Why Liberal Arts?

Most students question why we have to go to school and take liberal arts courses that do not necessarily prepare us for our field. When we ask our professors or teachers, they tell us it is because we should learn to be “well rounded” students. This is not enough to convince many. Students do not have a real understanding of why liberal arts education is helpful so they do not see the need to learn it. Many students only memorize the facts to pass the tests they have to take and then forget it because it has no meaning or interest to them. From my experience, I never thought that liberal arts courses were important so I never really tried to do well in those classes. I just did what I had to do to receive a grade and did not absorb the knowledge. In William Bennett’s, A Nation Worth Defending and Mark Jackson’s The Liberal Arts: A Practical View, both authors explain why having a background with a liberal arts education is beneficial, important and how it connects with the real world. If students do not learn the connections between what they are learning and how they can apply it to the real world, they will never appreciate the information that they will learn and therefore, won’t be able to apply it to the real world. In A Nation Worth Defending, Bennett, the former Secretary of Education, stresses the connection between history and the real world. He states that schools do not do a good enough job at teaching their students the right material. Bennett believes that students should learn about our history so we can defend our nation together, writing, “This historical ignorance is not merely of academic concern. It has real-world consequences” (32). Bennett believes that we do not have enough people that live in our blessed country that are willing and able to defend it. He says that students need to learn from the heroism of September 11th and to do that; they must be reminded of it. This in turn will teach them to be patriotic. (35). If students do not know

Cited: Bennett, William. "A Nation Worth Defending." Readings for OSU Writers. 4th ed. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martins, 2008. 31-38. Print. Jackson, Mark. "The Liberal Arts: A Practical View." Readings for OSU Writers. 4th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin 's, 2008. 216-18. Print.