Category: ENG 110 Blog Posts

1. Boyer’s central tension idea relies mainly on an integrated curriculum, or the integration of a liberal arts education. He did many research studies about various topics such as the kind of education teachers want to teach as well as what the students want to receive. He talks a lot about how students only go to college or university to be able to get a job in the future. “If college did not increase their prospects for employment they would drop out” (Boyer, 102). This to me makes a lot of sense since i think that the main point of college or a higher education is to be able to go into the work force with higher education.
2. Boyer’s “enriched major” idea is based off of three main questions. “What is the history and tradition of the field to be examined? What are the social and economic implications to be understood? What are the ethical and moral issues to be confronted?” (Boyer, 110). His enriched major is meant to explore a field in depth and put their area of study into perspective. This can respond to the key tension around the importance of a liberal arts education being integrated into curriculum. Through this, all three questions should be able to be answered.

Coordinations

1. Sanford J. Ugar gives misconceptions about liberal arts education, explains how these things are just misconceptions, not the truth or the full truth, and proves them to be wrong in his article “7 Major Misperceptions About the Liberal Arts.”
2. The University of New England CAS Handbook has been examined and through this process, it has been determined that this institution uses the concept of an integrated curriculum the most out of all three of Scheuer’s conceptions.
3.  The purpose of an integrated curriculum is for students to have a well rounded education and are able to make use of what they learn in the real world.

These are compound sentences because of the structure they use. There is “and” or a comma that separates the ideas in the sentences. In number 2, there are two sentences that have been combined by a comma.

Subordinations

1. Although the University of New England does make the most use out of the concept of an integrated curriculum, it does also encompass humanities and does not exclude the sciences.
2. After reading evidence such as this, a liberal education clearly has nothing to do with politics.
3. Although the title has “liberal” in it, a liberal arts education does not involve politics.

These are subordinations because of the use of the words “although” and “after.” Number 1 and number 3 are complex sentences because they both state two different viewpoints all in one sentence. Number 2 is a complex sentence because it gets the point of the sentence across while telling why the statement can be true [due to evidence].

Before

Liberal arts education is so common, that it is something that is wanted by many people, but is not always an option. Ungar writes how it is a misconception that “a liberal arts degree is a luxury that most families can no longer afford.” (Ungar, Para 3) Although many families do struggle to send their kids to a liberal arts institution, many argue that it is a great investment and is well worth the money. This is because a liberal arts education allows students to get a well rounded education as well as an understanding of life after college. According to Scheuer, liberal arts has been known as two key elements to democracy. The education of liberal arts studies “prepares students for citizenship in all three sense– civic, economic, and cultural.” (Scheuer, Para 22) Citizenship is a big key to being successful in society and life after college. “The ‘career education’ bandwagon seems to suggest that shortcuts are available to students that lead directly to high-paying jobs — leaving out ‘frills’ like learning how to write and speak well, how to understand the nuances of literary texts and scientific concepts, how to collaborate with others on research.” (Ungar, Para 4) Ungar states that is is smarter for students to prepare for change and for multiple careers they will have rather than to search for one job track that may lead to nothing. A liberal arts education can do this for students, as they go through the integrated curriculum and explore many topics outside of their discipline. It is said that the purpose of higher education is to prepare students for jobs that may not even exist yet, which is why it is the best form of education according to Ungar.

After

Liberal arts education is so common, that it is something that is wanted by many people, but is not always an option. Ungar writes how it is a misconception that “a liberal arts degree is a luxury that most families can no longer afford.” (Ungar, Para 3) Although many families do struggle to send their kids to a liberal arts institution, many argue that it is a great investment and is well worth the money. This is because a liberal arts education allows students to get a well rounded education as well as an understanding of life after college. According to Scheuer, liberal arts has been known as two key elements to democracy. The education of liberal arts studies “prepares students for citizenship in all three sense– civic, economic, and cultural.” (Scheuer, Para 22) Citizenship is a big key to being successful in society and life after college. “The ‘career education’ bandwagon seems to suggest that shortcuts are available to students that lead directly to high-paying jobs — leaving out ‘frills’ like learning how to write and speak well, how to understand the nuances of literary texts and scientific concepts, how to collaborate with others on research.” (Ungar, Para 4) Ungar states that is is smarter for students to prepare for change and for multiple careers they will have rather than to search for one job track that may lead to nothing. A liberal arts education can do this for students, as they go through the integrated curriculum and explore many topics outside of their discipline. It is said that the purpose of higher education is to prepare students for jobs that may not even exist yet, which is why it is the best form of education according to Ungar. I agree that a liberal arts education is the best form of education for a lot of people, though I do understand why some people do not head in that direction.

