A Liberal Arts Degree: Take it or leave it.
Every student is obligated to pay money for a class they have no interest in. This seems to be a waste of time and money for all involved. If I plan on opening a convenience store, why do I need to know about Japanese literature, how to write an essay or what is going on in Indonesia? To fill every college requirement for a degree a student must have credits in classes ranging from computer skills to international perspective to math. This is referred to as a "liberal arts" education. Studying the Liberal Arts may not be a direct path to the bank, but the awareness it implants will be far more imperative. Overall, the 'liberal arts' degree, from traditional context to a modern-day version, is conducive to survival, marketable skills, and well-rounded education. .
First, liberal arts is the foundation of education and represents survival. The traditional liberal arts education can be traced back to Athens. In ancient times, "liberal" represented an education appropriate for a free man. "Arts" was perceived as meaning "skills". In pursuit of developing excellence of a free man's overall intellect, many disciplines were formed at the same time and set the ground floor for the development of an education. The disciplines were selected on the ability to offer wisdom and "all knowing" in the search for truth about the place of humankind within this world. The aim was to teach free men how to live well and offer a developed intellect to society (Flannery). .
Scholars, such as Aristotle, Socrates or Plato sought to establish a curriculum to prepare students for a higher and more intricate study. They created seven subjects to represent the "liberal arts". The seven subjects are: logic, grammar, rhetoric, mathematics, geometry, music, and astronomy. The first three are considered the trivium (deductive reasoning) and offer knowledge in the verbal aspect.
