please respond to Katie. with 400. words citations, and refereferences
The section that stood out to me as having the most significant impact on a liberal arts education today was curricular innovations and experiments. In this section a shift in priorities is evident, colleges move from a regimented curriculum to a style that allows students freedom in their choice of study (Lucas, 2016). If we look at students who attended college today, they have a wide range of degrees that they can choose from, and they all have a liberal education focus. While students’ reasons for attending vary, whether it be for career advancement or just to become more knowledgeable in a field that interests them, a liberal education is an important aspect of the degree.
The transformation in curriculum that takes place in this section still impacts higher education and the popularity of a liberal arts education today. Lucas states in, American Higher Education, Second Edition: A History, “the original idea of allowing undergraduates to select their own patterns of study had been prompted by a desire to make academics more interesting and relevant” (Lucas, 2016, p. 219). This is such an important point; this section allows us to see when higher education shifted from what the “powers that be” thought was important to study to how can they make higher education more marketable by providing areas of study that interest students in pursing higher education. Lucas states, “…students would “concentrate” their studies in a given discipline or an assemblage of closely related disciplines (i.e, select an academic “major”). At the same time they were to “distribute” or spread their other choices across a range of subjects in the sciences, arts, and humanities” Lucas, 2016, p. 221). Whatever degree students are pursing they are still allowed the freedom to choose areas of study that interest them. This gives students the opportunity to learn a broad amount of information, think critically, and develop writing skills. We still see the importance of this today, within every degree a liberal arts education component exists.
This section lets us see the transformation of college, and the addition of many new areas of study and degrees to choose from. In College (UN) Bound, Selingo states that, “Colleges pounced on the demand by creating a bevy of new majors. In 2010, When the US Education Department updated its list of academic programs used in various higher-education surveys, more than three hundred majors were added to a list of 1,400 from a decade earlier” (Selingo, 2013, p. 14). While Selingo, attributes this to demand for more majors to make students more marketable in the workforce, it can also provide evidence how the changes in higher education that were implemented in curricular innovations and experiments have significantly impacted the liberal arts education today.
References
Lucas, C. J. (2006). American higher education (2nd ed.): A history. Palgrave Macmillan.
Selingo, J. J. (2013). College (UN) Bound The Future Of Higher Education And What It Means For Students: Amazon Publishing.
adminX
Subject expert at Treatisely.