Plenary Keynote “On the Idea of a Christian College” - Dr. Timothy Larsen (8:30 session)
“Knowledge is an end in and of itself”
In this discussion, Dr. Timothy Larsen discussed the calling and the mission of a Christian liberal arts college and how a college like Northwestern allows us as students to connect our faith, purpose, intellect, and service. Throughout the speech, Larsen argued against the critics who believe that a liberal arts education is worthless and that students who attend such colleges are “being scammed” because they are taught things that they will never otherwise use in their careers and/or life. These critics of a liberal arts education do not believe there is a utility-maximizing point for the widened array of required subject study offered at a liberal arts college. In
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Emily Dykstra and Dr. Jennifer Feenstra, both professors within the psychology department, discussed the journeys of their faith life and how they came to truly articulate their personal beliefs. These professors also talked about the many challenges faced by “emerging adults” who perhaps have a rather weak hold of their faith in the midst of a heavily-secular world and how to deal with such challenges. Of course, they believe that our education at Northwestern equips us as “courageous and faithful learners” with the suitable framework for our faith, yet they also realize that this Christian environment may be sheltering us from the harsh realities of the world. This session reminded me of a previous discussion I had with my FYS class about why we believe what we believe. Through that discussion, I realized that I had never really articulated what my faith actually meant to me. Instead, I simply piggybacked off my parents’ beliefs and called them my own. This session, and my FYS experience, has led me to a desire of being able to truly articulate my own beliefs and to take control of my faith life instead of being spoonfed religious beliefs from my
The New Liberal Arts- Summary In the article, “The New Liberal Arts,” author Sanford J. Ungar addresses several misperceptions that people have about the importance of Liberal arts education in today’s world. In doing so, he highlights seven misperceptions that people have and then provides a logical correction to them. In his article, the first misperception claims that people should focus more on career education rather than liberal arts education. On contrary, Ungar argues that the society today, demand individual’s who have preparation in all fields, which liberal arts provide.
In the article "The New Liberal Arts", author Sanford J. Ungar takes a stance on the benefits and the need for students to pursue a liberal arts education. Ungar argues that despite modern day critique of liberal education, from his point of view as a liberal arts college president the criticisms and naysayers are futile. He swiftly and authoritively defends the affordable cost of a liberal education, employers desiring graduates with liberal education degrees, and the ability for those holding liberal arts degrees to compete with those pursuing science and mathematics majors. While Ungar's work has a great general idea, some of his specified points lack the evidence to truly stand on their own two feet. A liberal arts education is a useful
Richie Washington Prof. Lackey ENGL 1113-01 9 October 2017 How does a Christian Institution Thrive in Diversity? In the article “Christian Colleges Doing Diversity Well” by Christine A. Scheller, a journalist and essayist, she interviews Christian college administrators who are attempting to make their institutions better by creating a more diverse college community. They have conversations about their efforts to have a diverse school and how some may thrive and look forward to diversity more than others. Nyack College in Nyack, New York was awarded and the Racial Harmony Award back along with many other colleges and universities.
“On the Uses of Liberal Education” written by Mark Edmundson offers this notion that the college network is becoming something more of a pay-n-go than an institute of higher education, students are more disconsolate and looking towards the professors for entertainment. It is becoming less about the education and more about filling seats and acquiring money. Parents could be partially blamed for their children who grow to be too scared to stand up or be criticized, they would rather stay quiet and let the professors be their entertainment. “I want some of them to say that they’ve been changed by the course”, this made me realize that this doesn’t happen enough and I agree with Edmundson that it’s somewhat due to imperturbable students since
Integration: Mixing Psychology and Christianity Latoya Alston Liberty University Summary In the book Integrative Approaches to Psychology and Christianity, David N. Entwistle (2010) forces readers to question whether or not psychology and Christianity can be integrated. As the book begins, he argues that integrating the two disciplines is difficult because there are two perspectives in which a person can view the world: from a secular perspective or from a Christian perspective (Entwistle, 2010). Secular thinking contradicts Christianity because it consists of a worldview that is limited to the earthly realm and is based on things that can be tangibly proven (Entwistle, 2010). Christian thinking, however, reaches beyond the physical,
A number of American policymakers have come to scrutinize liberal arts education. They say that the liberal arts are dead, that it’s an irrelevant field to pursue, especially if students come from a low-income family; that they will not get a good job with a liberal arts degree. Sanford J. Ungar responds to these claims in his essay, “The New Liberal Arts”. Misperception No. 2 in “The New Liberal Arts” says that “College graduates are finding it harder to get good jobs with liberal arts degrees” (228).
Ungar writes to correct false stereotypes of liberal arts education and asserts that liberal arts will create well-rounded students armed to achieve success. Wallace declares that liberal arts instead provides human value through creating graduates able to think differently outside of the natural human tendency, not graduates with more value through experience in more fields as Ungar sees it. Although Wallace does not disprove Ungar, I support his perspective that what a liberal arts education provides is more than what meets the eye. Graduates of liberal arts may be able to claim that they were provided with experience in several areas, but this does not guarantee to the employer that they are strong and valuable still in those areas. What can be guaranteed, however, is that a liberal arts graduate is well prepared to control how and what they think—as Wallace Describes—regardless of content they are able to recall from their schooling and put into practice.
During this course, Leading Lives That Matter, I was challenged by God, fellow students, and the readings pertaining to this course. Being this was my first online course at Regis University, I did not know what to expect. The different views and opinions from my classmates challenged my own outlook on life. This course helped me shape by life by looking more into God and my life as a whole rather than living in the moment. Values, aspirations, virtues, and vocations lead us to our future are the answers to “how we ought to live.”
Dr. White has taken on the challenge of assisting those who wish to explore the Christian faith as their potential destination of the
1 In Hawthorne 's essay “Young Goodman Brown”, does it matter whether or not the protagonist, Goodman Brown, dreamt the events in the story? The idea and drive behind religious faith and belief is a concept consistently explored in Young Goodman Brown (YGB). The story explores Brown 's journey in a single night which inexplicably ends with a tarnished perspective on religious faith as portrayed by his fellow villagers. Brown himself grows to be disillusioned on faith but the events leading up to this shift however, is ambiguous at best, with the debate mostly centred towards the notion that Brown merely dreamt the events, resulting in an unfair and biased outcome in terms of his sentiment towards the villagers and his own belief.
Rick Ostrander, the author of Why College Matters to God, makes a strong and compelling argument that individuals of the Christian faith, who plan to attend college, should attend a Christian university. This is due to the worldview that Christian colleges provide, rather than the secular spectrum. Defining a worldview, it is the prior assumptions we have about reality that shape how we perceive the world around us, according to Rick Ostrander. He also states that worldviews are pre-rational and instinctive thoughts that are shaped by our experience and community. College is an ideal time for students to challenge and examine their worldviews.
Hello Brent, it is the end of your first semester in your sophomore year, and I am writing this to you because you have successfully gotten an “A” in religion 101. You have accomplished a lot this semester and have been through a lot, but you have also rightfully deserved this “A”. You have followed helpful tips from the article “Learning” written by Robert Leamnson. You have also followed the guidelines from your syllabus and have asked for help from Dr. Zwissler and classmates. First I would like to talk to you about how you used the tips given to you by Robert Leamnson.
Presbyterians place great importance upon education and lifelong learning (Models for Christian Higher Education: Strategies for Survival and
(Griffith & Dunham, 2015) For some individuals, religion isn 't only a Sunday morning practice yet a bigger otherworldly power that infuses their lives. Religion helps shape distinctive mindsets and behaving, which brings a variety of diversity to the