I generally get two reactions when I tell people back home that I go to a Catholic Liberal Arts college: “Holy crap you must be smart,” or “You damn liberal hippie.” But in order to receive a liberal arts education you do not have to be wise and you definitely don’t have to be a ‘liberal hippie.’ To me “liberal arts” refers to an education that exposes you to many different ways of thinking. The student is not focused on one style of learning, for example, the scientific method. Instead the student is pushed outside of his or her comfort zone of thinking and forced to look at problems from different angles. I think liberal arts are absolutely relevant outside of college. In the real world you are going to be faced with many problems and certainly not only in the profession which college trains you. There will be family and social problems in which a liberal education can prepare you for. For example, if a drunken man asks me for money, and I know he is going to use that money to buy more booze my biological research degree will not come in handy. But my liberal arts education will help to think about this problem ethically and act responsibly.
Martha Nussbaum believes that a liberal arts education is essential in creating superior world citizens. She believes that the use of Socratic style of thinking and questioning is essential in our daily lives and daily discussions. Nussbaum says, “Philosophy breaks out wherever people are encouraged to think for themselves, questioning in a Socratic way.” Since individuals are faced with Socratic thinking every day, they must be taught how to use Socratic thinking in school through a liberal arts education. But Nussbaum also realizes that not everyone holds the same view she does. Many people are in favor of a traditional style of education, memorizing the facts and figures without question. Still, Nussbaum believes that one must question his moral traditions in order to make them stronger or find that they are not actually moral at all. So no wonder people are having a hard time accepting this Socratic education, it is destroying their traditions--things they have believed in their whole lives and have taught their children. Traditional supporters believe Socratic thinkers are throwing these out the window, when in reality they are questioning them to try to make their beliefs stronger.
A liberal arts education is the perfect tool in order to do service. It prepares you on how to think and react when encountered with a difficult problem while doing service. I will have to make ethical decisions and the Socratic style of thinking will be very beneficial. Performing service is going to be very difficult, but I know my liberal arts education has prepared me to make it a little bit easier.
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Hi Dave,
First of all, I completly agree with your discription of liberal arts as "pushing you outside of your comfot zone." The type of education I have expereienced here at Loras is completely different from that of the education my friends from home describe. And you're right, its not because people that go to a liberal arts school are overly smart or have radical views, it is because those students are open to learning things that may not seem immediately applicable, but are going to benefit them as people in the long run.
Your discussion of Martha Nussbaum's ideas were also very good. I think that you described her ideas very well and it is quite interesting how she articluates her thoughts to the reader. I found that she was quite direct and blunt with her thoughts rather than toning them down to appease a larger audience.
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