, whereas supporters say that university education is necessary for successful life furthermore university education Allow student getting more knowledge changing the view in life, opening a gate to social change. This essay will argue that, while University Education have both positive and negative aspects, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.