Liberal Arts Colleges In America
Liberal Arts Colleges
Despite popular belief, Harvard College was first founded, as an institution of higher learning in America is 1636; over one hundred years before the New England colonies officially became states (Masci). This is an example of how important education has been, and still is to this country today. Harvard, a liberal arts college, was also founded over one hundred years before the first state university, making liberal arts colleges far more experienced in the education of its’ students.
Within The Liberal Arts in Higher Education, you will find a sentence that reads, “the liberal arts […] are literally arts of freedom. Traditionally this meant […] the arts of free men as opposed to slaves. Slaves are subjected to the …show more content…
will of others, mere tools or instruments of alien purpose, unable to choose for themselves,” (Flannery, Newsted, 9). Liberal arts colleges were founded upon freedom; freedom for its’ students to choice the path in which they wanted to take. Although they were originally intended to educate in the fields of logic, grammar, rhetoric, mathematics, geometry, music and astronomy, the liberal arts has progressed, allowing students to pick from a much larger variety of fields. Some colleges even allow their students to design their own major. In recent years, however, has decrease in these types of colleges have become noticeable. So why are students beginning to choose state universities without giving these older, more established colleges a chance? Through researching the benefits of a liberal arts education, I found that liberal arts colleges are superior to state universities due to the more controlled class size, the benefits available in the after college workplace, and the more in-depth involvement in majors.
A common known difference between state universities and liberal arts colleges are the average class sizes. One of the main reasons students often choose Liberal Arts Colleges are the small sizes alone (O 'Shaughnessy). Liberal arts college campuses are smaller, not just in size, but also in total student population. As said by the Huffington Post, ”According to data provided by schools in a 2010 survey of undergraduate programs, liberal arts colleges have an average ratio of 12.2 students per faculty member,” compared to an average 20.2 for state universities.
At public universities, most introductory level classes tend to crowd hundreds of students into lecture halls. Often those classes have teaching assistants to directly deal with groups of students in smaller settings (Keiner). Liberal Arts schools, however, have up to 30 or 40 students per introductory class at most. Students can’t hide in the back of the class; teachers deal directly with students and generally know each of them by name. This smaller number of students allows them to be more open in the classroom, and more comfortable with the teacher. According to Edward Kokkelenburg of Cornell University, “we find that class size negatively affects grades for several specifications […] average grade point declines as class sizes go up” (Kokkelenburg, Dillon). This goes to show that smaller class sizes benefit a student’s future more than people realize.
Class sizes are not the only aspect to affect a student’s future.
According to Efficiency in liberal education; a study of comparative instructional costs for different ways of organizing teaching-learning in a liberal arts college, another key element supporting the mission of liberal arts colleges is that students who attend a liberal arts college are more likely to be hired for jobs, and accepted into graduate school (Bowen). Liberal arts schools, such as Transylvania University, strive to teach kids critical thinking and writing skills, as well as how to formally present their ideas. Teachers have fewer students, and more time to analytically grade student’s homework and essays. Liberal arts professors may have to grade 20 essays whereas at a state university, teachers may have up to 500 essays to grade (Masci). It’s doubtful that a teacher who has 500 essays to review will be able to provide the same help and provide the same critical skills than a teacher who only has …show more content…
30.
Liberal arts colleges also provide great, arguably better grad school preparation than state universities.
Lynn O’Shaughnessy of CBS states, “Per capita, liberal arts colleges produce twice as many student who earn a PhD in science than other institutions,”(O’Shaughnessy). Not only do grad schools look for students with degrees from these types of institutions, but employers do as well. According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, the top three skills for which workplaces value are communication skills, teamwork Skills and analytical skills; all skills liberal arts such as Transylvania strive to teach their students. This goes to show all the hard work liberal arts put toward their students and these students
futures.
This hard work can also be seen in the major and/or minor a student chooses. As Victor Ferrall discusses in his Liberal Arts at the Brink, another of the foremost differences is the amount of majors and types of majors provided by the institutions. Liberal arts colleges offer select majors, with programs designed to give students in depth experiences along with them. A few examples of these are foreign languages, psychology, social sciences, liberal studies, mathematics, philosophy and education (Glyer, Weeks).
Even as early as the early 1900’s, liberal arts schools, “had increasingly focused their attention on specialized courses of study designed to prepare students for career,”(Sheridan). The liberal arts almost always specialize in a certain study. Although they offer a plethora of majors to all their students, specific schools may concentrate on the arts or sciences. Liberal arts schools also often allow students to “design” their own major, allowing them to put their own creative twist, based on their personal interests, within the major (Masci). Public universities however, provide an abundance of more majors, along with schools within the school for certain majors such as dentistry and nursing. Although for some students this may seem appealing, the deeper focus and attention put on majors in a liberal arts college allows for a better learning experience in the long run.