Before

Liberal arts education is one that has been used for as long as anyone can remember. With that being said, this style of education has also been successful for as long as anyone can remember. Sanford J. Ugar gives seven big misconceptions about liberal arts education and explains how the misconceptions are just misconceptions and prove to be wrong. He lets the readers know both sides and perspectives as he explains why the misconception being spoken about is wrong or not accurate. Jeffery Scheuer explains what a liberal arts education is, why we need it, explains what critical thinking is, and the importance of critical inquiry. A liberal arts education is boiled down to a way of learning through an integrated curriculum. The curriculum includes three main conceptions according to Scheuer. First, “[embracing] the ideal of the integrated curriculum, encompassing virtually all non professional higher learning, from the natural and social sciences to the humanities and the performing arts.” (Scheuer, Para 9) Second, “implicitly [excluding] (but doesn’t denigrate) the sciences; and a third, still narrower, sense of the term focuses mainly on the humanities.” (Scheuer, Para 12) This idea of what a liberal arts education entails varies depending on where the information is coming from. According to the UNE CAS Handbook, a liberal arts education has four core themes: environmental awareness, social and global awareness, critical thinking, and citizenship and civic engagement. These themes “[invite] students to explore four college-wide themes from multiple disciplinary perspectives and to develop important intellectual skills.” (UNE CAS Handbook, 3) They are broken down and separated into each academic year at the university, allowing students to experience all aspects of the studies and to prepare them for life after school. A liberal arts education is one that proves to be very useful in one’s adult life and one that is desired by many.

After

Liberal arts education is one that has been used for as long as anyone can remember. With that being said, this style of education has also been successful for as long as anyone can remember. Sanford J. Ugar gives misconceptions about liberal arts education and explains how these things are just misconceptions, not the truth or the full truth, and prove them to be wrong in his article “7 Major Misperceptions About the Liberal Arts.” He lets the readers know both sides and perspectives as he explains why the misconception being spoken about is wrong or not accurate. Jeffery Scheuer explains what a liberal arts education is, why we need it, explains what critical thinking is, and the importance of critical inquiry in his article “Critical Thinking and the Liberal Arts.” I think that a liberal arts education is boiled down to a way of learning through the use of an integrated curriculum. The curriculum includes three main conceptions according to Scheuer. These three conceptions use an integrated curriculum, an exclusion of the sciences, and a focus on the humanities. According to the University of New England College of Arts and Sciences Core Curriculum Handbook, shorter known as the UNE CAS Handbook, a liberal arts education has four core themes: environmental awareness, social and global awareness, critical thinking, and citizenship and civic engagement. The environmental awareness theme examines relationships between people and the environment around them, making it a key point that humans are part of ecosystems. Social and global awareness focuses on human experience and the humanities as well as perspectives and methods of human interaction. Critical thinking teaches students to deal with problems and issues they may confront in their lives. The last theme, citizenship and civic engagement, allows students to reflect on their previous years of study and connects their college lives to their lives after graduation. These themes “[invite] students to explore four college-wide themes from multiple disciplinary perspectives and to develop important intellectual skills.” (UNE CAS Handbook, 3) They are broken down and separated into each academic year at the University of New England, allowing students to experience all aspects of the studies and to prepare them for life after school. A liberal arts education is one that proves to be very useful in one’s adult life and one that is desired by many.

With help from my peers’ comments, I was able to make my introduction stronger by explaining some of the concepts I will be using throughout the paper. I also introduced the writings used whereas I had forgotten the first time around.

