Author: Kenzi

Title:(Not yet chosen)

Intro: Has a liberal arts education become completely useless in the 21st century? Many argue yes while others say the liberal arts have not become irrelevant as it is an essential way of teaching students to orient themselves in the world. Jeffery Scheuer, author of the article Critical Thinking and the Liberal Arts, and Sanford Ungar, author of 7 Major Misperceptions About the Liberal Arts, both speak on what the liberal arts are and why they are still relevant to education as a whole today. (Add more for final draft)

General Thesis: The UNE Core Handbook crafts a very well rounded liberal arts education, and Scheuer and Ungar would agree given their definition and ideas of the liberal arts.

Para 1: Connecting Ungar/Scheuer to my preferred idea of liberal arts learning

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. Due to this it is reasonable that Ungar does not believe in vocationalism since this way of thinking only strives for students to have practical skills in their major so they can get a job much “faster” and easier than their peers in liberal arts. In his article he states, “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, para 4). Ungar points out that the idea of “career education” 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. If you go to a trade school then practical skills will help you get a job faster since trades are a lot more hands on. But even then, a liberal arts education would give the students who believe in vocationalism a broader range of skills especially with communications and writing. Scheuer builds off of Ungars’ idea of a career education not being enough in the long run by giving a rough definition of what a liberal arts education usually looks and feels like. Scheuer describes a liberal arts education as “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.” (para. 14). Both Scheuer and Ungar understand that a liberal arts education model must include topics of study that build on communication and critical thinking skills at the very least.

Para 2: UNE Core Handbook describes the integrated curriculum that Scheuer presents in his article.

The Core curriculum at UNE describes the integrated curriculum that Scheuer presents in his article. The integrated curriculum is widely used throughout U.S. liberal arts colleges because it includes many different disciplines and skills. Scheuer describes this integrated curriculum as “encompassing virtually all nonprofessional higher learning, from the natural and social sciences to the humanities and the performing arts. At its best, this comprehensive vision recognizes both the value and the limitations of such categories, along with the consequent need for interdisciplinary learning” (para. 9). Scheuer explains that this curriculum covers a broad range of disciplines and how they can all connect to each other. At UNE, each category of study comes with a different set of knowledge and skills learned through the course. UNE also acknowledges the fact that no topic of study can purely be on its own without taking information, ideas and concepts from other areas of study. For example, a laboratory science course objectives read as follows, “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” (Core Handbook, 14). Just in this course description alone students have to be able to connect natural science to the world around them. 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 and survives off good critical thinking and communication skills. UNE is most definitely practicing the integrated curriculum that Scheuer describes.

Para 3: How UNE also includes critical thinking and citizenship ideas into the curriculum.

UNE actually does a great job of making up a liberal arts education model. The core curriculum 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. The description of the core curriculum as a whole is as follows, “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” (Core Handbook, 4). 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. We can see this same general idea in the form of critical thinking and citizenship being learned from each course. Scheuer describes citizenship as an integral factor in a liberal arts education. He describes “[t]he overall goal [of citizenship] is to foster vibrant and prosperous communities with broad and deep participation, in public conversations marked by fairness, inclusion, and (where critical thinking comes in) intellectual rigor” (Scheuer, para. 20). Citizenship can be seen in the UNE curriculum because students are expected to use their critical thinking skills alongside their knowledge from the many courses taken to connect themselves to the world and be able to engage in thoughtful conversations/volunteer work with other individuals around the world. 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 these necessary critical thinking, citizenship, and other skills for their professional future.

Conclusion: (add for final draft)

Still need one more quotation: I have 6 now, need 7

Works Cited

Scheuer, Jeffrey. “ Critical Thinking and the Liberal Arts.” The Chronicle of Higher Education, 28 Feb. 2010, 7 Major Misperceptions About the Liberal Arts (chronicle.com). Accessed 5 Mar. 2021.

Ungar, Sanford J. “7 Major Misperceptions About the Liberal Arts.” American Association of University Professors, Dec. 2015, Critical Thinking and the Liberal Arts | AAUP. Accessed 5 Mar. 2021.

UNE Core Handbook: core_handbook_2019-2020_mcreynolds_edits_august_2019.pdf (une.edu)

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.

1. As you consider Scheuer and Ungar, are there parts of their projects or their focus that you find missing in the Core Handbook? Put differently, they write about conceptions of the liberal arts and the value of a liberal education. What, if anything, do they focus on that the Core Handbook seems not to emphasize? If the connection is neat and tidy – and you find no missing pieces – link at least one Ungar response to a misperception to a detail in the Core Handbook. Explain with evidence. This response might be relatively short – perhaps 100 words.

