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Liberal Arts Argumentative Essay

1677 Words7 Pages

Has the liberal arts education route become the Penicillin of the higher education realm? Proceeding from redundancy, this presupposed broad-spectrum choice of study has been around for quite some time. Potentially, it can be inferred that the liberal arts have been around at least since the days of Plato, who so eloquently promoted his humble yet satirical opinion of government. Perhaps, this was the genesis of the liberalists. Despite its perceived ostensible success, the liberal arts have indubitably received some hate mail. People are developing unprecedented sensitivities. Whether the patient is a tailored, fourth-generation, Harvard man, or, a middle-class, minority-occupied woman, they all have one common symptom: doubt...maybe some …show more content…

Knowing where liberal arts should be taught and who should get a degree is easily enough found out, however, the repercussions of having the degree or not, and how it relates to job and monetary success must be divulged. Everyone wants to have a good paying job, right? Of course, but the best route to take which yields the best financial stability must be considered. Additionally, it is absolutely a commonality that a person can be successful without a college degree, let alone a degree in liberal arts - Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft Inc. is a fine precedent. The misperception Unger debunks regarding jobs is: "college graduates are finding it harder to get good jobs with liberal-arts degrees."(qtd. in Graff, Brikenstein, and Durst, 192) Firstly, misperceptions are easy to engender which make their validity sometimes questionable. This particular one seems to be a blatant fabricated misperception. Unger then admits that "recent graduates have had difficulty in the job market, but the recession has not differentiated between major fields of study in its impact"(qtd. in Graff, Brikenstein, and Durst, 192), which automatically equalizes liberal arts degree graduates and non-liberal arts graduates. This is important to note because to further Unger 's own argument, Unger brings a survey into the picture. Unger says, regarding a 2009 survey, "that more than three-quarters of our nation 's employers recommend that college bound students pursue a 'liberal education ' "(qtd. in Graff, Brikenstein, and Durst, 192). A "liberal education" is different than a degree in liberal arts. Ironically, for what it is worth, It is possible to get a conservative liberal arts degree. Murray 's argument is rooted in facts from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and a hypothetical of a boy who wants to be an electrician but isn 't sure if going to college, to pursue being a manager, is right for him. Ultimately, this boy 's unsureness is answered with some facts. Murray uncovered

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