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.