To me, the Core Handbook and the two authors seem to connect all around the same idea that a liberal arts education teaches students that one subject isn’t centered around itself but is the point at which many different concepts come together to create that one topic of study. Ungar specifically responds to misperception four as “[a]nother term sometimes substituted for liberal arts, for the sake of clarity, is “the arts and sciences.” Thus, many universities have colleges, divisions, or schools of arts and sciences among their academic units” (para. 12). Ungar shows that the term “arts and sciences” is actually referencing a liberal education because the arts and sciences are connected and shouldn’t be separated. For us here at UNE, the Core Handbook mentions that “Living in the interconnected world today demands an understanding of a variety of cultures, people and the environment. This understanding requires an ability to analyze issues from different points of view and to communicate effectively” (para. 11). Our core classes/requirements are centered around the fact that you simply cannot survive off of just one area of study to be able to live and contribute good things into the world. Many students here are studying different fields of science, and science is a very rigorous topic of study that comes with its own rules and guidelines. But you also have to know how to effectively communicate your work to others, and communicate correctly with others in general. You learn these skills from an english class like ours and from our classes that fall under the Social Global Awareness category. The connection between the sciences and language/cultural classes we take are an example of where the connections between studies come into play for the real world. 

2. For homework due February 26, we started to critically explore two of our current classes in relation to the Core Handbook and/or a conception of the liberal arts outlined in Scheuer/Ungar. Revisit that work by identifying which part(s) of the Core the course fits into (Exploration, Creative Arts, etc.). If you did not explore 2 Core courses, pick a third course to ensure you have 2 Core courses. Scheuer thinks that critical thinking and citizenship are two important or key goals of a liberal arts education. How does (or doesn’t) each course contribute to one or both goals? You should have text that looks something like a paragraph (with key evidence from Scheuer/Ungar, Core Handbook, and the course) for each course.

For ENV 104, critical thinking and citizenship were both huge takeaways from the class. This environmental awareness course teaches students about the environmental issues happening all around us. Specifically this course “emphasizes that humans are part of ecosystems within interdependent cycles, which involve other organisms, air, water, chemicals, and energy. Students will examine the relationships of humans to their environment from historical, economic, scientific, aesthetic, and ethical perspectives” (Core Handbook, 13). Speaking about and discussing these issues in this way taught us to really hone our critical thinking skills, take in what others are saying, and build off of each other’s ideas! This course also follows Sheuer’s idea of citizenship in this way as well; “[citizenship] isn’t just a political notion in the ordinary sense. Like the term liberal arts, it’s more comprehensive and systemic: a social ecology involving a range of activities symbiotic with democratic communities” (para. 16). Scheuer explains that to have a well ordered/working community, citizenship is super important since this concept of a “citizenship” brings individuals of a community together towards one goal. 

For MAR 105/106 laboratory science courses, critical thinking is a huge part of the course but I am not so sure that all the requirements for citizenship are there according to Scheuers definitions. The marine lab teaches us to be able to use certain equipment and be able to draw conclusions from whatever data/observations we may find which satisfies the critical thinking aspect. But the area of citizenship the course is lacking in is “being a productive member of a community: doing something useful for oneself and for others, whether in a factory, farm, home, office, garage, or boardroom. It’s [citizenship] also about being a critical consumer and seeing the connections between the political and economic spheres” (Scheuer, para. 13). Marine lab mainly focuses on the student being able to fully answer any question in the lab packet and be able to work with the animals safely. The lab does not have us physically go out and catch the organisms we work with/do research on them beforehand, and it does not require us to further educate others on what we learned from the lab activity that day. This is explicitly stated in the Core Handbook, “[t]his 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” (14). The course isn’t supposed to explicitly teach us how and where to connect with our world, it is just a suggestion or a bonus that the professors can throw in there to give the students more of an understanding. This information usually is about how the organisms live and where they are found specifically in Biddeford or in towns close by.

Question 4 (Skipped question 3):

Look at the Critical Thinking requirement in the Core and consider it alongside what Scheuer/Ungar have to say about critical thinking/inquiry. Develop a connection using evidence from at least one of our authors and the Core Handbook. Build your response as a paragraph-like unit.