Throughout my time researching the benefits of a liberal arts education, I found that liberal arts colleges are in fact superior to state universities. Better controlled class size, benefits available in the after college workplace, and the more in-depth involvement with students majors are just a few of the many reasons I found to be a selling point for the liberal arts. According to the Huffington Post, “A study conducted by the Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce estimates that the economy will create nearly 47 million jobs by 2018, including 14 million new jobs and 33 million jobs replacing workers who leave or retire. Approximately 33 percent of those jobs will require a bachelor 's degree,”(Nunez). With so much emphasis being put on the up-coming generations, it only make sense that America’s next workforce be taught at the most suitable institutions: the liberal arts.
Work Cited
Bowen, Howard Rothmann. Efficiency in liberal education; a study of comparative instructional costs for different ways of organizing teaching-learning in a liberal arts college. New York: Mcgraw-Hill, 1971. Print.
Ferrral, Victor. Liberal Arts at the Brink. Harvard University press, 2011. Print.
Flannery, Christopher. Wineland Newstad, Rae. “The Classical Liberal Arts Tradition.” The
Liberal Arts in Higher Education: Challenging Assumptions, Exploring Possibilities. New York: University Press for America, 1998. Print.
Gyler, Diana. Weeks, David L. The Liberal Arts in Higher Education: Challenging Assumptions, Exploring Possibilities. New York: University Press for America, 1998. Print.
Harrington, Rebecca. "Liberal Arts Colleges With Lowest Student-Faculty Ratios." The
Huffington Post. 28 Apr. 2011. TheHuffingtonPost.com. 12 Apr. 2013
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/28/liberal-arts-colleges-wit_n_854948.html>.
Kiener, Robert. "Future of Public Universities." CQ Researcher 18 Jan. 2013: 53-80. Web. 16
Apr. 2013
Sheridan, Dennis A. “Modern and Postmodern Challenges to Liberal Education.” The Liberal
Arts in Higher Education: Challenging Assumptions, Exploring Possibilities. New York: University Press for America, 1998. Print.
Masci, D. (1998, April 10). Liberal Arts Education. CQ Researcher, 8, 313-336. Retrieved from http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/O’Shaughnessy, Lynn. “5 Reasons to Attend a Liberal Arts College.” CBS News. 21 Jan 2010.
30 Jan 2013. Web.
Despite popular belief, Harvard College was first founded, as an institution of higher learning in America is 1636; over one hundred years before the New England colonies officially became states (Masci). This is an example of how important education has been, and still is to this country today. Harvard, a liberal arts college, was also founded over one hundred years before the first state university, making liberal arts colleges far more experienced in the education of its’ students.
Within The Liberal Arts in Higher Education, you will find a sentence that reads, “the liberal arts […] are literally arts of freedom. Traditionally this meant […] the arts of free men as opposed to slaves. Slaves are subjected to the …show more content…
will of others, mere tools or instruments of alien purpose, unable to choose for themselves,” (Flannery, Newsted, 9). Liberal arts colleges were founded upon freedom; freedom for its’ students to choice the path in which they wanted to take. Although they were originally intended to educate in the fields of logic, grammar, rhetoric, mathematics, geometry, music and astronomy, the liberal arts has progressed, allowing students to pick from a much larger variety of fields. Some colleges even allow their students to design their own major. In recent years, however, has decrease in these types of colleges have become noticeable. So why are students beginning to choose state universities without giving these older, more established colleges a chance? Through researching the benefits of a liberal arts education, I found that liberal arts colleges are superior to state universities due to the more controlled class size, the benefits available in the after college workplace, and the more in-depth involvement in majors.
A common known difference between state universities and liberal arts colleges are the average class sizes. One of the main reasons students often choose Liberal Arts Colleges are the small sizes alone (O 'Shaughnessy). Liberal arts college campuses are smaller, not just in size, but also in total student population. As said by the Huffington Post, ”According to data provided by schools in a 2010 survey of undergraduate programs, liberal arts colleges have an average ratio of 12.2 students per faculty member,” compared to an average 20.2 for state universities.
At public universities, most introductory level classes tend to crowd hundreds of students into lecture halls. Often those classes have teaching assistants to directly deal with groups of students in smaller settings (Keiner). Liberal Arts schools, however, have up to 30 or 40 students per introductory class at most. Students can’t hide in the back of the class; teachers deal directly with students and generally know each of them by name. This smaller number of students allows them to be more open in the classroom, and more comfortable with the teacher. According to Edward Kokkelenburg of Cornell University, “we find that class size negatively affects grades for several specifications […] average grade point declines as class sizes go up” (Kokkelenburg, Dillon). This goes to show that smaller class sizes benefit a student’s future more than people realize.