Liberal arts education is so common, that it is something that is wanted by many people, but is not always an option. Many may say this is due to the cost of a liberal arts education. Ungar writes how it is a misconception that “a liberal arts degree is a luxury that most families can no longer afford.” (Ungar, Para 3) Although many families do struggle to send their kids to a liberal arts institution, many argue that it is a great investment and is well worth the money. This is because a liberal arts education allows students to get a well rounded education as well as an understanding of life after college. According to Scheuer, liberal arts has been known as two key elements to democracy. The education of liberal arts studies “prepares students for citizenship in all three sense– civic, economic, and cultural.” (Scheuer, Para 22) Citizenship is a big key to being successful in society and life after college. “The ‘career education’ bandwagon seems to suggest that shortcuts are available to students that lead directly to high-paying jobs — leaving out ‘frills’ like learning how to write and speak well, how to understand the nuances of literary texts and scientific concepts, how to collaborate with others on research.” (Ungar, Para 4) Ungar states that is is smarter for students to prepare for change and for multiple careers they will have rather than to search for one job track that may lead to nothing. A liberal arts education can do this for students, as they go through the integrated curriculum and explore many topics outside of their discipline. It is said that the purpose of higher education is to prepare students for jobs that may not even exist yet, which is why it is the best form of education according to Ungar.

I built off of a previous paragraph I had written to use in my project 2 essay. I think this naysayer helps to set up the misconception for my paragraph but giving a clear view of the opposing perspective.

As I completed my first draft, my big concern was not having enough to write about. This topic is kind of broad and also hard to argue with, especially since UNE is a liberal arts school. My peers liked how I introduced and explained the concepts and themes discussed in the readings and how I used quotes to define and explain them. Meg thinks I can reorganize a few of my points to make my paper more clear. I am working best with Ungar when I am connecting his work of his misconceptions relating them to the UNE CAS Core Handbook and explaining both sides. I think I work best with the misconceptions and the quotes I have used to explain and relate them to the actual reality of them. I can improve by integrating the misconception more into my text. For Scheuer, I am working best with his conceptions and how those are integrated into the themes in the UNE CAS Handbook. For the Handbook, I find it easy to integrate it and its writing with the other two quotes. The handbook is a medium of the two writings can can support many topics I have discusses or even ones I haven’t. My two biggest challenges according to my peers are making my arguments stronger (Justin) and rewording some things to make my writing more clear (Meg). I can revise my paper and reorganize pieces to make it fit better as well as integrating my opinion into it more.

This draft is attempting to relate the UNE CAS Handbook to Scheuer’s conceptions.

Before

The University of New England CAS Handbook has been examined and through this examination, it is determined that this institution uses the concept of an integrated curriculum the most out of all three of Scheuer’s conceptions. Working together, these two writings perfectly explain what a liberal arts education is, it’s purpose, and the outcomes. The handbook states throughout the writing that each student is required to take certain courses and obtain a certain amount of credits outside of their major requirements. Some of these include the requirement of at least one laboratory course, a social/global awareness course, and a human traditions course. These courses introduce the science aspect and humanities aspect in Scheuer’s concepts. In regards to the integrated curriculum concept, all students must take an english course, a mathematics course, and an environmental awareness course. There are many other required classes students need to take, but these are just a few.

After

The University of New England CAS Handbook has been examined and through this examination, it is determined that this institution uses the concept of an integrated curriculum the most out of all three of Scheuer’s conceptions. Working together, these two writings perfectly explain what a liberal arts education is, it’s purpose, and the outcomes. The handbook states throughout the writing that each student is required to take certain courses and obtain a certain amount of credits outside of their major requirements. Some of these include the requirement of at least one laboratory course, a social/global awareness course, and a human traditions course. These courses introduce the science aspect and humanities aspect in Scheuer’s concepts. In regards to the integrated curriculum concept, all students must take an english course, a mathematics course, and an environmental awareness course. There are many other required classes students need to take, but these are just a few. “Core curriculum courses take different approaches to model integrative learning. Some facilitate civic engagement, as well as engagements in research, scholarship, and creative work. Together, Core courses enable students to chart courses of self-directed and ongoing learning.” (CAS Handbook, 4) The core curriculum takes subjects from all aspects and walks of life to engage students and prepare them for life after college. These courses allow students to get a well-rounded education which is a goal of liberal arts education.

At the end, I added a quote which I think encompasses my main goals throughout the paragraph.

Introduction

Introductions have always been a little difficult for me. In my meeting with Olivia, she helped me to create a stronger introduction paragraph from my rough draft to my final. In our meeting, we combined part of my second paragraph with my original introduction paragraph. This helped to set up my paper and introduce the authors and texts used in the writing. Instead of just defining what the terms were, I did this but I also introduced everything that should be introduced in an introduction paragraph.

