Preview

The New Liberal Arts

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1635 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The New Liberal Arts
Anh Pham
English 101
“The New Liberal Arts” is an article written by Sanford J. Ungar, who is a president of Goucher College in Baltimore, Maryland. In the beginning of his article, Ungar wrote, “Hard economic times inevitably bring scrutiny of all accepted ideals and institutions, and this time around the liberal arts education has been especially hard hit.” In other words, Ungar means that recent economic recessions have made a huge impact on what people think of going for a liberal arts degree. In his essay, Ungar lists seven misperceptions and how he reacts to them. The most common misperception that Ungar identified is that liberal arts degrees are no longer affordable. The cost for liberal arts education is very expensive while most families are struggling with the economic is going down. Thus, the second misperception is, with a liberal arts degree, it is hard for graduates to find a good job. Moreover, liberal arts degree seems to be irrelevant and unimportant especially for low income families and first-generation college students. Other misperceptions pointed out by Ungar are: the STEM (science, technology, engineer, math) are what people need to learn right now instead of arts, American education system is too old-fashioned to stick with liberal arts education, and while the cost for liberal arts education is very high, the outcome of appears to show no gain in productivity for the ways graduates do their work. Finally, Ungar states that one of the misperception is because the United States is being led by a liberal Democrat, who seems to bring more problems to the country than solving the existing problems, so it is better for the young adolescence not to follow that same road. Among Ungar’s entire list of misperceptions, I found several of them are strongly disagreeable because he is a president of a liberal arts college, so it’s undeniable that he holds biases, and personally, I think whether to go for a liberal arts degree is mainly an individual

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    “The Death of Liberal Arts”, by Nancy Cook, does make a valid point that students should not only know skills that will get them a job, but the skills to analyze and dig deeper into given information. Nancy Cook talks about how Centenary College in Shreveport, La. took out liberal arts classes and added new professional programs that teach about skills that students will need to obtain a job. After understand the article, one can disagree with Centenary College’s decision in cutting the liberal arts classes and how this information relates to Fahrenheit 451. After understanding the article, “The Death of Liberal Arts” one can see that Centenary College’s decision was the wrong choice and how the text relates to Fahrenheit 451. Liberal…

    • 376 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    17 May 2011. All schools are experiencing piercing budget cuts around the nation. Schools are being forced to “nip here, adjust there.” All though the article refers to the cuts as just a nip and adjust, a person would feel like the budget cuts of today’s economy is more like a slash here, burn there. Theses budget cost will force students and teachers to attend new reduced programs at their schools. The cuts themselves are believed to be a “symptom” of a much larger problem- having genuine higher education still exists in our colleges today. Higher education is becoming “streamlined to fit into the demands of the economy, either in terms of conducting basic research that can be exploited for financial gain or by producing competent employees and managers to fill what positions the economy can still provide.” Surprisingly, private school art programs are experiencing the worst of the budget cuts. The percentage of private schools dropping their fine arts program is nearly double the amount of private schools. This article focuses on thirty six connected Arts campuses in the United States that are struggling against keeping their fine arts program alive. It explains how one campus in particular is working tremendously hard to keep their academic programs, which is fine arts, alive at all costs. The campus is currently freezing all faculty staff member’s salary so that they will not have to result to laying-off any of their employees or start cutting any of their lesser taken classes or programs. With the hard and tremendous work that this art community’s campus is doing, with a little help of a microscopic amount of raised tuition of four percent, it is obvious that this school is going to make it through the harsh economy struggles that we are facing today. The school even worked…

    • 1845 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In “Can a liberal arts education really make us better?” by Richard Kamber, he argues that even though a liberal arts education can make us better, it depends solely on that person’s definition of better. Now the question on everyone’s mind, “What are liberal arts?” A liberal arts education gives us a general review of humanities, arts, and sciences. Liberal arts are usually delivered in small classes, full of active participants, by “seasoned faculty.” They aim to develop our character and provide us with an immense amount of skills, which ultimately gives us more money. Though often looked down upon, liberal arts have helped shape many great people such as Socrates, Giordano Gentile, Galileo, and Martin Heidregger.…

    • 402 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Draft 1 There is a lot of misconceptions about the hidden skills people have and majors that people choose. In the first essay “The New Liberal Arts” by Sanford J Ungar, argues that a liberal education is not what students should look for. He found seven misconceptions and then argued against them. The next essay “Hidden Intellectualism” by Gerald Graff, states the misconceptions of people that are called “nerds” or “smart” are the ones who strive for intellectualism. These misconceptions of education and intellectualism affects the society and how they choose their majors.…

    • 593 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In his book, Why Teach? In Defense of a Real Education, Mark Edmunson includes an essay titled “Liberal Arts & Lite Entertainment in which he talks about numerous phenomena happening in American school systems. About halfway through the essay, while on a rant about colleges competing against one another for students, Edmundson adds that individual departments also contend for students, and more specifically how the humanities “now must struggle to attract students” (14). The professor offers a couple of effects that loosening up has had on the branch. First, he claims that grading is not tough and students are hardly allowed to fail.…

    • 926 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Economic inequality is more relevant than ever. Smart kids are not able to get the education they deserve simply because of their parents income. High school students that live in a poor area don’t have quality public schools to go to, while the kids in a wealthy area have better schools. This inequality is seen in college as a huge problem because kids who are geniuses cant go to college due to them not being able to afford it. Two authors of two different articles discuss these issues, which are “Why Education Is Not an Economic Panacea” by John Marsh and “For Poor, Leap to College Often Ends in a Hard Fall” by Jason DeParle. Both Authors attempt to persuade his audience, but one is more successful than the other. Jason DeParle is more effective in accomplishing his persuasive purpose of making the reader believe economic gap is growing due to him using more evidence to support his point, discussing where the beginning of economic inequality starts, and having a heart breaking college story that people can relate to more.…

