The New Liberal Arts Sanford Ungar Analysis

Mark Edmundson speaks out about the apparent decline of college level education in his article, “On the Uses of a Liberal Education: As Lite Entertainment for Bored College Students”. Edmundson believes liberal education is declining due to students losing passion and colleges selling students what they want: a good time.

When Shorris explains his goal to the prospective students he indicates, “You’ve been cheated. Rich people learn the humanities; you didn’t. The humanities are a foundation for getting along in the world, for thinking, for learning to reflect on the world instead of just reaction to whatever force is turned against you.”(Page 4) That the rich have had the opportunity to buy that type of learning and embrace it, while the poor have had more things to deal with like getting food on the table from day to day. Therefore, Shorris believes that a liberal education will provide poor students with a new kind of lens to outlook the world. With the knowledge of philosophy, poetry, art history, logic and American history, Shorris trusts that these students will begin to uncover hidden talents and interests that will inspire them and help them to not only solve problems, but also seek plausible solutions. He believes that these qualities would provide the poor with an escape route from the ongoing cycle that have them trapped and it will provide them with “a certain kind of life, a richness of mind and spirit.” (Page 5) After his first thriving year teaching this class, sixteen of his prospective students completed the course, which then some went on to universities.

To discuss the value of liberal education, there should be a mutual understanding that investing in college means to invest in oneself. Furthermore, while some consider this investment to be a critical stepping stone to success, others dismiss it, explaining that school simply cannot prepare someone for the “real world.” Sanford J. Ungar and Robert Reich explore both of these subjective values in their essays “The New Liberal Arts” and “College is a Ludicrous Waste of Money.” Ungar, the president of Goucher College in Baltimore, Maryland, discusses why a liberal education should be sought after; he does so by introducing common misconceptions about liberal arts and, using argumentative persuasion, proves their insignificance. On the other hand, Reich, the former secretary of labor, argues against the conventional belief of college being the only road to financial wellbeing; rather, he explains why a two-year education may better accommodate many college students, especially those in need of immediate work or those that simply cannot afford a four-year education. In all, although both Reich and Ungar generally discuss liberal education, their perspectives differ when it comes to its practicality in the current economy. Also, to express their different views about liberal arts, the authors use contrasting tones to present their ideas to different intended audiences.

He wrote, “The career bandwagon seems to suggest that shortcuts are available to students that lead directly to high-paying jobs—leaving out “frills” like learning how to write and speak well, how to understand the nuances of literacy texts and scientific concepts, how to collaborate with others on research” What he means by that is there is no shortcuts to a high-paying jobs. He also implies that liberal arts education is the only right way to prepare an individual for their future career because it equips ones with the abilities to write and speak formally, and understandings on scientific matter or how to cooperate with other people for your work, etc. However, I do not think he can deny the fact that the starting salary for a liberal arts graduate is approximately $32,500 while for an engineer is $75,000, (http://www.mtu.edu/engineering/outreach/welcome/salary/). For instant, what can a person possibly do with his philosophy degree right after graduating? He will probably have to go for more schooling before he can find a high-paying job at some big firms or he will have to struggle a lot before he can open his philosophy shop or publish his book. In short, a liberal arts degree will take longer to see its worth than career education or vocational training.

While the term liberal education is heard from the most prestigious university to an inner city community college, the phrase itself has a hazy definition at best. While educators across America struggle with the definition of the phrase, William Cronon uses purpose, structure, and appeals in his essay "Only Connect: The Goals of Liberal education," to define a liberally educated being and the characteristics that such an education should impart. Cronon capitalizes on inductive structuring to lead the reader along, gently building each new statement upon a foundation of previous ideas. This effectively leads the reader to a strange

I agree with the author because he makes some good points in the article stating that, "The disruptive potential of a liberal education is not so much that it has no practical use but that the end result for those who engage in its rigor is unpredictable". Which means that people can take this matter into three own hands and build something that can help the world in the future. As an example one of my classmates stated that people are using the liberal arts to help design something to help us win a war. Also I think the author has a point about how we should let the children learn what they want to learn and not always

Mr. Ungar, President of a liberal arts college, most clearly devised the essay The New Liberal Arts to show that liberal arts is a competitive education compared to any other degree. Ungar has a high standards for liberal arts and is driven to spread the word on various common misperceptions of liberal arts today. Ungar strongly believes that people underestimate the resources, and general future lifestyle that liberal arts provides. Personally, I disagree with his opinions especially with him being a Liberal Arts College President. I think that his opinions on the misperceptions are biased, just a ploy to get people to join the liberal arts education.

