Taking_Advantage_of_a_Liberal_Education

“Taking Advantage of a Liberal Education” A liberal education is an opportunity to gain general knowledge and intellectual skills. People that are financially, socially, or intellectually challenged need liberal education to improve their quality of life, but only if they want to put forth the effort to excel. There are many ways that financially challenged people can benefit from having a liberal education. Improving occupational background, social status, or raising annual income are small pieces to the puzzle of increasing the quality life. If the application of liberal education impacts living a wealthier life, then it will also affect the lives of future generations in your family. There is an element of college that also benefits the financially troubled called financial aid. Financial aid includes all types of money, loans, and work-study programs offered to a student to help pay tuition costs and living expenses. “Most students and their parents will pay as much as $160,000 only if they believe a college experience will lead to a better economic future” (Coplin 297). An argument that constantly arises is the burden of paying back financial aid. With a better economic future in hand, paying back student loans should become fairly easy over time. A successful economic future will take care of more than just your financial aid, but also helps with attaining the skills that promote success. The social status of a person can improve by using the skills learned in the process of a liberal education. 2 Improving the degree of honor or prestige attached to one's position in society will bring out the skills of a liberal education such as; dependability, teamwork, obtaining and analyzing information, problem solving, and writing critically. In the essay “Lost in the Life of the Mind”, Coplin states, “According to employers, college students are not prepared for the workforce because they lack the skills and character needed to succeed” (297). A successful liberal education would beneficial lead to a person to better career options. Presently, some people feel that too much emphasis is being placed on going to college and setting a platform for material success. This statement is supported through the essay, “A Question of Degree”. The author, Blanche D. Blank argues, “We are by definition establishing two kinds of work: Work labeled “better” because it has degree requirement tagged to it and non degree work, which, through this logic, becomes automatically “low level” (11). Marshall Gregory is another author that’s critical of placing so much focus on a college degree. He (Gregory) feels that this strong emphasis is directed towards both social and financial achievement. Gregory believes, “It implicitly concedes the strongest ground in any discussion of educational aims to faculty members from professional and pre-professional programs, who love to insist that students’ progress should be measured exclusively by grades and skills, and who seem to believe that making lots of money is an imperative somehow woven into the fabric of the universe itself” (298). Although both authors make valid points they forget the most simplistic value of a liberal education, the intellectual aspect. 3 One of the main factors of receiving a liberal education is learning intellectually. In “Lost in the Life of the Mind”, Bill Coplin gives an example of a at-risk youth, named Joe. Joe picks Coplin as a mentor, because he didn’t want to end up in jail, dead, or on welfare like his parents. Joe struggled with passing the standardized test required by the state of New York for graduation. Joe eventually, goes to Job Corps where he’d get his GED, and become a professional house painter before joining the army. After his service to the military, Joe did descent on his civil service exam and gained interested in becoming a policeman. Even though Joe was not as successful as a majority of people who graduate from college, he still was able to build his credentials. You could easily exclude Joe as an example of having a liberal education because of his background socially, economically, and the flaws of the public school system. The fact is even with some high school education and a GED, Joe still exemplifies some of the characteristics of receiving a liberal education. As Coplin agrees, “Poor oral and written communication skills are rampant non matter what the educational background of the student or the ranking of the college” (296). All three of these types of people can benefit from a liberal education. 4 So in conclusion, a liberal education is something everybody needs to improve their quality of life for future generations. Intellectually, financially, and socially challenged people can apply a liberal education to everyday life just like people who attended and graduated from liberal arts based schools. Everyone should be taking advantage of a liberal education. Works Citied Spatt, Brenda. Writing from Sources. Boston, New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2007 Blank, D. Blanche/ “A Question of Degree”(11-14) Spatt, Brenda. Writing from Sources. Boston, New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2007. Coplin, Bill/ “Lost in the Life of Mind” (295-298) Spatt, Brenda. Writing from Sources. Boston, New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2007. Gregory, Marshall/ “A Liberal Education is Not A Luxury”(298-300)