    • 943 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Owen And Sawhill Analysis

    • 1827 Words
    • 8 Pages

    In the most recent debates regarding higher education, a particular issue of whether a liberal arts education can benefit students is relentless. While most people directly connect a liberal arts education to a bright future in terms of a career, others argue against that. On one hand, Sanford J. Ungar strongly believes that despite some hardships that come along with college, everyone should take the opportunity to go. On the other hand, Charles Murray, Stephanie Owen, and Isabel Sawhill suggest that it can depend in terms of money and only those that are academically capable and enjoy learning should attend college. My view is that although some students…

    • 1827 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The third misconception says liberal arts are irrelevant for low-income and first-generation college students. Ungar says,” Its ignorant to think just because a student is first generation don’t mean they can’t receive the same education.” The fourth misconception says that a student should focus on the stem fields because “that’s where all the action is” (192). Ungar argues this by saying that sometime the liberal arts take part in the broadcast parts of sciences and…

    • 822 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    An education in liberal arts can give a person many choices and opportunities concerning what kind of job he/she wants in the future. According to Harris’ “Once you develop good thinking habits, you will be able to perform better in any job, but more importantly, the happier life will be” (1), Harris suggests that liberal arts education helps to have a satisfying and comfortable life. When a person graduates from liberal arts education, he/she will get a gratifying job that will make him/her feel like he/she has a strong personality. Needle, Corbo, Wong, Greenfeder et al (2007) point out that liberal arts education is a good choice for the future to have more options for jobs, which they expressed in their article “Combining Arts and Science In ‘Arts and Sciences’ Education” published in the journal College Teaching on pages 114-120. The purpose of the article is to persuade us to study the liberal arts for a good life. The article has a positive tone because it is optimistic. The mode of the article is illustrative. The main idea of the article is to encourage people to study liberal arts because it can give them a better future. Needle et al states, “Today’s liberal arts education is viewed as preparing students for the real world” (114). Needle et al suggests that graduating with a degree in liberal arts will make you ready for real life. In addition, liberal arts will teach you and make you understand more about life. I found that the two articles are similar in their goal which is to talk about liberal arts and how it is important in a person’s life because a liberal arts education gives you more opportunities for a great job and a better…

    • 962 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    What is College for? Nowadays, many people would argue that going to college is not worth investing in and spending your time on unless you want to get a well-paid job afterward. Parents are willing to ensure a good position for their child after four years of dedication and hard work. Although I agree that education is getting more expensive every year, and for some folks it might be a difficult decision to make, I cannot accept the claim that college is solely for getting an employment.…

    • 905 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, liberal arts curriculum is divided into three main branches which are humanities, physical and biological sciences and mathematics, and the social sciences (liberal arts, 2017). Further explanations define liberal arts as a study that prepares individuals to be leaders in serving others instead of self (Guthrie & Callahan, 2016). Since beginning classes in January, I have taken many classes at Bethel University, but I have not had classes that are specifically liberal arts. Even so, the English classes that I have taken are Introduction to University Writing, Expository Writing, and English Composition 2; each of these required writing essays and research papers. While conducting research for papers…

    • 528 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Liberal Education’s main purpose in not only to train someone for a specific position, but also to create or develop skills that can be utilized in any profession. However, I believe that the liberal arts are under pressure and in danger in today’s society. The threat that is overwhelming Liberal Education is cuts in programs and funding in private and public schools.…

    • 1069 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “It’s just extremely disappointing and aggravating to have paid all that money and have nothing to show for it other than debt.” proclaimed Michelle Polyakov, an English graduate from Drake University. Polyakov obviously feels that college is not worth the cost and that all someone has to show for the education is debt. College has been deemed, by some, that it is not worth the cost because of the financial loss, the future job security, and the need for “blue collar” jobs. Finances, job security, and the need for manual laborers are all major factors in the debate of college and its cost. The reason being is because not all people are meant to go to college, or their situation just isn’t ideal. College is a privilege, and not every job requires you to have a higher form of learning, but most do. By viewing the debt of a student after graduation, the job security of graduates, and the need for manual laborers, one can infer that college is not worth the cost.…

    • 955 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Liberal Arts-Based Degrees

    • 1774 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Yet, it is a fact that one cannot be completely sure and certain about their future career. We should always weigh both sides of the coin. I had several questions in my mind before taking this decision. Some of them included: Will I be able to secure a good job as I graduate? Is it really worth it? Can I graduate in four years? If I had to take extra classes, how will I manage the extra costs? My parents are already spending so much money; will they agree to bear more expenses? Even though I knew the answers to all these questions would be very complicated, I still decided to give it a try and weigh both sides of the coin. However, many of my doubts were cleared once I started doing research and working on this paper. I realized that even though…

    • 1774 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Both of my grandfathers worked in steel mills around Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania during the industrial age when the infrastructure of America was created. The next phase in our country was the computer age that appeared to make people extremely wealthy overnight. This in itself changed the thinking of our parents to believe that had they gone to college they would have been part of the computer boom and living on easy street. As real numbers show, over the past 15 years so many people rushed to go back to school for degrees that have now saturated the marketplace. I remember when having a Bachelor’s degree meant something to an employer whereas, now a Doctorate degree is the new Bachelor’s…

    • 605 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays