1.One part of this project requires you to signal your preferred conception of the liberal arts. Write a paragraph-like unit that develops your preferred conception through a connection between Scheuer and Ungar. Use a Barclay’s paragraph structure! (It’s ok if you need to “challenge” or disagree with some of what they say in your response – 3 moves from They Say/I Say, remember?)
Claim: Scheuer and Ungar present a rough model of a liberal arts education as encompassing many different topics of studies and skills all in one curriculum.
Intro: Ungar does not believe in vocationalism due to the fact that this way of thinking only strives for students to have practical skills in their major only so they can get a job faster. This is true if you go to a trade school, but for a liberal arts education, just practical skills will not be enough. (?)
Quote: “the “career education” bandwagon seems to suggest that shortcuts are available to students that lead directly to high-paying jobs—leaving out “frills” like learning how to write and speak well, how to understand the nuances of literary texts and scientific concepts, how to collaborate with others on research.” (Ungar).
Exp: Ungar points out that the “career education” way of learning leaves out the learning of very important skills to have when looking for a job. If you can’t communicate your ideas well/in a way for others to understand them, it will be a way harder time for you to get that high paying job and it will be even harder to maintain your position if you don’t know those skills.
Transition: Scheuer builds off of Ungars idea of a career education not being enough by giving us a rough definition of what a liberal arts education usually looks/feels like.
Quote: “The liberal arts form such an evolving system, consisting of stable but impermanent fields of inquiry that fuse at some points and fissure at others, adapting to cultural shifts while sharing a common language and assumptions, overlapping knowledge bases, and the core of critical thinking.” (Scheuer)
Connection: Both understand that a liberal arts education model must include topics of study that build on communication and critical thinking skills at the very least.
2.Write a paragraph-like unit that attempts to locate the UNE CAS Core Curriculum within one of Scheuer’s models. Be sure to quote from Scheuer and the Core Handbook in your response – and use a Barclay’s structure.
Claim: The Core curriculum at UNE tries to incorporate a liberal arts education into each course by stimulating a student’s critical thinking and communication skills.
Intro: Scheuer brings to light the complexities of what a liberal arts education actually entails.
Quote: “two intertwining assumptions, among others, underlie the modern liberal arts tradition. One is that every academic discipline has unique questions to ask, and thus its own techniques and epistemology. The other is that each discipline is also linked to others through common questions, techniques, and ways of knowing. Critical thinking is a key part of that shared epistemology, a set of skills that apply across the liberal arts curriculum” (Scheuer).
Exp: Scheuer explains that many ideas/concepts are interconnected with others, so “career education” is inhibiting that kind of (liberal arts) learning.
Transition: UNE also acknowledges the fact that no topic of study can purely be on its own without taking information/ideas/concepts from other areas of study.
Quote: “This course will serve to introduce the scientific method as an approach to knowledge and may include topics relating natural sciences to human interactions with local and global surroundings… [students will] Demonstrate a functional understanding of the scientific method to make informed decisions based on scientific information/Demonstrate conceptual and practical knowledge of course topics and describe ethical implications of human interactions with the natural world” (CH, 14).
Connection: UNE has put a liberal arts education into every little aspect of each course. Scheuer believes a liberal arts education shouldn’t be centered around one topic, but be ingrained in the curriculum to be brought to light through the development of critical thinking and communication skills which UNE is doing a very thorough job of.
OR
The laboratory science courses are a great example of where the typical idea of liberal arts learning comes in contact with science. Science is not a stand alone subject, as Scheuer notes, and actually feeds/survives off good critical thinking and communication skills.
3.Write one more paragraph-like unit that draws on the Core Objectives, Implementation Guidelines, or the Appendix in the Core Handbook to try out an idea. Remember, work via connection to Scheuer/Ungar and use the old quotation sandwich tool (They Say/I Say, 47)!
Claim: UNE actually does a great job of making up a liberal arts education model.
Intro:UNE prepares students for professional life by introducing every student to a variety of skills that can both be used towards their major and towards their general life.
Quote: “The Core Curriculum is designed to incorporate many teaching strategies to facilitate student-centered, integrative (such as interdisciplinary) learning experiences that utilize the skills of our faculty. Core requirements introduce students to disciplines as ways of knowing, provide interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary perspectives, and instill advanced understanding of disciplines outside a student’s major” (CH, 4).
Exp: UNE acknowledges that each major should not be left out of learning important information and skills from other majors and thus incorporates this into the whole curriculum.
Connection to S/U: The core curriculum of UNE is a great showcase of how to incorporate liberal arts learning into every course. Scheuer and Ungar both talk about how important it is to not completely separate each course’s information. UNE recognizes this fact and wishes to give students as much practice to build up necessary skills for the professional future.