Evidence and Explanations

When I added to my paper, I generally added evidence to where my peers suggested I should. I think in working with the final draft, I explained or added more to my point of view. Adding more evidence, quotes, and explanations helps the reader to easily work through the reading and connect easier. Doing this also helps me, the author, to create a clear sense of my writing and my point of view.

Reorganization

Throughout writing my final draft, I separated multiple paragraphs because they were lengthy. After doing this, I then combined different sections of the paper. I can’t really remember the exact changes since this was a few weeks ago. I changed how I references the writings and used the authors names instead and I changed citations throughout the paper.

New Paragraphs

I added a conclusion to my final draft. Like introductions, conclusions are not that simple for me to work through. Olivia also helped me with this part of my paper. She helped me to organize my thoughts throughout the paper and create a strong conclusion to my paper, reiterating my key points. Besides that, I didn’t add new paragraphs, I just majorly reorganized them as I stated in the previous section.

My preferred conception connecting these writings

Liberal arts education is one that has been used for as long as anyone can remember. With that being said, this style of education has also been successful for as long as anyone can remember. Sanford J. Ugar gives seven big misconceptions about liberal arts education and explains how the misconceptions are just misconceptions and prove to be wrong. He lets the readers know both sides and perspectives as he explains why the misconception being spoken about is wrong or not accurate. Jeffery Scheuer explains what a liberal arts education is, why we need it, explains what critical thinking is, and the importance of critical inquiry. A liberal arts education is boiled down to a way of learning through an integrated curriculum. The curriculum includes three main conceptions according to Scheuer. First, “[embracing] the ideal of the integrated curriculum, encompassing virtually all non professional higher learning, from the natural and social sciences to the humanities and the performing arts.” (Scheuer, Para 9) Second, “implicitly [excluding] (but doesn’t denigrate) the sciences; and a third, still narrower, sense of the term focuses mainly on the humanities.” (Scheuer, Para 12) This idea of what a liberal arts education entails varies depending on where the information is coming from. According to the UNE CAS Handbook, a liberal arts education has four core themes: environmental awareness, social and global awareness, critical thinking, and citizenship and civic engagement. These themes “[invite] students to explore four college-wide themes from multiple disciplinary perspectives and to develop important intellectual skills.” (UNE CAS Handbook, 3) They are broken down and separated into each academic year at the university, allowing students to experience all aspects of the studies and to prepare them for life after school. A liberal arts education is one that proves to be very useful in one’s adult life and one that is desired by many.

UNE CAS Core Curriculum with Scheuer’s models

Scheuer explains that there are three main conceptions of a liberal arts education. These three concepts are the use of an integrated curriculum, science, and humanities. In the UNE CAS Handbook, these three concepts are integrated throughout. Scheuer’s concepts are all integrated in some way in the UNE CAS Handbook four core themes: environmental awareness, social and global awareness, critical thinking, and citizenship and civic engagement. Working together, these two writings perfectly explain what a liberal arts education is, it’s purpose, and the outcomes. The handbook states throughout the writing that each student is required to take certain courses and obtain a certain amount of credits outside of their major requirements. Some of these include the requirement of at least one laboratory course, a social/global awareness course, and a human traditions. These courses introduce the science aspect and humanities aspect in Scheuer’s concepts. In regards to the integrated curriculum concept, all students must take an english course, a mathematics course, and an environmental awareness course. There are many other required classes students need to take, but these are just a few.

Core Objectives, Implementation Guidelines, or the Appendix connecting to Scheuer/Ungar

Ungar explains how the misconception that a liberal arts education involves politics is wrong and what a liberal arts education actually means. “It promotes the idea of listening to all points of view and not relying on a single ideology, and examining all approaches to solving a problem rather than assuming that one technique or perspective has all the answers,” (Ungar, Para 14) as well as possibly being “described as a conservative approach to preparation for life.” (Ungar, Para 14) The UNE CAS Handbook’s main idea of core curriculum objectives “requires an ability to analyze issues from different points of view and to communicate effectively. Students must also be prepared to enter the world engaged as local, national and global citizens and professionals.” (UNE CAS Handbook, 4) As you can see, Ungar’s explanation coincides with the UNE CAS Handbook’s main goal. This goal is similar for any form of a liberal arts education. A liberal education clearly has nothing to do with politics after reading evidence such as this.