Personal Reflection and Course Understanding, Essay Example

Developed in ancient Greece, the aspect of liberal arts has been designed to equip a person to deal with his society in a logical manner specifically pertaining to the manner of speech and thinking that he uses to speak out his mind and make a definite impact on the changes that happen around him. In the condition of developing how liberal arts should affect a person’s being, the primary enthusiasts of this particular form of learning hoped that the lessons presented through this would provide them more freedom making it easier for them to think liberally hence giving way to further development.

Most likely related to information and language decoding, liberal arts tries to study the human mind based on speech and behavior. Relatively, such condition of learning indicates the process by which the human mind processes particular information thus creating a notion that would best define their perception of a matter. Following the aspects of democracy, the foundation of liberal arts often create a magnified possibility for human individuals to speak what they are thinking about and share their ideas about development and improvement of the society based on established research and well defined studies.

Assuming the strong impact of critical thinking in all aspects of human life, the course of liberal arts  put together the different subjects that comprise of the most common points that the development of human thinking requires. This course further views the human capacity to think as specifically innate, yet its development allows for a better realization on the part of the human individual to utilize his thinking abilities and make it more responsive to the social need for improvement. The aim of liberal arts to enhance the power of human thinking to bring about social change remains intact hence affecting each individual to become mindful of his environment and utilize his thinking abilities to its best and make a recognizable mark on how he is able to affect his own society.

Individuals at present who take liberal arts courses often find themselves becoming more critical about the common issues of the society. It is innate in most students who take courses under liberal arts to be strong and critically mindful of how they affect their communities. Responsibly bringing about change and development,   humans have been honed through liberal arts to become more responsible, to desire to get involved and to manifest a sense of personal worth through becoming a part of the large movement towards living development. This is why the development of political science, human sciences and other studies on human basics develop further. In the desire of creating a better blue print of human living, the courses under liberal arts continue to explore the possibility of improving human living through improving the capacity of humans to think and understand all matters that are existing around them.

The value of liberal arts in one’s human life may not be as huge if not applied properly. As repeatedly mentioned, this course aims to improve the manner of thinking of a person based on analytical and critical understanding of matters. Relatively, if one simply completes the course for the sake of scholastic record, the real application of its functional aspects become vague. On the other hand, if one takes in the aspects of liberal arts in a personal condition then that individual would be able to see how the factors of critical and analytical thinking would best allow him to make the best and most workable decisions in his life.

References

Winterer, Caroline.The Culture of Classicism: Ancient Greece and Rome in American Intellectual Life, 1780–1910. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002.

Wriston, Henry M. The Nature of a Liberal College. Lawrence University Press, 1937.

Kaori Kitao, William R. Kenan, Jr. (27 March 1999). The Usefulness Of Uselessness. Keynote Address, The 1999 Institute for the Academic Advancement of Youth’s Odyssey at Swarthmore College.

Tubbs, N. (2011) “Know Thyself: Macrocosm and Microcosm”. Studies in Philosophy and Education Volume 30 no.1