Overall, I agree with Nussbaum’s argument that the liberal arts are important in education and society, but I do not with agree with her exaggeration of the crisis. An education in the liberal arts opens one’s horizons and understandings of various subjects such as, poetry, art, and theatre. Having a broad education helps students decide who they want to be regarding vocation and character. She argues that “Education is not just for citizenship” (Nussbaum 1). The studies help one become more socially aware and a better member of society because the knowledge given through liberal arts studies helps one connect with others and understand the human condition. In general, a narrow focus on only one aspect of learning produces narrow thought. I …show more content…
She presents and formulates her main argument over the belief that society is in a crisis, “a crisis that is likely to be, in the long run, far more damaging to the future of democratic self-government: a worldwide crisis in education” (2). While there is a shift in educational values, America still has a strong basis for democracy and emphasizes its value and importance. While the focus on science and engineering stresses profit and the importance of products, it does not take away the understanding of equality. Democracy in itself teaches an understanding of the human condition because it focuses on the inalienable rights of all. Also, truly understanding and participating in democracy requires an ability to read literature and formulate arguments well. Therefore, democracy asserts a presence of liberal arts that cannot be forgotten because it is in the foundations of society. Her argument is powerful but her assumption of a crisis takes away from the influence of her piece. Overall, her stress on the liberal arts is well reasoned and supported by her background and even though she goes to an extreme, her interpretation of a crisis emphasizes the importance of the
He uses his prior reliability to argue the relevance and importance of a liberal arts education. He says there are many common misperception about the Liberal Arts and lists what he believes are the seven biggest misperception of today. Ungar states, “Hard economic times inevitably bring scrutiny of all accepted ideals and institutions, and this time around liberal arts education has been especially hard hit.” He believes the main reason the liberal arts education is under such an attack is because of these misperception. Having accepted his knowledge and experience with the difficulty of a liberal arts education, Ungar makes use of statistics, the structure of his essay, a likeable tone, and the audience’s feelings regarding the recent U.S. economic recession to appeal to his
In the article “Why We Undervalue a Liberal Arts Education” by Adam Chapnick, the author points to reasons why the liberal arts degree is undervalued. While his article lacks direction, it is effective because he talks about the topics he promised and he backs up his claims efficiently through the use of ethos,pathos and logos. Overall his argument is legitimate and the article is well written. To my understanding, the article is analyzing the way the world looks at liberal arts degrees and how they should be teaching the students to appreciate them. Chapnick clearly thinks that the liberal arts degree is unappreciated by today’s society as you can see in this quote, “The message coming from the policy world is clear: if you want
In Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville provides an analysis and critique of American civic life. During his travels across the country, he discovered how different America was from Europe, particularly France. While the majority of Europe consisted of aristocratic countries with hundreds of years of history, America was a young democratic country. Most notably, he observed that America was growing in equality. The growing equality becomes a presupposition of individualism and isolation, but despite this inevitable growth of equality, individualism and isolation can be minimized.
In the eyes of many, education is felt to be the key to creating a better society. Schiro (2013), shares that Social Reconstructionists feel that our society is threatened by many problems, however, “…education provides the means by which society is to be reconstructed” (p. 152). Corruption from poverty, racism, sexism, etc. were seen to be an educator’s issue even in the early twentieth century and although society has evolved over the years, these are the same issues educators currently face. John Dewey tried to meet these challenges head on in the early 1900’s by creating a school where students participated in social experiences that not only allowed for learning of content knowledge, but also gave students the opportunity to construct
With the year-round pressure pertaining to college applications on high school seniors follows the impending decision of choosing an appropriate college major. Generally, the decision-making process involves prioritizing one field of interest over another, however, due to globalization and constant innovation in technology determining a college major has increasingly become the modern day equivalent of the metaphorical line between life and death. Even so, the obvious choice would be the prestigious STEM fields over liberal arts due to the instant job opportunities which are seemingly ludicrous to a recent graduate. Nevertheless, liberal arts education should be encouraged to be pursued at higher education institutions in USA because it helps
In Charles Murray’s essay “Are Too Many People Going to College,” he believes that the concept of college has changed over the years. According to him, a four-year college is no longer as necessary as it was when it was first created because most jobs requires more on job training. He also adds to his reasoning by mentioning that because of the advancement of internet, physical libraries and the physical proximity of student and teachers is less important. Because of the changes he noticed he believes that people should go to college but not for liberal education. He makes the claim that the basic core knowledge of liberal education should be learned in elementary and middle school and that only people with high academic abilities should be encouraged to go to college.