The major learning outcome from a critical thinking course here at UNE is being able to “[e]valuate and synthesize information from multiple contexts and settings to achieve a common understanding of a phenomenon and to effectively characterize and/or implement an action designed to address a question, challenge, or problem” (Core Handbook, 24). The concept of plucking information from many different studies and formulating an answer to a question is the greatest challenge of critically thinking. You have to compile many different topics and select which pieces of information make sense towards the question you are trying to get answered, whether it be a personal problem or much bigger. Scheuer and Ungar both try to get the point across in their articles that this kind of critical thinking cannot be learned just through one area of study. In-depth critical thinking comes from all the previous information you have learned and information you have yet to find. Scheuer quotes education researcher Lisa Tsui saying “‘Because critical thinking is a complex skill, any attempt to offer a full and definitive definition of it would be futile’” (para. 23). She describes critical thinking as “complex” due to the sheer amount of information always being consulted, and the fact that everyone thinks and comes to conclusions in different ways. Critical thinking is such an important skill to learn because in the professional world, this is where the good and bad ideas/inventions/laws/etc get discussed and thinned out.

1. With a focus on pages 2-4 in the Handbook, describe UNE’s model of the liberal arts. Write approximately 200-300 words that explains the conception. Be sure to quote from Scheuer or Ungar AND from the Handbook to develop and support your idea. (This is informal writing, but we do want to explain With evidence.)

The UNE Core Handbook is used for students to understand the ideas and objectives behind each course they take, “Core Curriculum courses take different approaches to model integrative learning. Some facilitate civic engagement, as well as engagements in research, scholarship, and creative work. Together, Core courses enable students to chart courses of self-directed and ongoing learning” (4). UNE’s Core Handbook describes their liberal arts model as this which encompasses interpersonal interactions, critical thinking, and expressive thinking where the classes of interest in each category are chosen by the student to keep them interested in their studies. The required categories of classes to take allow students to become well rounded and not just focus on classes for their major. Sanford Ungar’s beliefs of a liberal arts education also sees students becoming well rounded not just for breaking away from their major, but to also aid in the students readiness for job life, “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” (para. 4). Ungar knows that getting a specific degree does not guarantee you a job, so the “frills” of learning how to communicate effectively and think critically must come from a liberal arts education, or in our case the core courses.

2. In the Requirements and Implementation Guidelines sections, focus some attention on the ACTUAL classes you’re taking right now. Where do they fit – and why? Based on the Goals section and relevant parts of Appendix A, attempt to explain how at least two of your courses do or do not seem to fit either the Handbook’s description, the conception of the liberal arts underpinning the Core Handbook, or both. Again, work with evidence in supporting your idea. Your response will be approximately 250-400 words.

Neither marine or chemistry labs seem to address any environmental problems in depth, our labs really only enforce the information/formulas/concepts we are learning in lecture. But in Appendix A, the laboratory science courses do not require a student’s learning outcomes to be specific in addressing environmental issues, “After completing this course, students will be able to:/ 1. Demonstrate a functional understanding of the scientific method to make informed decisions based on scientific information./ 2. Demonstrate conceptual and practical knowledge of course topics and describe ethical implications of human interactions with the natural world./ 3. Demonstrate scientific literacy and the ability to communicate science-based information” (14). The laboratory courses prepare us to think and solve problems like professional scientists in our major, not specifically for environmental awareness.

Intro to Environmental Issues was a class with very broad and kind of vague information, which I understand you can learn all of the environmental problems in one semester. But the class seemed to lack in teaching how different environments/animals are struggling. My personal experience in the class was that we mainly talked about the American Chestnut Tree restoration project that our professor was working on, and then the last few weeks of class we discussed the situation of Hawaiian Monk Seals. Only the first week or two of class did we talk about our personal footprint on the earth and how we could try to fix it and then we moved on. We weren’t given the task of trying to meet a sustainability goal by the end of the semester which I thought would have been a great idea because not many people know where to start when they think about sustainability. One of the learning outcomes even says the student will “[d]emonstrate what it means to act responsibly and ethically in relation to the earth at personal, professional and societal levels” (13). Not every student who takes the one required environmental class is going to immediately rethink all of their life choices to become sustainable. That idea sucks but some people still don’t believe that these problems are really happening and therefore decide not to try a hand at becoming sustainable in some way. So if the environmental class cant even teach students in the end to really consider, in their own lives, what is going on with the environment then the class might not be liberal arts. I’m only saying this specifically for the ENV 104 Intro to Environmental Issues course since the information is so broad and we didn’t discuss too much about stuff happening all over the world.

I wasn’t sure how to make that^ show up as a picture.

Draft paragraphs:

Paragraph 1: Why the liberal arts are important

Claim: The liberal arts encompass many ideas/concepts/strategies of a multitude of different jobs/careers.

Intro Quote: Ungar points out the flaws in trying to shift to explicitly using “career education” as a basis for learning. 

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)

Explanation: Ungar points out that the “career education” way of learning leaves out the leaching 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 you were expecting.

Transition: Scheuer agrees with what Ungar is saying, but introduces his ideas in a different/more thoroughly explained way.

