The Dean’s Lecture was presented by Dr. Nugent, who has been the President of multiple liberal arts college as well as a long time educator. She elaborated on the positives of a liberal arts education through five paradoxical questions. These were her five questions: 1) What does liberal arts mean? 2) What is a liberal arts education? 3) Is a liberal arts education useful or useless? 4) What can you do with a liberal arts education? 5) Is a liberal arts education different from a liberal arts college? She used these questions to make her full case for the good that a liberal arts education presents. To start off, Dr. Nugent defined liberal arts as the skills for living fully and freely after breaking down the latin roots of the words. In general,
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All in all, Dr. Nugent’s argument was very well developed. I agree with Dr. Nugent concerning the importance of a liberal arts education. However, the contrasting argument, of one that states liberal arts is unnecessary, is very valid though. Someone who might refute this importance could, first off, assert that Dr. Nugent represents a very biased point of view since she has lead numerous liberal arts colleges. Of course, she would have a natural predilection for this type of education. This is a fair argument, but one that is somewhat irrelevant after considering all the facts and points of view. Also, someone who opposes the importance of liberal arts might argue that this type of education does not immediately prepare students for the work force out of college. Theoretically, this may be true due to the broader context liberal arts students are taught. Other colleges are usually more specialized and teach skills that are common for securing a job right out of school. In spite of that, Dr. Nugent relayed a statistic that showed 90% of students got jobs within six months after graduating from a private school whereas only 50% of public school graduates received jobs within the same time period. More employers these days
All in all, Dr. Nugent’s argument was very well developed. I agree with Dr. Nugent concerning the importance of a liberal arts education. However, the contrasting argument, of one that states liberal arts is unnecessary, is very valid though. Someone who might refute this importance could, first off, assert that Dr. Nugent represents a very biased point of view since she has lead numerous liberal arts colleges. Of course, she would have a natural predilection for this type of education. This is a fair argument, but one that is somewhat irrelevant after considering all the facts and points of view. Also, someone who opposes the importance of liberal arts might argue that this type of education does not immediately prepare students for the work force out of college. Theoretically, this may be true due to the broader context liberal arts students are taught. Other colleges are usually more specialized and teach skills that are common for securing a job right out of school. In spite of that, Dr. Nugent relayed a statistic that showed 90% of students got jobs within six months after graduating from a private school whereas only 50% of public school graduates received jobs within the same time period. More employers these days