Essay Sample on New Liberal Arts

Introduction

In the essay, the writer defends liberal arts courses against mistaken ideas by the society on them. He uses the essay to correct these misconceptions and says that the media, policymakers, and families that are concerned about the costs of items have put new liberal arts under scrutiny (Ungar, 2010). The author presents to the readers the seven mistaken ideas, and why the ideas are untrue. My thought about the essay is that it is timely. There was no better time to write about misconceptions on liberal arts than now. The author uses his experience as a liberal arts college president to change the mentality of his readers on the negative perception of liberal arts.

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I am thinking that the world today has limited opportunities and resources but there are so many people that would want to survive on them. Therefore it is important that one becomes versatile and flexible in all that he can do. This comes when he gains a wide range of workmanship and skills. In the essay, the author put it in the best way by writing that today there are so many families that are struggling financially especially in this economic meltdown and would prefer taking their children to job-specific technical training. He says that one can still fail to secure a job after going through vocational training and that means his money was 'wasted'. He says that the world today requires a wide range of training equipping students with the broad knowledge to help them survive and liberal arts provide this.

I feel very happy and more informed about the reality in the job market and the employer's perception of liberal arts. The author says there is a misconception is that the students who graduate with liberal arts degrees are not securing employment. He says this is untrue and that 2009 survey in America shows that over 75% of the employers prefer those that have done liberal arts because they need critical thinking at work (Ungar. 2010). Besides, many bosses in these companies have done liberal arts courses. There are so many people that earn a living through liberal arts, from managing directors to the lowest employee in terms of salary and grade. The society must also recognize that all the courses are very important in so far as the advancement of humanity is concerned. An example is that we need roads to facilitate easy movement and so engineers are of great help to the people. What if one is depressed due to the fact that his wife is planning to divorce him? Who will help if not a psychologist?. The above questions underscore the importance of new liberal arts courses in colleges and by extension life in general.

Conclusion

What elates me more is the fact that the author has taken his time to bring things to light but leaving the decision to be taken by the people themselves. He says that the liberal arts courses are being appreciated by other countries especially China who go to America to benchmark and see how they can fit these courses in their systems. If liberal arts were that bad, could they have taken their time to go to America to check how it works? In my honest opinion, I think everything has got both advantages and disadvantages. Americans should embrace and appreciate the many pros that liberal arts have and try to correct the many problems it is facing like may be high fees but not advising each other not to do the courses.

Reference

Ungar, S. J. (2010). The New Liberal Arts. The Chronical Of Higher Education, 28.