Newman and The English Major
John Newman’s ideas of education, knowledge, and intellectual fitness are well-formed and truthful. As related to my major, English, it reveals some interesting trends and practices. Although the English major isn’t a real big money-maker, like being a lawyer or doctor, and it generally focuses on literature and creativity, the courses still concentrate on the utility of what is being learned. Although one can sometimes see the relationships between courses, and thereby understand them in respects to each other and draw some connection, this interaction is rarely stated explicitly in those courses.
One of Newman’s key ideas is that liberal knowledge (knowing how to think with versatility) is necessary for the more effective and more adaptable use of particular knowledge. A class that has allowed me to think and learn in this way was ENG 3014, Theories of Literature. I took the class twice for the purpose of raising my grade; the first time with Dr. Campbell and the second time with Dr. Logan. In this class I learned various critical literary theories and how to apply them to any text, communication, or other form of expression. Although these theories are based on application, it is the application of a thought process; an analysis which can be adapted and imposed on whatever I choose, which I can choose at my leisure, not just useful in one specific situation.
However, most classes only teach facts, lessons, and the direct applications for them. Even the general studies courses and survey courses are taught as thought all the knowledge taught were to be used, not knowledge to savor and help heighten the intellect or thought process. To get an Associate’s degree for example, one must fulfill certain requirements, such as “natural science.” Instead of the class being taught as a class on general knowledge, which would be insightful into the world around us, they are taught as though every student enrolled were interested in becoming a chemist or biologist, with not enough effort placed on stimulation of interest. The students who are not interested in pursuing the sciences further have no use for this “particular” information, and it is disused and forgotten. I know that there are all sorts of information that I’ve been taught but are too specific to be useful to me day-to-day and so have been forgotten. The problem is that particular knowledge is useless except in one particular realm or level of discourse.
Co-author of “They Say/I Say” handbook, Gerald Graff, analyzes in his essay “Hidden Intellectualism” that “street smarts” can be used for more efficient learning and can be a valuable tool to train students to “get hooked on reading and writing” (Graff 204). Graff’s purpose is to portray to his audience that knowing more about cars, TV, fashion, and etc. than “academic work” is not the detriment to the learning process that colleges and schools can see it to be (198). This knowledge can be an important teaching assistant and can facilitate the grasping of new concepts and help to prepare students to expand their interests and write with better quality in the future. Graff clarifies his reasoning by indicating, “Give me the student anytime who writes a sharply argued, sociologically acute analysis of an issue in Source over the student who writes a life-less explication of Hamlet or Socrates’ Apology” (205). Graff adopts a jovial tone to lure in his readers and describe how this overlooked intelligence can spark a passion in students to become interested in formal and academic topics. He uses ethos, pathos, and logos to establish his credibility, appeal emotionally to his readers, and appeal to logic by makes claims, providing evidence, and backing his statements up with reasoning.
Imagine a cardiovascular surgeon about to crack the sternum of a dying patient; tension is high while the clock of life ticks desperately slower and softer for the poor soul on the cold steel table that saw death the hour before. Is it logical that at that moment the purveyor of life is contemplating whether his freshmen philosophy class back at SMU has thoroughly prepared him for what he is about to do? Not likely. In higher learning institutions, liberal art classes like philosophy are not meant to be directly applied to one’s life or career; however, they are structured and devised to be a strong base that the individual can expand upon through scientific learning and experience. This is precisely the reason colleges and universities require and place much emphasis on these classes; nevertheless, there has been a shift away from the liberal arts towards the direction of highly specialized areas of science and business because of their growing integration in everyday life. Although people need a limited number of liberal arts classes to attain a basic understanding of ourselves and our evolution, state universities are aptly moving towards technical education, because, in this fast paced world, many people don’t have the time or money to spend studying the humanities alone.
Rereading America: Cultural Contexts for Critical Thinking and Writing written by; Gary Colombo, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle, Eighth Edition, published April, 2007 by Bedford/St. Martin’s, is a textbook about writing and critical thinking. In the first chapter of Rereading America: Cultural Contexts for Critical Thinking and Writing, “Thinking Critically, Challenging Cultural Myths”, the Authors begin by setting a relatable scene of what it’s like for a college student. How a new found independence can be overwhelming, especially with regards to critical thinking, showing that what we have learned, needs to be re-evaluated and that an open mind in essential. "What Is Critical Thinking" In this section of the chapter the editors explain what it means to be a critical thinker. They explain that critical thinking is not just studying dates and facts, but rather taking those facts and examining them. The editors then proceed by explaining how having an open mind, and taking others' perspectives into account when formulating our own opinions on what the author is trying to say to us is important. A critical thinker takes all aspects into account and reflects on personal experience as well. The editors also point out that different cultural experiences bring different opinions. They suggest that we need to become active learners, continuously questioning the meaning behind everything, testing not only the theories of others but also our own experiences and analyzing the text rather than going for the obvious. They show that thinking outside the box is the epitome of critical thinking. Basically, we need to step outside our comfort zones and what we have always been taught. The editors also suggest that we need to re-evaluate our per...
