Liberal Arts

A liberal arts program’s main focus should be teaching students how to think and how to learn. It should produce life long learners whocontinue to learn on their own. In a way a liberal arts education should just be the building block of learning. It should also develop students into world citizens that are multi-culturally literate. Students should leave college with knowledge and an understanding of other cultures. Not only should cultural learning be present in as many classes as possible, there should be endless opportunities for studying abroad. It’s impossible to truly understand other cultures without experiencing them firsthand. In my opinion, a liberal arts college should not have any specific general education requirements because they are often just service classes. This way a student’s education is tailored to his or her personal interests. The classroom environment would be more positive because all students would be there out of choice, not out of requirement. Students shoulddesign their own curriculum that is evaluated and passed by a faculty committee. It is necessary for a liberal arts college to have small, discussion based classes. They encourage students to generate opinions and voice them, as well as challenge others. Discussions should have a variety of formats to meet everyone’s needs. A liberal arts education should be available to anyone who wants it. It should also be a goal to have as much diversity as possible. A liberal arts education should not involve the traditional grading system. Instead, students should be evaluated by their professor by whether or not they demonstrated growth and effort. It should be more of a pass or fail system, where at the end of a class the student does some sort of culminating project or portfolio to demonstrate their learning. Professors would provide written evaluations that could be reviewed by future employers. Technology should play a somewhat significant role in a liberal arts education but it should not dominate it.