Class sizes are not the only aspect to affect a student’s future.
According to Efficiency in liberal education; a study of comparative instructional costs for different ways of organizing teaching-learning in a liberal arts college, another key element supporting the mission of liberal arts colleges is that students who attend a liberal arts college are more likely to be hired for jobs, and accepted into graduate school (Bowen). Liberal arts schools, such as Transylvania University, strive to teach kids critical thinking and writing skills, as well as how to formally present their ideas. Teachers have fewer students, and more time to analytically grade student’s homework and essays. Liberal arts professors may have to grade 20 essays whereas at a state university, teachers may have up to 500 essays to grade (Masci). It’s doubtful that a teacher who has 500 essays to review will be able to provide the same help and provide the same critical skills than a teacher who only has …show more content…
30.
Liberal arts colleges also provide great, arguably better grad school preparation than state universities.
Lynn O’Shaughnessy of CBS states, “Per capita, liberal arts colleges produce twice as many student who earn a PhD in science than other institutions,”(O’Shaughnessy). Not only do grad schools look for students with degrees from these types of institutions, but employers do as well. According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, the top three skills for which workplaces value are communication skills, teamwork Skills and analytical skills; all skills liberal arts such as Transylvania strive to teach their students. This goes to show all the hard work liberal arts put toward their students and these students
futures.
This hard work can also be seen in the major and/or minor a student chooses. As Victor Ferrall discusses in his Liberal Arts at the Brink, another of the foremost differences is the amount of majors and types of majors provided by the institutions. Liberal arts colleges offer select majors, with programs designed to give students in depth experiences along with them. A few examples of these are foreign languages, psychology, social sciences, liberal studies, mathematics, philosophy and education (Glyer, Weeks).
Even as early as the early 1900’s, liberal arts schools, “had increasingly focused their attention on specialized courses of study designed to prepare students for career,”(Sheridan). The liberal arts almost always specialize in a certain study. Although they offer a plethora of majors to all their students, specific schools may concentrate on the arts or sciences. Liberal arts schools also often allow students to “design” their own major, allowing them to put their own creative twist, based on their personal interests, within the major (Masci). Public universities however, provide an abundance of more majors, along with schools within the school for certain majors such as dentistry and nursing. Although for some students this may seem appealing, the deeper focus and attention put on majors in a liberal arts college allows for a better learning experience in the long run.
Throughout my time researching the benefits of a liberal arts education, I found that liberal arts colleges are in fact superior to state universities. Better controlled class size, benefits available in the after college workplace, and the more in-depth involvement with students majors are just a few of the many reasons I found to be a selling point for the liberal arts. According to the Huffington Post, “A study conducted by the Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce estimates that the economy will create nearly 47 million jobs by 2018, including 14 million new jobs and 33 million jobs replacing workers who leave or retire. Approximately 33 percent of those jobs will require a bachelor 's degree,”(Nunez). With so much emphasis being put on the up-coming generations, it only make sense that America’s next workforce be taught at the most suitable institutions: the liberal arts.
Work Cited
Bowen, Howard Rothmann. Efficiency in liberal education; a study of comparative instructional costs for different ways of organizing teaching-learning in a liberal arts college. New York: Mcgraw-Hill, 1971. Print.
Ferrral, Victor. Liberal Arts at the Brink. Harvard University press, 2011. Print.
Flannery, Christopher. Wineland Newstad, Rae. “The Classical Liberal Arts Tradition.” The
Liberal Arts in Higher Education: Challenging Assumptions, Exploring Possibilities. New York: University Press for America, 1998. Print.
Gyler, Diana. Weeks, David L. The Liberal Arts in Higher Education: Challenging Assumptions, Exploring Possibilities. New York: University Press for America, 1998. Print.
Harrington, Rebecca. "Liberal Arts Colleges With Lowest Student-Faculty Ratios." The
Huffington Post. 28 Apr. 2011. TheHuffingtonPost.com. 12 Apr. 2013
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/28/liberal-arts-colleges-wit_n_854948.html>.
Kiener, Robert. "Future of Public Universities." CQ Researcher 18 Jan. 2013: 53-80. Web. 16
Apr. 2013
Sheridan, Dennis A. “Modern and Postmodern Challenges to Liberal Education.” The Liberal
Arts in Higher Education: Challenging Assumptions, Exploring Possibilities. New York: University Press for America, 1998. Print.
Masci, D. (1998, April 10). Liberal Arts Education. CQ Researcher, 8, 313-336. Retrieved from http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/O’Shaughnessy, Lynn. “5 Reasons to Attend a Liberal Arts College.” CBS News. 21 Jan 2010.
30 Jan 2013. Web.