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.”

Connection: Scheuer explicitly points out what Ungar was trying to prove. Scheuer explains that many ideas/concepts are interconnected with others, so “career education” is inhibiting that kind of (liberal arts) learning.

Transition:

Paragraph 2: The liberal arts are being “abandoned” but they really shouldn’t be

Claim: The liberal arts field of education is perceived as being “abandoned” due to the fact that career education is being more favored in schools and institutions today. But career education does not include all the necessary aspects of getting/maintaining a good job.

Intro Quote: 

Quote: “Yes, recent [liberal arts] graduates have had difficulty in the job market… [but] A 2009 survey for the Association of American Colleges and Universities actually found that more than three-quarters of our nation’s employers recommend that collegebound students pursue a ‘liberal education.’ An astounding 89 percent said they were looking for more emphasis on ‘the ability to effectively communicate orally and in writing,’”

Explanation: Ungar points out that being able to communicate your ideas effectively is one of the most important aspects of having a job (according to employers), and if you can’t do that you probably won’t be able to excel in that job.

Transition: Scheuer points out the fact that good jobs are still going to liberal arts students because of the skills they learn from their liberal arts education.

Quote: “The liberal arts ideal still has its eloquent defenders, and there is evidence that good jobs go to liberal arts graduates—eventually. Despite the popularity of business and technology courses, students are not abandoning the liberal arts in droves.”

Connection:  Both authors understand the fact that a liberal arts education might not be as popular as STEM, but there are still many people who go for a liberal arts education. Many students are still being given a liberal arts education which is important for the jobs they might want to pursue since they are learning skills like critical thinking.

1. Pre-reading. Read the title and write 3-5 sentences as a pre-reading activity. What is this article going to be about? Based on this title, what do YOU think “liberal arts” means?
2. I think the article is going to be about how we as humans forget all logic when we talk about a topic we are really passionate about. So I think the article is going to talk about how critical thinking is important for the liberal arts, but if we don’t know how to do it correctly, the liberal arts will be no help to you. I don’t think the article is going to compare critical thinking and the liberal arts, but they are going to explain them in a way to where they are a united subject and why it’s important.
3. The text has four sections. For each section, write a 3-5 sentence summary, pick ONE quote (include it in the HW response), and respond to or comment on the quote. (This is an opportunity to write up a question, relationship, challenge you started in an annotation.)
   1. “What are the liberal arts?” Section
   2. The liberal arts are used to teach students how to hone the skill of “freeing their mind” by thinking of a multitude of skills at once. The liberal arts are usually seen as philosophy, music/performing arts, social sciences, and many other things. But nowadays people see the liberal arts subjects as completely separate from one another while in reality, everything is connected in some way. 
   3. “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” (para.15). This quote exemplifies what the Liberal arts are really about. The liberal arts are about understanding that everything can connect in some way, some connections might be stronger than others, but everything is connected nonetheless.
   4. “Why do we need the Liberal Arts?” Section
   5. This section breaks down what it means to be a citizen in the liberal arts sense. There are three categories/levels of a citizen; civic, economic, and cultural citizens. Civic means you embrace civic duties such as voting, jury service and volunteering, economic means you do something useful for the community, and cultural means you partake in fun events such as a sports game or a musical. Liberal arts educations teach students how to excel at each level of citizenship. 
   6. “A liberal education is not about developing professional or entrepreneurial skills, although it may well promote them. Nor is it for everyone; we need pilots, farmers, and hairdressers as well as managers, artists, doctors, and engineers. But we all need to be well-informed, critical citizens. And the liberal arts prepare students for citizenship in all three senses—civic, economic, and cultural” (para. 21).  I don’t understand why having a liberal arts education isn’t for everyone. Wouldn’t you want to be a “well-informed, critical citizen” too? I’m not sure why this kind of critical education would be withheld from others if it prepares us or “frees” our minds to make us “better” citizens.
   7. “What is Critical Thinking?” Section
   8. This section is describing how critical thinking cannot be explicitly defined, and has to be found out by the person teaching/learning. Critical thinking can be seen as recognizing/pointing out one’s own flaws/flaws in the worlds around them, thinking outside of the box, etc. Critical thinking is not an exact formula like in math, we have to draw our own conclusions from a question we wanted answered.
   9. “We form (and qualify) generalizations, commute between the general and the particular, make distinctions and connections, draw analogies, compare classes and categories, employ various types of reasoning, hone definitions and meanings, and analyze words, ideas, and things to resolve or mitigate their ambiguity. These are precisely the skills that a liberal education cultivates. It heightens our abilities to speak, listen, write, and think, making us better learners, communicators, team members, and citizens” (para. 30). All the skills that go into making someone a good critical thinker, I feel like they would have just come from a lot of discussions/debates but we really practice that skill from when we are young and just start making friends to when we are old. Our critical thinking can always improve, especially as the world changes as you age.
   10. “The Importance of Critical Inquiry” Section
   11. This section dives into the fact that critical inquiry is also not one set idea/definition just like critical thinking is. Critical inquiry is more based around philosophy and why there is no set end to what you can talk about. We each have our perspectives of the world and different understandings of concepts and words, which makes the liberal arts so important so we can relate and learn from one another.
   12. “We need skilled thinkers, problem solvers, team workers, and communicators, and not just in the business, scientific, and technology sectors. The liberal arts embody precisely the skills a democracy must cultivate to maintain its vital reservoir of active, thoughtful, humane, and productive citizens” (para. 35). I feel like everyone should be able to have a shot at learning how to think critically, not just a select few that are needed for a democracy to work and I feel like this is happening more now than ever before. The internet allows us to take in so much information and we can draw our own conclusion on whatever topic we want, and we can discuss with others and maybe change our minds which is always a great thing.

