Society today is focused more on what they know and are fearful of the unknown. In the essay, “The New Liberal Arts”, Sanford J. Ungar takes a stance for why having a liberal-arts education is beneficial for all college bound students by stating his claims against the misperceptions of the public about a liberal-arts college. Some of the misperceptions discussed were, college graduates with a liberal-arts degree are finding it much more difficult to find jobs and the liberal Democrats are the reason the country is in trouble and should not be influencing college students. The first misperception discussed was a liberal-arts education becoming a luxury that most families cannot afford as the years go on. He argues this with this type of education …show more content…
Parents believe that their children should focus on subjects that will help them succeed with their career choices. Ungar states, “Yet one could argue that the traditional, well-rounded preparation that the liberal arts offer is a better investment than ever˗that the future demands of citizenship will require not narrow technical or job-focused training, but rather a subtle understanding of the complex influences that shape the world we live in” (227). This statement by Ungar is that liberal-arts colleges want to get across to the public and their students, but somewhere the message seems to get distorted. In my short experience at Aurora University I have found this to be true, I took IDS-1610, and in that class, we discussed ideas that we read about and connected them to our lives. That class made me think about ideas that I would have never thought about in my life. Even though I never wanted to read the articles that we had, I was thankful for the opportunity to take that …show more content…
Ungar states, “They, more than their more-affluent peers, must focus on something more practical and marketable” (228). He then goes on the counter that statement with, “But in my experience, it is often the people who are newest to certain ideas and approaches who are the most original and inventive in the discussion and application of those ideas. They catch up quickly” (229). As a liberal-arts college president, Ungar has an optimistic view of all the students that attend his college. With my experience of being a child raised in a home of low-income, I was raised where I learned to be flexible with what I had. My mom never let that stop her from allowing us to have what we needed to be successful in school. My mom did not go to college, but that never stopped her from telling my sisters and I that we need to go to have a better future. She wanted and still wants us to pursue the career we want. About three years ago, I turned sixteen and got my first job and decided for myself that I needed to become more independent and responsible. When I started to earn money, I gradually stopped asking for money. Today, I am very thankful for the situation I was in as a child because it pushed me to grow up, learn responsibility, and want a better