The Function And Value Of A Liberal Arts Education

I’m going to discuss the opinions of William Cronon, Andrew Delbanco, and David Wallace in order to discuss what a liberal education is and what it means to different people. Following that, I’ll be blogging about my own USP experiences and thoughts on liberal education. It is crucial to hear opinions from a wide range of individuals since some could believe that receiving a liberal education is a waste of time or money or they may not be aware of its value. The objective is to increase students’ appreciation of liberal education and prepare them for success in life beyond college. My aim in writing this article is to try to make others realize why some individuals believe a liberal education is important.

I will first examine William Cronon’s and my opinions on a liberal education before moving on to William Cronon’s beliefs. It was intriguing to read Cronon’s article since it is difficult to explain what he believes a liberal education is. Cronon holds the opinion that a liberal education may often be deceptive. He argues that it is incorrect to presume that simply because someone has completed all the prerequisite courses, they don’t necessarily have a decent liberal education. A crucial component of a liberal education, according to Cronon, is that “none of us ever obtain a liberal education; it is not a state. Instead, it is a method of living in the face of our own ignorance, a way of seeking knowledge while fully acknowledging our own foolishness, and a way of educating ourselves without holding onto the hope that our educations will ever be complete. Cronon is attempting to make the point that we should concentrate on what our knowledge is, in my opinion. While having access to the facts is crucial, additional information is required in order to make informed judgments in the actual world. Not every circumstance we face will be exactly the same, therefore it’s critical to be aware of this information beforehand to ensure we’re making the greatest choice possible in certain circumstances. I don’t completely disagree with Cronon’s statement, but after completing the liberal education classes, I feel successful because I feel like I accomplished something I didn’t mean to. The principles that Cronon believes a liberal education should instill also caught my attention in his article. I’ll talk about three of them in this article. They listen and they hear is one of William Cronon’s ideals, he notes. In my opinion, Cronon is attempting to convey that it is crucial to pay attention to what others are saying rather than concentrating just on what I will say in order to participate to a discussion. This is challenging for me personally since, in my experience, concentrating on what others are attempting to say sometimes lead me to forget what I intended to say. Another benefit, as William Cronon notes, is that “They can solve a broad range of puzzles and difficulties.” For this value, I believe what he is trying to convey is that a broad education will provide us the skills to handle a wide range of issues that we weren’t previously aware of being able to handle. Diverse information will also enable us to recognize abilities we weren’t aware we have. According to William Cronon, “They practice humility, tolerance, and self-criticism,” which is his sixth virtue. To understand what they believe to be correct or what they are experiencing, we must be able to put ourselves in their shoes. We will be able to identify both our similarities and differences by doing this.

I’ll then discuss Andrew Delbanco’s definition of a liberal education and provide my own opinions. Many individuals are interested in learning if college is worthwhile. One of the first things Andrew Delbanco said in this video was that “education doesn’t always prepare students for the workforce, but it does help them find who they are” (00:01:06-00:01:15). This Delbanco point ties to what Cronon said about how it aids in our talent/skill discovery. He spoke on the importance of reading and writing skills for individuals after they graduate. Delbanco is attempting to make the point, in my opinion, that although many people may not now appreciate its importance, we must take all of these subjects in order to improve our chances of success in life after college. Having these essential abilities will increase our possibilities and help us develop personally. Delbanco said in the video that one drawback of college is the price. Some folks lack the funds necessary to seek a quality education. According to my experience, it might be challenging for me to identify who I am sooner if I am required to take subjects I already know I would struggle in since they can be repeats from high school. For instance, when I learned that I would have to take two accounting courses in college, I realized that I had taken one accounting subject in high school and didn’t like it.

Finally, it may be crucial to highlight some of the most significant parallels and discrepancies between Cronon’s article and Wallace’s speech when discussing liberal education. Additionally, I will provide my impressions of and experiences with the USP that we have on campus. We must learn to actively listen to people, which is one resemblance I saw between the two. This is crucial because if we do it, we will be better able to understand and build our own knowledge and thinking as well as the ability to put ourselves in other people’s situations. Having a greater liberal education can help us obtain a better focus on more parts of life itself, and this may help us make better decisions in the future. This is another commonality I discovered. Wallace discussed how other people may also impact our day, which I felt to be a significant contrast between the two. Wallace used the example of going grocery shopping after work in his lecture. He added that it is a highly popular activity to engage in directly after work, so there will be rush hour traffic and it would be challenging to enter and exit these establishments quickly. However, because it will allow us more time to reflect and make wiser judgments, this may not be the worst thing. I haven’t had the greatest experiences with the USP on campus, but I think they could be better. Some of my opinions on pursuing a liberal education have altered as a result of seeing these movies and reading these writings. Finding my own strengths and skills is something I had never considered before. I’m hoping the USP program will still find them for me even if I haven’t yet. As a business student, I had to take a course called “applied calculus for business,” although I had no idea why I needed it. I now see that having taken it, it can be crucial in assisting me in making better selections in the corporate sector as I will have a variety of expertise. I was a management major for the previous two years because I thought I may start my own company. However, I didn’t realize I would need all these financial courses, and starting a business wasn’t exactly what I wanted to do. In principle, I believe USP is a fantastic concept, but it’s not implemented well since it shouldn’t take more than a year in case someone wants to switch their degree in college.

In conclusion, if USP could implement certain adjustments, a liberal education may be significant for the majority of college graduates. In my perspective, finishing a liberal education in a year gives individuals enough of time to figure out their interests and dislikes as well as their abilities and skills. In order to prevent high school students from squandering their time and money, we also need to consider the possibility that they already know what they want to do with their life after graduation. Given how costly education is, it’s critical for individuals to identify their likes and dislikes early in order to avoid spending more time in school than necessary.