Mackenzi Kimball

Professor Cripps

English Composition 110

February 5th, 2021

Fixed Mindset in Educational Spaces

You’re too sensitive! You’ll never survive in the real world with that attitude! This is what many young adults have heard throughout the years from the 90’s to today. But are we actually sensitive, or has the meaning of the word sensitive changed? An article by the name of The Coddling of the American Mind by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt explores their ideas of why they believe college students are being held back by their own sensitivity. The authors express that college students are oversensitive towards too many words and phrases which promotes the usage trigger warnings. Lukianoff and Haidt dive deeper into their beliefs about the “overuse” of trigger warnings, microaggressions, and many more throughout their article. Conversely, a public speaker named Carol Dweck performed a TED Talk called The Power of Believing That You Can Improve, where she speaks about the importance of teaching a growth mindset. She expresses how damaging a fixed mindset can be to students when confronting a new challenge, and explains how a growth mindset is significantly better for preparing students for their future. The Coddling and Dweck seemingly discuss very different issues when speaking on how to properly educate students. But given Dweck’s definitions of fixed mindsets and growth mindsets, The Coddling authors present ideas based around a fixed mindset throughout almost their whole article. The fixed mindset is not found within the students though, it is found in the authors themselves. 

A fixed mindset can be applied anywhere in life, even in interpersonal relationships and speech. In Dweck’s TED talk presentation, she discussed why growth mindsets were better for preparing children for the future, and why fixed mindsets were so detrimental to our perceived idea of intelligence. In her experiments, elementary students were given slightly hard math problems to solve and Dweck observed that students with fixed mindsets usually reacted in a negative way. The students that she determined to have a fixed mindset viewed their task as “tragic, catastrophic. From their more fixed mindset perspective, their intelligence had been up for judgment, and they failed” (Dweck, 00:36). These children were presented with a task that was supposed to be hard and their minds told them that their skills were not enough to figure the math problems out. The fixed mindsets of these kids made them believe they were incapable and therefore unintelligent. A fixed mindset can sometimes solely rely on our emotions leading us to believe we are truly unintelligent. Yet, when thinking critically our fixed mindset can change. In The Coddling, Lukianoff and Haidt perceive critical thinking as “grounding one’s beliefs in evidence rather than in emotion or desire, and learning how to search for and evaluate evidence that might contradict one’s original hypothesis” (para. 19). Critical thinking is a skill that can be improved upon with a growth mindset. This skill can allow those with fixed mindsets to rationalize the problem at hand and work through it. If we rely solely on our emotions the true solution to a given problem might never be found. Given this idea, a growth mindset allows us to truly think critically while having our emotions in mind without them being our main focus when confronting a conflict.

