A One-Sided Commentary on the Benefits of Liberal Arts
The Washington Post published an article on September 2, 2016 entitled, “Meet the parents who won’t let their children study literature,” written by Steven Pearlstein. This article talks about how parents guide their children from the liberal arts to pre-professional majors, such as engineering, business, or science. To better understand Pearlstein’s article, readers can view the essay, “Writing Projects: Summary and Analysis,” by Dr. Celena Kusch and Dr. Peter Caster. The issues that Pearlstein proposes is better analized because of the essay’s information on how to evaluate texts. Pearlstein realizes how important this issue is after assigning a biography of Andrew Carnegie for his students …show more content…
With this in mind, readers can see that Pearlstein writes from his ethos, as a professor, liberal arts major, and an economic writer. As a writer, he obviously likes and supports liberal arts. However, he confuses his argument with numbers. For example, he states that the percentage of unemployement based on majors compares to the income for the “bottom 25 percent of business and top 25 percent of liberal arts” (Pearlstein). Because of these numbers, people will think liberal arts majors might make the same amount as business majors, but he is comparing two separate entities. He also says “at least those passionate kids won’t make the mistake of confusing the meaning of life with maximizing lifetime income,” to argue that those interested in liberal arts will at least have a purposeful life instead of a steady income (Pearlstein). Although, he knows what the counterarguments against liberal arts are, he still supports and encourages students to major in liberal arts. The majority of college students are worrying about educational debts, because they cannot find a job with a liberal arts major, and how our government is cutting down scholarships and funding for liberal arts. Pearlstein is providing many examples on this issue from students and other positions in colleges. He does not go
The Washington Post published an article on September 2, 2016 entitled, “Meet the parents who won’t let their children study literature,” written by Steven Pearlstein. This article talks about how parents guide their children from the liberal arts to pre-professional majors, such as engineering, business, or science. To better understand Pearlstein’s article, readers can view the essay, “Writing Projects: Summary and Analysis,” by Dr. Celena Kusch and Dr. Peter Caster. The issues that Pearlstein proposes is better analized because of the essay’s information on how to evaluate texts. Pearlstein realizes how important this issue is after assigning a biography of Andrew Carnegie for his students …show more content…
With this in mind, readers can see that Pearlstein writes from his ethos, as a professor, liberal arts major, and an economic writer. As a writer, he obviously likes and supports liberal arts. However, he confuses his argument with numbers. For example, he states that the percentage of unemployement based on majors compares to the income for the “bottom 25 percent of business and top 25 percent of liberal arts” (Pearlstein). Because of these numbers, people will think liberal arts majors might make the same amount as business majors, but he is comparing two separate entities. He also says “at least those passionate kids won’t make the mistake of confusing the meaning of life with maximizing lifetime income,” to argue that those interested in liberal arts will at least have a purposeful life instead of a steady income (Pearlstein). Although, he knows what the counterarguments against liberal arts are, he still supports and encourages students to major in liberal arts. The majority of college students are worrying about educational debts, because they cannot find a job with a liberal arts major, and how our government is cutting down scholarships and funding for liberal arts. Pearlstein is providing many examples on this issue from students and other positions in colleges. He does not go