In our day and age, going to college is a privilege considering where it spits you out at your dream. A part of college is deciding what you want to do and who you want to be. I am in college and have no idea at all. Within the GUST seminar class we have gotten to explore what a Liberal Arts education is. I personally had no idea what it was before going through certain texts and ted talks where I finally understood the true meaning. This education is more than what it sounds like. You would think it would be about political arts and crafts but it definitely goes a lot deeper than that. The few readings we were introduced to went very in depth to the origin or liberal arts, to just thinking you do when you are simply just learning. We also created goals for ourselves which happened to line up with what a liberal arts education can do for a person. We also discovered the classes we are taking now are liberal arts classes. If you were like me, you definitely didn’t see the importance of taking these classes. Why would I, I literally thought they were about politics or arts classes. My mindset has completely changed and I see things I never would have understood without being in this class. The liberal arts degree helps with so much more than you realize.
What is a liberal arts education? I had this same thought going forwards into this unit. You can base certain pathways into this broad topic. Included within a liberal arts education are the humanities, arts, and sciences. A passage which brought a clear introduction to the liberal arts was titled Critical Thinking and the Liberal Arts, we neglect them at our peril written by Jeffery Scheuer. This passage showed me that liberal arts involves a lot of thinking. This type of thinking is entitled critical thinking. Critical thinking and citizenship are the two key factors of the liberal arts. Being able to think on your own is such a key element that will be used throughout any career you choose. “It’s a wellspring of ideas and questions, and a way of promoting flexibility and openness to diverse perspectives” (Scheuer). This quote truly embodies what the liberal arts is summed into a single sentence with great ideas. For an academic long term goal I wanted to be able to open my mind to critical thinking. I personally am bad at thinking for myself. I always need other opinions. In situations I can never trust the answer I have. I always have to double check or have someone go over things with me. That is why I believe critical thinking could help me with this issue that I have. I obviously don’t know what my major will be but I hope that whatever it is I can at least take some classes that can help me with a sore spot that I have within thinking.
500 word draft
Project 1
In our day and age, going to college is a privilege considering where it spits you out at your dream. A part of college is deciding what you want to do and who you want to be. I am in college and have no idea at all. Within the GUST seminar class, we have gotten to explore what a Liberal Arts education is. I had no idea what it was before going through certain texts and ted talks where I finally understood the true meaning. This education is more than what it sounds like. You would think it would be about political arts and crafts but it goes a lot deeper than that. The few readings we were introduced to went very in-depth to the origin of liberal arts, to just thinking you do when you are simply just learning. We also created goals for ourselves which happened to line up with what a liberal arts education can do for a person. We also discovered the classes we are taking now are liberal arts classes. If you were like me, you definitely didn’t see the importance of taking these classes. Why would I, I literally thought they were about politics or art classes. My mindset has completely changed and I see things I never would have understood without being in this class. The liberal arts degree helps with so much more than you realize.
What is a liberal arts education? I had this same thought going forwards in this unit. You can base certain pathways on this broad topic. Included within a liberal arts education are the humanities, arts, and sciences. A passage that brought a clear introduction to the liberal arts was titled Critical Thinking and the Liberal Arts, we neglect them at our peril written by Jeffery Scheuer. This passage showed me that liberal arts involve a lot of thinking. This type of thinking is entitled critical thinking. Critical thinking and citizenship are the two key factors of the liberal arts. Being able to think on your own is such a key element that will be used throughout any career you choose. Scheuer wrote that “It’s a wellspring of ideas and questions, and a way of promoting flexibility and openness to diverse perspectives” (Scheuer). This quote truly embodies what the liberal arts are summed into a single sentence with great ideas. Within the quote, it explains how ideas and questions play a big role within the liberal arts. Throughout our other readings, they all show how ideas are immensely important. This education is also supposed to prepare you for the real world which the second part of the quote explains. For an academic long-term goal, I wanted to be able to open my mind to critical thinking. I personally am bad at thinking for myself. I always need other opinions. In situations I can never trust the answer I have, I’m always having to double-check or have someone go over things with me. That is why I believe critical thinking could help me with this issue. I obviously don’t know what my major will be but I hope that whatever it is I can at least take some classes that can help me with a sore spot that I have within thinking.
Liberal arts can help with the way you advance into life. As we grow and change so do the liberal arts and jobs offered. The jobs that exist right now in this very day and age might not exist 15 years from now. The world continues to grow and change and without the skills to adapt, we will not survive. Jobs won’t always be available which I never truly thought about. The 7 Major Misperceptions About the Liberal Arts by Sanford Ungar opened my eyes to this idea. Within the piece, they explain how it’s smarter to prepare students for moments in life where things change. This is where communications and critical thinking are brought in. You want to be able to think for yourself and work out problems instead of depending on others. Ungar wrote “ It is far wiser for students to prepare for change-and the multiple careers they are likely to have than to search for a single job track that might one day become a dead end” (Ungar.) This quote dug into what was said above. Not only this but in the future employers are going to try and find workers who can adapt within a workspace. With being prepared with thinking skills and citizenship, students with an education in the liberal arts should be able to adapt to different types of jobs.
The traits from this type of education are something I want to integrate into my life more. I have created goals in which I would personally like to turn those goals into reality and stick to them. Not only do these goals relate to The liberal arts education but they are helpful in the sense of growing as a person. Personally, I need to work on my own mindset. I, unfortunately, have grown up having a pretty fixed mindset. This is a habit I would love to break. Having a fixed mindset means you “run from error” (Dweck.) I believe that when I don’t do well on something I should give up. I need to have a growth mindset to get me through college. This isn’t a healthy place where my mind should be. Breaking this habit could fix many problems I believe I have. Having this sort of growth mindset I will be able to see my room for improvement side of view. I will notice I have “yet” to learn the tools to help me reach a certain topic. Not only did I create personal goals, but academics were also considered into this.
At UNE taking liberal arts classes is a given. There are certain classes we are all required to take during our time at the University of New England. We as a class were introduced to the UNE core handbook. I realized that one of the classes I’m in now is a required class and a class that will make me more socially aware as a human.
