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Essay regarding liberal arts education
Summary of sanford university the new liberal arts
The importance of liberal arts in higher education
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In Sanford Ungar’s essay, The New Liberal Arts, he dismisses the doubts of a liberal arts education with ease. He does this by listing out seven misconceptions of a liberal arts education, followed by his explanations of why these thoughts are exactly what he calls them: misconceptions. Misconception one claims that a liberal arts education is a luxury most people cannot afford, and instead they should focus on career education. He combats this by saying career education is a one way route, that eventually comes to a dead end, but that a liberal arts education opens up many new pathways, some that may not even exist yet. Misconception two states that college graduates can barely get a job with a liberal arts degree, he then goes on to say that most employers want …show more content…
I think the way he structured his essay was definitely the most effective way, instead of making it one continuous text, breaking it up into bullet points makes it easier for him to get his point across and for the reader to understand his points. One thing that made me step back and say, “wait what,” was when Ungar was discussing liberal arts for low income students in misconception three. Ungar says, “It is condescending to imply that those who have less cannot understand and appreciate the finer elements of knowledge- another way of saying, really, that the rich folks will do the important thinking, and the lower classes will simply carry out their ideas.” (228-229) But he later goes onto say, “They catch up quickly.” (229) I understand that Ungar probably didn’t mean anything negative from this statement, but the way I interpreted this was him saying that all poorer people start out stupid, but with the miracle of a liberal arts education they just might become smart. Ignoring this, I do agree with a lot of things that Ungar talks
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
The formation of the Africana Studies Project includes Knowledge, Power, and Humanity. This insurrectionary intellectual formation examines the worlds of meaning, thought, and expression of Africans, reconstructing new meanings and possibilities for humanity. Development of African American Studies has increased awareness of the contribution of African Americans to the civilizations of the world, using its many themes and concepts, while also displaying many issues. One main issue of this, is the lack of Africana knowledge. For African American discipline to advance, its focal point must be the production and utilization of knowledge, to develop solutions to various issues in our society.
Analysis of Mis-Education of the Negro The most important aspect for a teacher to understand is that every student that comes through their door has their own experiences, history, and point of view. Mis-Education of the Negro is about how the euro-centrism-based learning has, in one way or another, crippled the African-American community and their pursuit for an equal opportunity in our society. Written by Carter Godwin Woodson in 1933, this African-American studies book is written so that everyone can understand what society has done and what they can do to correct their wrongs. Author Carter Godwin Woodson dedicated his life to studying African-American history and fought so it can be taught in schools and studied by scholars.
In “Hidden Intellectualism,” Gerald Graff pens an impressive argument wrought from personal experience, wisdom and heart. In his essay, Graff argues that street smarts have intellectual potential. A simple gem of wisdom, yet one that remains hidden beneath a sea of academic tradition. However, Graff navigates the reader through this ponderous sea with near perfection.
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
List three facts the author uses to support the main idea: Jencks included a lot of studies and charts into his article that helped his argument. One of the studies that he included is on the percent of household income going to the richest one percent. In this study it showed that in 1979 7.5% of household income went to the top one percent, and in 1997 it jumped to 13.6 %. Another fact from the article is a study conducted by Lars Osberg from Dalhousie University. It found that the poor in America worked more hours than their poor counterpart in Canada, Britain, Sweden, France, and Germany. The third fact that I think is relatively important is that since 1979 the tuition at America's public colleges has risen faster than most parent's income. Thus giving the poor even less of a chance to receive a higher education.
In the article “The New Liberal Arts,” Sanford J. Ungar presents the argument of why liberal arts schools are still competitive and useful today. The beginning of the article immediately addresses the problem that Ungar is defending, “Hard economic times inevitably bring scrutiny of all accepted ideals and institutions, and this time around liberal-arts education has been especially hit hard.” The author provides credibility through his time of being a liberal arts presidents, applies statistics about the enrollment and job security outside of liberal college, he addresses the cost factor and how a student may find compensation, and that a liberal arts college is not preparing students for success. The article “The New Liberal Arts,” addresses
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.
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.
Over the past few years, people have begun to see going to college as a way to achieve the American Dream through career-readiness. People used to go to college, hoping to get a better well-rounded education. For most the well-rounded education, it usually came with the courses required for a liberal arts education. The courses would provide a level of analytical and in-depth understanding that would prepare the students for both life and whichever career path chosen. No matter the amount of money paid, parents would be willing to gi...
Charles Wright Mills writes about the relationship between private troubles and public issues in The Sociological Imagination (1959). Within his writing Mills explains the importance of adopting a sociological perspective when attempting to analyze and understand the word we live in. He called this theory the sociological imagination. The sociological imagination can be used as a lens, to examine everyday mundane activities and how they are connected to the larger structure of our societies. Our current milieu is linked with the biographical and historical contexts of our societies and together they makeup our everyday life. This paper will use a sociological imaginative perspective to analyze why I was bullied for my own body hair as a young
Statement of Liberal Education by Association of American Colleges & Universities and Freire contradict each other on common conceptions. For instance, Freire illustrates that education has become an act in which the “students are the depositories and the teachers are the depositors” meaning that students are just receiving, memorizing and repeating the information they are processing. Although, the Statement of Liberal Education by the Association of American Colleges & Universities and Hutchins explains how being open-minded is the most important, but on the contrary it could turn out to be harmful because its just processing the information and not questioning it. Arts Liberals is the historical basis of modern liberal arts, which deals more with grammar, logic, and rhetoric. General Education is more of a curriculum, which is shared by all students.
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
As in all op-ed essays, he is hoping his opinion sways others, particularly those who will be making decisions regarding whether or not to continue offering and taking general education courses. Murray is particularly clear when he says, “Last year there was a discussion of a new general education proposal on the campus in Durham, and some of the academic debate ranged from acrimonious to just plain nasty. This spring the issue of general education will come before the university again.” (75) Because he provides no quotes from the “acrimonious or plain nasty” conversation. The reader is left wanting to know what was said and by whom. This is a missed opportunity to use facts to support his opinion and bring the reader to his side of the
In a time when human endeavor was being redesigned, as industries, philosophies, and sciences were growing and affecting the world, Newman wrote an essay explaining the ideas and goals for seeking a liberal arts education. He states in his thesis that the function of such education, “is that of training good members of society” (Newman, 1852).