Soka University of America is a Liberal Arts school founded on Buddhist principles. The word “Soka” means “to create value” in Japanese, which directly correlates to the school’s mission: To foster global citizens. Soka University specializes in Liberal Arts degrees which are personalized to a unique concentration. Through the University’s education system, students learn curriculum that requires inquiry, higher thinking skills, and furthermore, the ability to develop a well-rounded degree while studying cross-concentration courses. In their articles, Zakaria and Aloni defend the importance and uniqueness of Liberal Arts majors, education systems, and their impact on the world. Soka University embodies both Zakaria and Aloni’s ideas on Liberal
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Soka University utilizes its small class sizes to allow students to immerse themselves fully into the curriculum. This small class size encourages dialogue that goes beyond the teacher-student aspect, and instead pushes students to learn from their peers and dissect the incredible ideas and philosophy of great thinkers like Aristotle. Soka requires a key element of the Liberal Arts education that, Zakaria mentions in his article “In Deffense of A Liberal Education,” that “…a liberal arts education encourages scientists to improve their ‘competitive edge’ by cross-training in the humanities or arts” (Zakaria, 80). One of Soka’s requirements for graduation, along with their many other requirements, is at least two courses outside of our chosen concentration and area of study, which further adds to the unique and well-roundedness of the classic Liberal Arts …show more content…
He writes, “Education should challenge students to think about values and norms and their own moral development…[and] learning how to asses differences and being able to deal with and appreciate those differences” (Aloni). This quote directly correlates to Soka’s mission statement of fostering global citizens to leading a contributive life. Soka’s curriculum helps fuel this mission statement and Aloni’s ideology of education and moral development by having primarily student-driven courses and professors that encourage
Soka University utilizes its small class sizes to allow students to immerse themselves fully into the curriculum. This small class size encourages dialogue that goes beyond the teacher-student aspect, and instead pushes students to learn from their peers and dissect the incredible ideas and philosophy of great thinkers like Aristotle. Soka requires a key element of the Liberal Arts education that, Zakaria mentions in his article “In Deffense of A Liberal Education,” that “…a liberal arts education encourages scientists to improve their ‘competitive edge’ by cross-training in the humanities or arts” (Zakaria, 80). One of Soka’s requirements for graduation, along with their many other requirements, is at least two courses outside of our chosen concentration and area of study, which further adds to the unique and well-roundedness of the classic Liberal Arts …show more content…
He writes, “Education should challenge students to think about values and norms and their own moral development…[and] learning how to asses differences and being able to deal with and appreciate those differences” (Aloni). This quote directly correlates to Soka’s mission statement of fostering global citizens to leading a contributive life. Soka’s curriculum helps fuel this mission statement and Aloni’s ideology of education and moral development by having primarily student-driven courses and professors that encourage