Growth mindsets can be used to enact useful change in the world and how we understand one another. Dweck explains how she observed which children possessed a growth mindset when observing the same students she studied in her experiment mentioned before. Compared to the fixed mindset students, she saw some individuals “[react] in a shockingly positive way . . . They understood that their abilities could be developed. They had what I call a growth mindset ” (00:36). These students did not think about the fact that their skills might not be enough to solve the problems, they just dove right into them. They were excited by the idea of trying something new, which is pivotal for having a growth mindset. Understanding the fact that your critical thinking abilities can be developed is a huge factor in developing a growth mindset as well.  Keeping the idea of critical thinking in mind, it is discussed in the “What Can We Do Now?” section of The Coddling that “Rather than trying to protect students from words and ideas that they will inevitably encounter, colleges should do all they can to equip students to thrive in a world full of words and ideas that they cannot control” (Lukianoff and Haidt, para. 59). Lukianoff and Haidt believe that colleges need to extensively prepare their students for encountering triggering words out in the “real world” environment. I agree that students should be knowledgeable of the fact that these triggering words will pop up, but I feel like Lukianoff and Haidt still don’t understand the reason why trigger warnings are more frequently used in the first place. Students should be mentally prepared to have run-ins with triggering words, but trigger warnings are more commonly used now to try and stop the use of such triggering words and phrases. Lukianoff and Haidt think that colleges are trying to shield their students from such words, but students are trying to create a change throughout society and the world so people understand why those words and phrases can be such a problem. Having a growth mindset allows a person to think critically about the problem or situation in front of them, and figure out a way to confront it without fear. Applying a growth mindset when discussing personal issues or world wide problems will help everyone in the long run to become more understanding of one another.

But the slight glimmer of a growth mindset seen in The Coddling does not overshadow the fact that the article itself is totally against change. Lukianoff and Haidt push the idea that trigger warnings are stunting students’ learning abilities and restricting professors in what they can teach. But when reading the article, it seems like Lukianoff and Haidt are just upset that their comfortable way of living and speaking is being challenged to change. One paragraph of the article is used to compare the political correctness movement of the 80’s and 90’s to what’s happening in the present day saying “there are important differences between what’s happening now and what happened in the 1980s and ’90s. That movement sought to restrict speech (specifically hate speech aimed at marginalized groups), but it also challenged the literary, philosophical, and historical canon, seeking to widen it by including more-diverse perspectives. The current movement is largely about emotional well-being. More than the last, it presumes an extraordinary fragility of the collegiate psyche, and therefore elevates the goal of protecting students from psychological harm” (para. 5). In short, Lukianoff and Haidt believe that the two movements have completely different goals. But they completely miss the fact that the use of trigger warnings widens the perspective even more. The current movement is extremely similar to the past movement. Younger generations are building off the movement from the 80s and 90s to include even more diverse narratives. We are trying to include more and more marginalized groups that were either never talked about, or considered taboo to speak on such as mental illness, domestic violence, and sexual assault to name a few. Trigger warnings acknowledge the fact that not just hate speech can be hurtful, they target sensitive topics while also allowing those personally affected to avoid being presented with information they can’t deal with at the moment. To me, trigger warnings upset Lukianoff and Haidt because they are so comfortable living in the past where they feel they can speak on such topics freely. Society is changing around us to specifically be more considerate of others and their personal experiences. This shift is much needed so that individuals, such as Lukianoff and Haidt, can learn what they’ve done wrong in the past and be inclined to change themselves for the better.

Lukianoff and Haidt show their fixed mindset when trying to stick to older ways of speaking to students. They discuss that being sensitive to the students is not teaching them to be prepared for professional life, but in reality this sensitivity towards others teaches students to be open to seeing and acknowledging other individuals’ backgrounds. When you acknowledge individuals in this way, you have more of an appreciation for certain qualities of life. We can learn from each other rather than further separate ourselves by lacking the initiative, or growth mindset, to listen to other’s stories. Humans thrive when we know we aren’t alone, so why silence each other’s experiences for the gain of others? The use of trigger warnings especially help when deciphering whether or not an individual is ready to dive into a discussion with peers or wait for another day if/when they feel ready. So when Lukianoff and Haidt speak about “oversensitivity” they are actually referencing their own insensitivity.

Works Cited

Lukianoff, Greg, and Jonathan Haidt. “The Coddling of the American Mind.” The Atlantic, September 2015, How Trigger Warnings Are Hurting Mental Health on Campus – The Atlantic, 5 Feb. 2021.

Dweck, Carol. “The Power of Believing that You Can Improve” TED Talks, November 2014, Carol Dweck: The power of believing that you can improve | TED Talk, 5 Feb. 2021.

During my visit with Olivia we briefly went over what my main idea/argument is for the paper. She told me to write out what my argument is as a thesis that is more than just one vague sentence. Once my argument was clear to her, Olivia skimmed over my whole paper to see how I went about connecting Dweck and The Coddling. I told her I always have trouble trying to connect quotes to my argument and she suggested trying to fix the explanations of the Dweck quotes if I can. Other than some minor tweaks in both body paragraphs I have in the first draft, Olivia told me I could add another paragraph if I wanted to. So, for my final draft I want to add in a body paragraph that is specifically about one L&H quote that clearly exemplifies what I disagree with from The Coddling.

My argument: L/H seems to have a fixed mindset, given Dweck’s interpretation, when confronted with the idea of trigger warnings. 