Ungar’s essay The New Liberal Arts has a completely different perspective on general education than Murray’s essay. Murray believes that liberal-arts is a degree that is a luxury and that most people can’t afford it. He states,” Yet one could argue that the traditional, well-rounded preparation that the liberal arts offer is a better investment than ever-that the future demands of citizenship will require not narrow technical or job-focused training, but rather a subtle understanding of the complex influences that shape the world we live in” (Ungar 191). This is the complete opposite of how Murray’s argument goes. Murray thinks that liberal education isn’t something that should be focused on in college.

In the article “Only Connect…The Goals of a Liberal Education” by William Cronon, Cronon discusses what he believes it means to be liberally educated and the benefits to individuals as well as the general public. Cronon opens with the question, “What does it mean to be a liberally educated person?” Then he provides us with background on the true meaning of the word “liberal” using latin terms, clearly up common misconceptions relating to politics. He continues to explain the moral platform on which liberal education was built. Stating that those values consisted of promoting educational growth to benefit our natural born freedoms. He then begins to question if required courses are beneficial to that educational growth. Cronon goes on to explain

Michael Fromm, CEO of electrical Manufacturing, says in an article on CNBC, “I find people that have a liberal arts background have a broader view of the world and will go farther in business.” Practical skills create people trained to do one thing one way and not allowing for deviance. Kelley Holland, on an article “The Case for a liberal arts education,” says, “Graduates that are right out of college, by their peak earning years, from age 56 to 60, people with liberal arts degrees earn an average of $66,185, about $2,000 more than their peers with professional or pre-professional degrees.” Critical thinkers are perfectly capable of performing practical skills, and in fact, since they have been taught to think for themselves, will now be

In her speech Rich attempts to change the perspective students have of education. She desires for students to see they don’t receive an education but they have the right to claim it. Her message is simple, women have to take every opportunity in education as rightful owners because they have the same right as men to be educated. Rich claims that students can benefit more from education if they claim it instead of thinking it’s been given to them and take it for granted. Once students learn to declare education as theirs and take full responsibility they will be more successful. Even though the speech’s main audience were female students of Douglass College Rich’s words apply to every student.

With the world constantly changing, I believe a liberal arts education help me become a better problem solver and overall thinker. Preparing for a less predictable future and being able to easily adapt to different situations and circumstances is going to be very important in my near future. I think that this would allow me to be a better leader as well because I'll be able to help guide others who don't know how to adapt to certain situations. It takes more than a strong understanding of a subject to become someone who's able to climb the hierarchy ladder in the workplace. Anyone can go to any school and memorize books, however, liberal arts schools teach you how to think, to analyze situations from all viewpoints, and work with others. Also,

Nervous about choosing where you should pursue your education and what type of degree you want is mind racking but making sure you pick the right one is crucial. College students and their parents do not want to waste their money on a worthless degree that will get them nowhere. One of these degrees happens to be liberal art which parents and college students have varies opinions on the usefulness of the degree, but the loudest voices are the one that shows discontent with the idea of getting liberal art degree and arguing using “misconceptions” but other choose to counter those “misconceptions”. One of them being Sanford J. Ungar who was the president of Goucher College, a liberal art school (656). Ungar tackled seven misconceptions” with

are professional schools, which are by no means mean the same thing as liberal arts education does. The purpose of being college students is to improve inwardly, to improve your thinking and writing ability, but not the ability to seek for better jobs after graduation. A liberal arts education is the education that teaches students how to think, and guides students to experience spiritual sublimation. According to Dr.Deresiewicz, liberal arts education provides college students with intellectual improvement, and “Being an intellectual means, first of all, being passionate about ideas—and not just for the duration of a semester, for the sake of pleasing the teacher, or for getting a good grade.” (Deresiewicz, “The Disadvantage of an Elite Education”). A liberal arts education offers students opportunities discovering ideas through reading, thinking, speaking and

Liberal arts education will improve a student’s success. Liberal arts education provides students with fundamental classes outside of their major courses, which will contribute to them becoming educated in many other aspects. For example, students who have a liberal arts education have to take courses such as English and Speech. These particular courses will contribute to students learning how to improve their communication skills. As an individual begins their career it will be important for them to know how to properly communicate with coworkers and any other individuals they talk to on a day to day basis. Therefore, these courses will cause students to be successful within their career because they will know how to properly share their ideas