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Analysis Of Sanford J. Ungar's Essay: The New Liberal Arts

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Imagine a working class society where the liberal-arts became extinct. The workforce would be occupied with employees that could not read, write, or communicate properly. Although this is only a theory, with a declining rate and the on-going neglect of the liberal-arts education this prediction is not far from reality. When thinking of the essence and significance of liberal arts many authors write to explain the importance in articles, two of these distinguished figures are Sanford J. Ungar and Charles Murray. In Ungar’s article, “The New Liberal Arts,” he advocates for the liberal-arts and all that it has to offer to scholars. He takes seven common misperceptions that the society portrays of the arts and reveal how valuable the arts are in …show more content…

These two different yet similar pieces combine to persuade viewers that all scholars should learn about the arts. Although both writers share a strong view point of everyone being educated in the arts and both incorporate strong uses of logos and pathos in their writings, Ungar’s article shows great usage of ethos while Murray’s essay lacks in that element. Ungar and Murray both incorporate a valid basis of logic stating how important it is to know as much about liberal-arts as possible grounded with factual information. Ungar assimilates the logical reasoning with his own personal views of how advantageous studying the arts in college are supported with research from actual heads of corporation. Ungar goes on by proclaiming the liberal arts as the best choice to qualify for a career education with validation from a president. “Geoffrey Garin, president of Hart Research Associates, suggest that studying liberal arts is actually best form of career education (Ungar 657).” He has clearly done research to know that liberal arts are proven to prepare students for numerous careers that require a form of the arts, while the STEM majors seem to …show more content…

Ungar is a strong promoter of the liberal arts and wants nothing but for the arts to prosper as it once did that is why he is all for listening to differing opinions towards the arts to make improvements. He is open minded to everyone having a voice that shall and will be heard, no longer relying on a single source to solve a proceeding problem. Ungar makes this point clear when he says, “the liberal-arts should not be compared to a political debate where you are only allowed to say ideas or topics, it promotes the idea of seeing what everyone brings to the table so that we can all invest (661).” Not only are majority of people unequipped for college work, but they also will not receive degrees. Murray disputes that not only liberal-arts degrees, but degrees in general do not consistently reach full capability as promised. Murray examines the bad side of a B.A. by stating, “while it is true that the average person with a B.A. makes more than the average person without a B.A., getting a B.A. is still likely to be a wrong economic choice among high-school graduates (676).” He explains that high school graduates who believe in receiving B.A. will help them get a higher-paying job they are only narrowly

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