Individuals are struggling nowadays to acquire an education higher than a high school diploma. One of the main reasons for this issue could be very well the price it is to attend college. The prices have skyrocketed throughout the years. A lot of the people who attend college have to take out a “student loan,” just so they can get by. I believe one should not need to be in serious debt before they even graduate, all because they want to go out and further their education, and become successful in their life. College is a popular topic for most and Sanford J. Ungar and Charles Murray has a unique way of explaining both their opinions. In his essay, “The New Liberal Arts,” Sanford J. Ungar advocates that the liberal arts should be everybody’s The first misconception that he begins to explain is “a liberal-arts degree is a luxury that most families can no longer afford. Career education” is what we now must focus on.” Liberal arts education produces analytical thinking, and professions are looking for that as an alternative of just being specialized in one subject. “Who wants to hire somebody with an irrelevant major like philosophy or French,” but in reality everyone is finding it harder to find a job in this economy, not just liberal arts majors. He then answers the question about “being low income, or first generation college student,” and Ungar begins to state that it is ignorance to consider that just because an individual is the first generation that they cannot be given the same kind of education as someone else who is not a first generation. Some may Sanford Ungar has the right idea that more people should major in the liberal arts, and I definitely like how he put his essays into the “seven misconceptions.” It really made me think, and ask myself some questions about my major. He knew what he was doing whenever writing this essay, but what happens whenever everyone starts majoring in the “liberal arts?” It would not leave anyone else for anything else. That brings me into Charles Murray, and to an extent his opinions are my own, but some I could not fathom being okay with. I can support his idea about kindergarten through eight should learn the core knowledge, and high school should be left with most humanities and social science courses. It would lessen how long people need to attend college for their career. What I do not support is his idea of the lower percentile, there could be many intelligent people in that category that could change the world, but they did not show how much they could be valuable in their high school days. Some people could be genius in high school, but not so much in college, or vice versa. What would happen if the person that has what it takes to cure cancer, but no one listens to him because he was not “intelligent” enough to go to college? It would set the world back a few
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
We’ve all heard the saying “one size fits all,” but when it comes to our education should one size really fit all (Allitt 3612)? Patrick Allitt, a professor of history at Emory University in Atlanta wrote the essay “Should Undergraduates Specialize?” published in 2006 in the Chronicle of Higher Education, he argues that American colleges should give students the chance to choose between a liberal arts education or one that is more specialized to those who want it. Allitt provides an effective argument by building his credibility with personal experiences and feelings, different viewpoints of the argument, and explaining the advantages and disadvantages between the two different
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.
As mentioned throughout this analysis, Sanford J. Ungar’s main purpose of his essay, “7 Misperceptions About the Liberal Arts” is to inform Americans that liberal arts education is not an unpopular decision to make. Although The Chronicle of Higher Education published this article in 2010, it is still very relevant today. I believe Ungar has accomplished his purpose by adequately refuting each misperception in his essay. By using the three appeals of reason, emotion and ethics equally, Ungar leaves no doubt that liberal arts is an education that should not be sought after.
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
Once a person graduates from high school they are left with a difficult decision, wither to go to college or not. Some families this is not an option, their kid will go no matter what, but many students do not want to go to school and have so much student debt by the time they finish that they will have to pay off that they decide that college is not worth it. According to Craig Smith in his article in Education Digest he says, “too many families cannot afford to send their children to college so the student is left with making the decision on wither to go to college and collect debt or just skip college altogether” (Smith 42). He has a good point. Too many students feel like they have to pay so much yet they are not really getting much out of it. Smith later on in his article states, “We must stop balancing our state and institutional budgets on the backs of students and families” (Smith 46). School should not be all about money, it should be about helping the students get the education that they need so they can make it out in the big world. If a student is so worried about how they are going to pay their school bill they are not going to be focusing on their class work and it ...
It is a norm and expectation in society today for students to pursue higher education after graduating from high school. College tuition is on the rise, and a lot of students have difficulty paying for their tuitions. To pay for their tuitions, most students have to take out loans and at the end of four years, those students end up in debt. Student loan debts are at an all time high with so many people graduating from college, and having difficulties finding jobs in their career fields, so they have difficulties paying off their student loans and, they also don’t have a full understanding of the term of the loans and their options if they are unable to repay.
