Liberal Arts Paper

So far, we have considered a large number of thinkers on the topic of the liberal arts education. It is time to make sense of what they had to say and what you think of it all.  To that end, you will write a paper based on the following readings:

• William Cronon, "'Only Connect:' The Value of a Liberal Arts Education"
• Thomas Jefferson handout on education
• St. Augustine handout on education
• Jackie Basu, et al., "The Value of a Humanities Degree:  Six Students' Views"
• Richard M. Weaver, "Humanism in an Age of Science"
• Peter Berkowitz, "Why Liberal Education Matters"
• Michael S. Roth, "Good and Risky: The Promise of a Liberal Education"
• Your summer assignments: "Why I Read" and Plato's Allegory of the Cave
• Dr. David Suda's convocation on the liberal arts

The essay will have two parts. The first will synthesize and analyze the readings, seeking commonalities and differences in order to define the liberal arts, or a liberal arts education, and to weigh the benefits. The second part will be shorter and written in first person. It will consist of your explanation of the liberal arts, or a liberal arts education, as it pertains to you.

There is no page limit to this paper.  It is worth fifty points.  It must demonstrate your best thinking, logical arguing, and writing. It MUST be footnoted and have a bibliography appended. It is due at the start of class on Monday, 5 September, and if you slide in late or email it after 11:00 a.m., then it is one day late.  The paper, like all assignments in this class, will drop one letter grade for every day that it is late, including weekends.