Project 2 Prompt:

Jeffrey Scheuer and Sanford Ungar each offer a defense of a liberal arts education for today’s students. For Scheuer the argument involves introducing several conceptions of the liberal arts, the centrality of dimensions of citizenship, and a case for critical thinking. Ungar engages in a kind of mythbusting by organizing his points as responses to “misperceptions.” The “Core Handbook” introduces the CAS core values as well as the general curriculum required of all students in the college. Together, these texts open a space for us to make sense of the purpose of a liberal arts education in the context of our actual curriculum.

Preferred Conception of Liberal Arts:

I believe that the Liberal Arts are an extremely important part of higher education. The current perception of the liberal arts that we have in our current society is negative. People are hopping on to the STEM bandwagon, which is obviously also very important, but there is space in the workforce for both of these to work together. Both Scheuer, and Ungar defend the liberal arts in their articles, but they do it in different ways. Scheuer talks about the importance of learning critical thinking and that liberal arts teaches us how to think critically, which is important in a career. In Ungar’s article, he brings up misperceptions of the liberal arts and then defends them. I personally agree more with Ungar’s article, because he clearly argues points against liberal arts and defends his point of view.

Scheur and CAS Handbook:

According to the UNE CAS Handbook, “Through the Core Curriculum, students will develop foundational knowledge and critical thinking skills that are necessary for understanding and assuming their roles in natural, social, humanistic, and other environments. The goals of this shared academic experience, as described below, are informed by several core values.” Basically, the handbook is saying that through taking classes at UNE, students will learn how to think critically to prepare students for their role in society. Jeffrey Scheuer’s has similar ideas in his article. He believes that we need the liberal arts because it teaches students how to think critically. The term liberal arts is “more comprehensive and systematic: a social ecology involving a range of activities symbiotic with democratic communities.” He is saying that liberal arts is a much broader term than just learning it is a social ecology that governs how people live there every day life. These two ideas both involve with learning how to think and live in society and in career.

Core Objectives:

A main core objective at UNE is Critical Thinking: Human Responses too Problems and Challenges. This objective has students after two years at UNE, take a class in their major that involves them to challenge and confront controversial topics and current issues in the field. Students and staff engage in debates about their field. This is to teach students how to think critically and to apply the thinking into their majors field. This relates to Ungar’s ideas perfectly. Ungar believes that “The first thing that college is for is to teach you to think.” UNE through the critical thinking objective teaches students to think, and Ungar’s main point is to teach you to think.