Analysis Of Sanford J. Ungar's Essay: The New Liberal Arts

Rhetorical Analysis Draft Three “The Privileges of The Parents” is written by Margaret A. Miller, a Curry School of Education professor at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. This woman was a project director for the Pew-sponsored National Forum on college level learning from 2002-2004. This forum assessed the skills and knowledge of college educated students in five states by a way that allowed the test givers to make state-by-state comparisons. Miller believes that “[a] college education has benefits that ripple down through the generations” and this has enabled her to work and speak on topics such as: college level learning and how to evaluate it, change in higher education, the public responsibilities of higher education, campus

Higher education is available for most, but many questions are raised by todays woels to whether students are receiving a higher education, and if test scores are becoming more important. From her position as a college professor in the higher education industry, Kay states that lots of students are going to college to get quality education, and are there to learn certain skills for the job they are interested in, and are studying for (39). On the contrary, Lasch believes “that the desire for more relevant courses often down comes down to a desire for ‘intellectual understanding’ courses, so that relevance functions as a smokescreen concealing the reluctance to work hard” (38). One might wonder who is right in this situation; is Lash telling how it is or is Kay?

There are advantages to this though, someone who gets a liberal arts degree might be better at certain things such as comprehension, problem solving, and critical thinking. Many of those skills are wanted by employers when they are looking to hire a college graduate. On the other hand, Murray believes pursuing a liberal arts degree is a waste of time. Murray, claims are mostly valid because on average it takes longer for a liberal arts graduate to find a job, and they start off making less than the average professional career. He believes people are looking for innovators not just

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.

In this passage, “Why Literature Matters, Dana Gioia talks about what has happened to American arts. During the past quarter century, American arts has had a strange occurrence. The participation in the arts has declined for eight of the nine major forms of it. A study shows that the percentage of young Americans reading literature or reading in general is declining. Do you want to know why the decline in American arts is bad?

Retrieved from http://ottawa.smartcatalogiq.com/en/2014-2015/Catalog/Ottawa-University-Academics/Liberal-Arts-Studies/Breadth-Area-Requirement-at-the-Adult-Campuses-and-Online Ruscio, K. P. (2012, September 19). Why a liberal arts education is the best job preparation. Retrieved from

In Charles Murray’s essay “Are Too Many People Going to College,” he believes that the concept of college has changed over the years. According to him, a four-year college is no longer as necessary as it was when it was first created because most jobs requires more on job training. He also adds to his reasoning by mentioning that because of the advancement of internet, physical libraries and the physical proximity of student and teachers is less important. Because of the changes he noticed he believes that people should go to college but not for liberal education. He makes the claim that the basic core knowledge of liberal education should be learned in elementary and middle school and that only people with high academic abilities should be encouraged to go to college.

The general argument made by author Charles Murray in his article, “Are too many people go to college,” is that the college is not necessary for everyone. More specifically, the Murray argues that students who went to school should have learned the core knowledge they will learn in the college. He writes, “ K-8 are the right years to teach the core knowledge, and the effort should get off to a running start in elementary school” (236). In this passage, Murray is suggesting that start teaching the core knowledge in elementary school until high school is better than to spend money and more time to the college. It is not important to go to college.

Going to college for many students is just a normal part of life. It is what will enable them to get an education that eventually will lead to get a well-paid job and the resources and the status to live a comfortable life. But for college professor, Andrew Delbanco, the American college has a higher purpose. In the article “College at Risk”, Delbanco states that colleges should be promoting critical thinking among students, through knowledge of the past and the interaction with each other; as well as, help them discover their talents and passions and figure out what they want to do in life. This type of education is called liberal arts and for Delbanco, it represents the ideal education.

When we look at lifetime earnings-the sum of earnings over a career-the total premium is $570,000 for a bachelor’s degree and $170,000 for an associate’s degree.” (pg.211 para. 1) This is an extremely effective use of logos to persuade as to why getting a college degree can yield “a tremendous return” (pg.211 para. 1), as the Hamilton Project stated. This is so effective because the authors lay all the numbers out right in front of the readers regarding lifetime earnings achieved through bachelor’s degrees, associates degrees, and high school diplomas.

High school seniors are faced with a wide variety of decisions as they approach graduation. They must decide whether or not they are going to attend college, begin working, or do something else. If they do decide to attend college, they also must decide whether to pursue a liberal arts education or a vocational one. A liberal arts education primarily includes a collection of different classes and topics students can choose to take and study. A vocational route will mainly educate students on their specific intended career.

In “Are Too Many People Going to College?” Charles Murray offers his opinion on the number of students that pursue a B.A. He believes that two year or four year colleges are not needed for a majority of students who could instead pursue other life paths. He discusses the ability for the general knowledge needed to be learned in primary and secondary school, and for a lessened need for a “brick-and-mortar” institution the problems with the current secondary and higher educational issues including the lessened need to acquire a B.A. All members of society need certain skills in order to be productive members of society. They need to know general facts about the country they live in, general history, and general geography.

My husband who went to a two year technical school to become a desalt mechanic was required to take a math class for mechanics which had a unit that covered loans, interest, balancing a check book, debt, and budgeting. This is just one way I think UW-Osh has fallen short of a true liberal

As the digital age comes upon us, more and more Americans become dissatisfied with the state of literacy in this generation. Because the Internet paves the way for shorter and shorter interactions, namely articles versus novels and six-second viral videos versus films, many people that grew up in the age of the Internet have a preference for this condensed form of entertainment. Dana Gioia of The New York Times asserts in his essay “Why Literature Matters” that the decline of reading in America is destined to have a negative impact on society as a whole. Gioia opens his essay with a bittersweet account of which trend is occurring in the twenty-first century America arts scene. He notes that as college attendance rates blossom, the interest

Between my liberal arts education and the internship that I have recently started at the Innocence Project of Minnesota both will be invaluable contributing factors for my career goals. My liberal arts education demonstrates to employers that my knowledge is not just localized to a single field, but instead it is a large breadth of subjects spanning multiple fields. The way I’ve always viewed my liberal arts education is that it makes me a jack-of-all-trades. My internship on the other hand serves a slightly different purpose. My internship demonstrates to an employers that I’m more than just a jack-of-all-trades, it shows that there is one trade that I’m trying to master.