Plutarch deduces, “The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.” A vessel is often cluttered with useless items while a fire kindles and is truly fascinating as it slowly starts to grow. The mind is always being filled with unnecessary information every single day. The student has the opportunity to mold the mind into storing information that is considered useful. In the academic sense, students should be able to use this information and apply it when they are learning. Students should strive to learn for the purpose of expanding the mind. Every single thing taught in school should be applied in life. That is the only way that anyone can become successful.
He too quickly dismisses the idea of reading on your own to find meaning and think critically about a book. For him, Graff states that “It was through exposure to such critical reading and discussion over a period of time that I came to catch the literary bug.” (26) While this may have worked for Graff, not all students will “experience a personal reaction” (27) through the use of critical discussion.
Brooks, J.G. &Brooks, M.G. (1995). Constructing Knowledge in the Classroom. Retrieved September 13, 2002 for Internet. http://www.sedl.org/scimath/compass/v01n03/1.html.
Foster, Thomas C. How to Read Literature like a Professor: a Lively and Entertaining Guide to
Structured, pertinent curriculum is the foundation of a good class. If students are not interested in the information presented, then the class has no value to the student but to merely satisfy a graduation requir...
The first writing project I was assigned in this class was an analysis of the film, Gran Torino. During class, I learned there was so much more to the movie than what we see; there was a meaning behind every little thing from the clothes to the hair to even the cars on the side of the street. It all meant something. The key features of an literary analysis include “an arguable thesis, careful attention to the language, attention to patterns or themes, and a clear interpretation (Norton Field Guide 85-86).” Critical thinking is an important skill, not just behind a desk, but also in the real world. The second writing project was a workplace writi...
In conclusion, education is broader than just falling into what the contemporary school system has to offer. Both Gatto and Graff proved this by explain how conforming students to certain perspectives of education limits their potential in other educational branches that interest the students. Also, curricula should bring a balance between making a school a place for obtaining information, and accommodating the educational demands for each individual student. It is imperative to understand that reforming the academic system, by fine-tuning schools to have its students learn what exactly they are interested in, will lead to having students accessing their full intellectual potential.
“ I read and understood by myself all the books that I could find on the so-called liberal arts, for in those days I was a good-for-nothing and a slave to sordid ambitions. But what advantage did I gain from them? I read them with pleasure, but I did not kno...
Foster, Thomas C. How to read literature like a professor. New York, NY: HarperCollins, 2003. Print.
Academically, I have learned many new ways to look at literature. My high school teachers did not expose us to many literary theories or how to apply them. Indeed, we learned about romanticism, realism, transcendentalism, etc. but never really related them to our writing. Most of the writing we did was simply based upon our own opinions. We hardly ever used secondary sources. I believe that deconstructionist theory was the most helpful theory I learned this year for analyzing literature. Breaking a poem up line by line or image by image or even a story into small sections made it a lot easier to grasp the main concepts of the work. Most of the time during this semester, however, I took a formalist point of view.
In John Henry Newman’s The Idea of a University Newman relates is idea that the goal of a university should be that of training, “good members of society.”(48) Someone who can have a positive contribution to the future of humanity. Although this work was written in 1852 it is still among the most famous articles to attempt to define the aspects of a liberal arts education.
...at previously, sometimes in the midst of a discussion, people forget that there are two sides of a story and not everyone has to agree to yours. What we learn from our books or our studies is not what is necessarily important. What we learn from our peers and our professors is what’s important. Learning is more than absorbing fact, it is acquiring understanding, and it is being passionate about the material you are given. Each piece that we have read in class, and each comment that we make impacts a person no matter how little it seems. The education systems focuses too much about effective methods of teaching and not enough about effective methods of learning. However, this course felt like we were learning something instead trying to finish the curriculum. As Albert Einstein once said, “education is not the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think”.