Ellipses and Brackets Practice:

DWECK Original: Dweck explains how she observed which children possessed a growth mindset out of all the children who received the same math problems as mentioned before.  “Some of them reacted in a shockingly positive way . . . They understood that their abilities could be developed. They had what I call a growth mindset” (00:36).

DWECK Revised: Compared to the fixed mindset students, Dweck observed some students “[react] in a shockingly positive way . . . They understood that their abilities could be developed. They had what I call a growth mindset ” (00:36). 

L&H Original: Yet, when thinking critically our fixed mindset can change. In “The Coddling” by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt they stated that “critical thinking requires grounding one’s beliefs in evidence rather than in emotion or desire, and learning how to search for and evaluate evidence that might contradict one’s initial hypothesis” (para. 19).

L&H Revised: Yet, when thinking critically our fixed mindset can change. In The Coddling, Lukianoff and Haidt perceive critical thinking as “grounding one’s beliefs in evidence rather than in emotion or desire, and learning how to search for and evaluate evidence that might contradict one’s original hypothesis” (para. 19). 

Ellipses and brackets help the reader understand the use of the quote better. Specifically for ellipses, the writer can take out as much of the original text they need for the quote to make sense towards their argument. This can also be the same for brackets but they can also add context to the quote so the reader doesn’t need to look up the article that it came from to understand why the writer chose to use that quote in their paper.

Signal Phrasing Practice:

DWECK Original: In her experiments, students were given slightly hard math problems to solve, and students with fixed mindsets reacted in a negative way. Some students viewed the experience as “tragic, catastrophic. From their more fixed mindset perspective, their intelligence had been up for judgment, and they failed” (00:36). 

DWECK Revised: The students that Dweck determined to have a fixed mindset viewed their task as “tragic, catastrophic. From their more fixed mindset perspective, their intelligence had been up for judgment, and they failed” (00:36).

L/H Original: Understanding the fact that your critical thinking abilities can be developed is a huge factor in developing a growth mindset. Lukianoff and Haidt stated in their article that, “Rather than trying to protect students from words and ideas that they will inevitably encounter, colleges should do all they can to equip students to thrive in a world full of words and ideas that they cannot control” (para. 59).

L/H Revised: Keeping the idea of critical thinking in mind, it is discussed in the “What Can We Do Now?” section of The Coddling that “Rather than trying to protect students from words and ideas that they will inevitably encounter, colleges should do all they can to equip students to thrive in a world full of words and ideas that they cannot control” (para. 59).

In Text Citation Practice: 

DWECK Revised: Compared to the fixed mindset students, Dweck observed some students “[react] in a shockingly positive way . . . They understood that their abilities could be developed. They had what I call a growth mindset ” (00:36). 

L&H Revised: In The Coddling, Lukianoff and Haidt perceive critical thinking as “grounding one’s beliefs in evidence rather than in emotion or desire, and learning how to search for and evaluate evidence that might contradict one’s original hypothesis” (para. 19). 

DWECK Revised: The students that Dweck determined to have a fixed mindset viewed their task as “tragic, catastrophic. From their more fixed mindset perspective, their intelligence had been up for judgment, and they failed” (00:36).

L/H Revised: Keeping the idea of critical thinking in mind, it is discussed in the “What Can We Do Now?” section of The Coddling that “Rather than trying to protect students from words and ideas that they will inevitably encounter, colleges should do all they can to equip students to thrive in a world full of words and ideas that they cannot control” (Lukianoff and Haidt, para. 59).

Long Quote Practice: 

 “there are important differences between what’s happening now and what happened in the 1980s and ’90s. That movement sought to restrict speech (specifically hate speech aimed at marginalized groups), but it also challenged the literary, philosophical, and historical canon, seeking to widen it by including more-diverse perspectives. The current movement is largely about emotional well-being. More than the last, it presumes an extraordinary fragility of the collegiate psyche, and therefore elevates the goal of protecting students from psychological harm. The ultimate aim, it seems, is to turn campuses into “safe spaces” where young adults are shielded from words and ideas that make some uncomfortable. And more than the last, this movement seeks to punish anyone who interferes with that aim, even accidentally.” (para. 5). 

This quote is one that I am going to use in my paper, but I did elongate it by adding the next 2 sentences so it’s considered a “long quote” in the little seagull book. When I put it into my final draft of the essay I have to make sure to indent it so the quote is all by itself (since it is over 5 sentences). After indenting I would have to get rid of the quotation marks since the quote is now standing alone. I could also go in and add ellipses so the quote becomes shorter and easier to read, but you understand that the quote spans over 4 sentences. The citation would stay the same though.