In this essay “The Liberal Arts”, Ungar depicts the importance of having a liberal arts degree and the misperceptions we have grown to believe. He focuses on the main points as to why liberal arts have become irrelevant to society. Liberal arts are expressed in this essay as the foundation of life, and how a liberal arts degree helps individuals grow personally and career wise. His views on this matter establish a deeper understanding to the importance of obtaining a degree in liberal arts. Three main points that really stood out to me include the expense to having a liberal arts career, misperception of the education career path, and the importance of a liberal arts degree.
In Fareed Zakaria’s YouTube Video on “American Innovation Beyond STEM”, he states that rarely do Republicans and Democrats agree on anything, however, they are now united in their beliefs that colleges need to move from a liberal arts education into one that embraces STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math). He continues to argue that it is wrong to ignore a liberal arts education as it is what encourages our “creativity” and enriches our “humanity”. By eliminating a liberal arts education, we would be putting America on a vulnerable educational path. To support this claim he quotes “John Cardinal Newman, who in 1854 stated that, ‘a broad exposure to the outline of knowledge for its own sake’ rather than to acquire skills to practice
In ancient civilization, a liberal arts education was considered essential for free people to take place in civic life; without them people would not be willing to disregard one's traditional values, and analyze a broad variety of arts, humanities, and sciences to create new opinions and ideas. In the 21st century many Americans are doubtful that liberal arts degrees are actually worth the cost of college. In his essay “The New Liberal Arts”, Sanford J. Ungar discusses seven “misconceptions” of liberal arts degrees in modern-day America.
One of the main reasons why people go to college is to improve themselves as people as well to improve in the socioeconomic status. For instance, people who came to the United States as immigrants to have a better life most like would want their kids to go to college, so they can be more educated and have a better life style. Now, the majority of Americans that have plans to go to college face a problem that discourage and frustrates them. This problem is the cost of education. It’s really exiting when you received your acceptance letter from the University that you applied, but is more depressing when you don’t have money to pay for it. We all know or if not we have an ...
Four-year Liberal Arts institutions pride their academic programs on giving students the life skills to be productive members of today’s society. Critical thinking, the ability to communicate globally, and a rigorous curriculum are the essential elements of a liberal arts program. These components allow graduates to become life learners who will enter the workforce with better skills than students who attend other institutions of higher education (Sullivan, 2016).
Many young adults say they are upset about the rising price of going to college. There is a little dispute today that the number of students who have debt has increased, and the amount of money that they have borrowed has gone up. Many students incur large amounts of debt that they will never pay dividends higher wages or greater job satisfaction, and they graduate into a world with poor employment prospects.
Most family members discourage one another not to learn Liberal Arts education, which is wrong. However, I learned that discouraging one another about Liberal Arts education, can potentially ruin a better chance for that persons' life or a human race opportunity. In English my peers and I read an article titled, "Why We Need the Liberal Arts" written by Joseph R. Hugo from The Baltimore Sun. The article explained why we need Liberal Arts education, how it can change a person's life, and how it can help the human race.
By the late 1960s, the USA had created a system of‘mass’higher education: approximately 30 per cent of the eligible age-group was enrolled in college (Jones, 32). Industrial capitalism, to function properly, required a growing mass of‘white-collar’workers, performers of‘mental labour’: scientists, technologists, administrators, lawyers, etc. This was the fastest expanding sector of the workforce, whose pay and working conditions were slowly converging towards those of ‘skilled manual’ workers, and the institution of the higher education looked to support this technical growth. Students studying in the humanities and arts programs, however, had a different definition of higher education. They expected their courses would offer some kind of effect on their critical development and on their capacities for social, moral and political generalization, rather than just preparing them for the workforce. These students were most likely incubated to expect the classical model of the University: a liberal institution promoting freedom of thought and expression, encouraging free debate and argument. The old upper class model depicted the university education as devoted to the leisured pursuit of ideas.