Going to college for many students is just a normal part of life. It is what will enable them to get an education that eventually will lead to get a well-paid job and the resources and the status to live a comfortable life. But for college professor, Andrew Delbanco, the American college has a higher purpose. In the article “College at Risk”, Delbanco states that colleges should be promoting critical thinking among students, through knowledge of the past and the interaction with each other; as well as, help them discover their talents and passions and figure out what they want to do in life. This type of education is called liberal arts and for Delbanco, it represents the ideal education.
In her book entitled „Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities” , Martha Nussbaum deals with topics regarding education all over the world but her main focus is on the United States and India, places that she has better knowledge of. For that reason, her main thesis is that by declining the study of the humanities the world can end up with some „useful profit makers rather than thoughtful citizens.” (142) Even though people want to replace the arts education and humanities with technology or technology education, Nussbaum does not say that the arts and humanities are neglected by individuals. She mostly thinks that they are somewhat feared because for example, humanities at the same time with art can heighten one’s creativity and imagination but as well as his or hers compassion.
The idea of classroom causing problems for America’s society is elaborated when President Johnson explains that many children in America don’t have enough money to afford school. “There your children’s lives will be shaped. Our society will not be great until every young mind is set free to scan the farthest reaches of thought and imagination.” In order for a society to be great, education is the foundation; schools are where child learn about their world, and what it is they will do in the future to earn money to live a good life. And to better prove his idea Johnson states, “Each year more than 100,000 high school graduates, with proved ability, do not enter college because they cannot afford it,” then questions what will happen in years when time has become elapsed to conclude any efforts are needed to come into play for there to be a Great Society.
In our everchanging world dominated by technology, many education systems have emphasized courses in the science and mathematics departments to adapt students to the next generation world while leaving the humanities behind. While some may argue this move is logical, many educators believe that the arts and humanities are important to us due to the fact that without them we wouldn't be able to explore an entire range of experiences and emotions, resulting in an empty miserable life and society. As Dean Robert R. of the McCormick School of engineering wrote “Arts and humanities are vital to this new world. The primary reason: without a grounding in these fields, an entire range of human experiences and emotions will forever be invisible to us.
Democratic Perspectives What do you think about democracy? Authors Sara Holbrook and Reginald Rose of “Democracy” and 12 Angry Men, both share their own opinion on this topic. This essay will be comparing and contrasting their two opinions based on evidence from their texts. Rose and Holbrook both express their opinion on democracy and how it affects their lives in different ways.
As Americans, we view the Constitution as a stepping stone to making the great country we live in today. Yet, we the people of the United States failed to realize another component in order to form a perfect union. Which is to establish and promote equal opportunities for a quality education for all. However, we live in a society where social locators such as class, gender, and race are huge factors in the determination of one’s educational future.
The book has 26 chapters and can be divided into two parts. This division is not present in the contents and thus is not a structural division per se. The first seven chapters provide a theoretical foundation for democratic education and the later chapters reconstruct the core educational notions upon that foundation.
Education can be explained as the process of acquiring knowledge, skills, values, beliefs and habits, and is the most valuable resource that one could have in life as, firstly, education facilitates learning and critical thinking, secondly, it allows for dreams of the future in terms of success to become a reality and lastly, it prevents the children of today from risking their future due to the influence of environmental hazards (Brooks, 2006). After studying the points discussed, it can be said that education plays an important role in the development of each and every human being and is not on categorized under scholarly education but rather any experience that allows an individual to broaden his/her knowledge. Amy Gutmann, an American political theorist proposed a theory surrounded around the democratic state of education requiring parents and states - to surrender some educational authority to professional education staffs’, also indicating that the children of today do not just benefit from freedom of choice, or identification with and participation in the positive aspects of their family and political aspects of the society. Amy’s theory is based on the characterisation of the three models of educational control namely Locke’s Theory of Parental control,
In this essay, “Course Corrections”, Frank argument is overshadowed by his overuse of pathos with barley any logos used and his ethos mostly containing politicians rather than those with a humanities background. Frank’s Claim is simple to grasp and is found in the first paragraph. He discusses how college-level humanities are fading away and that it should be defended from the “bulldozers advancing from two different directions” (Frank 740). He then gives evidence to support his claim throughout his essay like how many political figures are pushing college students towards more scientific and engineering degrees, leaving degrees in literature and humanities on the side of