ORIGINAL: Growth mindset can be used to enact useful change in the world and how we understand each other. Dweck explains how she observed which children possessed a growth mindset out of all the children who received the same math problems as mentioned before.  “Some of them reacted in a shockingly positive way…They understood that their abilities could be developed. They had what I call a growth mindset” (00:36).  Those students weren’t held back by their emotions, but were stimulated at the idea of trying something new. They understood that the problems were hard but they also knew they would try their best to solve them. Understanding the fact that your critical thinking abilities can be developed is a huge factor in developing a growth mindset. Lukianoff and Haidt stated in their article that, “Rather than trying to protect students from words and ideas that they will inevitably encounter, colleges should do all they can to equip students to thrive in a world full of words and ideas that they cannot control” (para. 59). Introducing students to the idea of a growth mindset will better prepare them for things they cannot control. Having a growth mindset allows a person to think critically about the problem or situation in front of them, and figure out a way to confront it without fear. Having a growth mindset when discussing personal issues or world wide problems will help everyone in the long run to become more understanding of one another.

My argument: L/H seems to have a fixed mindset, given Dweck’s interpretation, when confronted with the idea of trigger warnings. 

REVISED: A growth mindset can be used to enact useful change in the world and how we understand one another. Dweck describes how a growth mindset can be observed in the students she studied as “ [reacting to math problems] in a shockingly positive way… They [the students] understood that their abilities could be developed” (00:36). The students did not think about the fact that their skills might not be enough to solve the problems, they just dove right into them. They were excited by the idea of trying something new, which is pivotal for having a growth mindset. Understanding the fact that your critical thinking abilities can be developed is a huge factor in developing a growth mindset as well. Lukianoff and Haidt stated in their article that, “Rather than trying to protect students from words and ideas that they will inevitably encounter, colleges should do all they can to equip students to thrive in a world full of words and ideas that they cannot control” (para. 59). L/H believe that colleges need to extensively prepare their students for encountering triggering words out in the “real world” environment. I agree that students should be knowledgeable of the fact that these triggering words will pop up, but I feel like L/H still don’t understand the reason why trigger warnings are more frequently used in the first place. Students should be mentally prepared to have run-ins with triggering words, but trigger warnings are more common to try and stop the use of such triggering words and phrases. L/H think that colleges are trying to shield their students from such words, but the students are trying to create a change throughout society and the world so people understand why those words and phrases can be such a problem. Having a growth mindset allows a person to think critically about the problem or situation in front of them, and figure out a way to confront it without fear. Having a growth mindset when discussing personal issues or world wide problems will help everyone in the long run to become more understanding of one another.

Explanation of Changes for this Paragraph: I mainly just tried to change the explanations of each quote to more thoroughly explain their connection to my main idea. I changed the explanations because I was basically just re-stating the quote each time which is not helpful towards the paper.

NEW Paragraph: Why exactly I think L/H have a fixed mindset-

Lukianoff and Haidt’s article pushes the idea that trigger warnings are stunting students’ learning ability and restricting professors in what they can teach. But when reading their article, it seems like they are just upset that their comfortable way of living and speaking is changing before their eyes. One paragraph of the article is used to compare the political correctness movement of the 80’s and 90’s to what’s happening in the present day saying “there are important differences between what’s happening now and what happened in the 1980s and ’90s. That movement sought to restrict speech (specifically hate speech aimed at marginalized groups), but it also challenged the literary, philosophical, and historical canon, seeking to widen it by including more-diverse perspectives. The current movement is largely about emotional well-being. More than the last, it presumes an extraordinary fragility of the collegiate psyche, and therefore elevates the goal of protecting students from psychological harm” (para. 5). When they’re comparing now and then, they completely miss the fact that the use of trigger warnings widens the perspective even more. The current movement is extremely similar to the past movement. Younger generations are building off the movement from the 80s and 90s to include even more diverse narratives. We are trying to include more and more marginalized groups that were either never talked about, or considered taboo to speak on such as mental illness, domestic violence, and sexual assault to name a few. Trigger warnings acknowledge the fact that not just hate speech can be hurtful, they target sensitive topics while also allowing those personally affected to avoid being presented with information they can’t deal with at the moment. To me, trigger warnings upset Lukianoff and Haidt because they are so comfortable living in the past where they feel they can speak on these things freely. Society is changing around us specifically to be more considerate of others and their experiences which is much needed so people can learn what they’ve done wrong in the past and change for the better.

Explanation of New Paragraph: I wanted to add this paragraph because I felt like I couldn’t completely explain my argument with just 2 Barclay’s paragraphs. I wanted a clear paragraph that is solely for the use of me explaining why “The Coddling” and Lukianoff and Haidt rub me the wrong way.