Allan Bloom Clearly Distinguishes Between Prestigious Private Liberal

Allan Bloom clearly distinguishes between Prestigious Private Liberal Arts Colleges and State Universities in the Liberal Studies selection of his book, The Closing of the American Mind. He strongly believes that the University has to stand for something. There is not a clear definition of what an educated human being is, and it is the responsibility of a University to decide what subjects are going to be required by their students to obtain a degree. Allan Bloom characterizes the prestigious institutions as colleges that are supposed to provide liberal education. He classifies the State Schools as colleges that are to prepare specialists to fit the systematic demands of this complex society. He is trying to imply that there is a problem with today's liberal studies program with most universities in the United States. He thinks that the various courses that are required are all unrelated to each other. He states two approaches to the liberal studies problem, and he suggests his own personal solution. The first approach is to take a course in each general department of the university. The second approach, which is usually turned down by the majority of universities, is to take composite courses. This is basically a joining of several departments into one course. His solution to the liberal studies problem is the ?Great Books? approach. The Great Books approach is a list of generally recognized classical texts that would be required by the students to read. If this were the case, then the students would not be forced into the specific categories of the university. All that they would have to do is simply read the books. A question that I have is how would the students be te sted on their comprehension of the reading. The professors could not just assume that everyone read these books, let alone understand them. I think that the students could just go buy these books at a bookstore if they wanted to read them, instead of paying tuition to read these various books. Another issue that he addresses is the morality of liberal studies. Both schools almost have to feel guilty for their own self-interest in making money and for ripping the students off. They know that it would not take four years to graduate if we were to specialize in our major the whole time. He also thinks that the undecided student is an embarrassment to the university. I do not agree with this because the student has probably already narrowed down their choices, and now just trying to pick the right one. Overall, I agree with him that there may be a few liberal studies problems, but I do not know if his approaches are the correct answers to the problem.

Montaigne on Barbarism essays

Montaigne on Barbarism essays Montaigne wrote that, Each man calls barbarism whatever is not his own practice. He describes that we as people are not very accepting of others, who are not like ourselves. If they do not do things the way we do, we call them barbarians. We are as a society very close minded and do not take the time to understand people who are different from us. Instead, we believe that since that do not do things like we do, then there must be something wrong with them. Although he wrote his essay in the 16th century, we can very much still apply his ideas to Americans in todays society. One area where Montaignes essay applies is in the debate over whether gays or lesbians should have the right to get married. Many people are used to a marriage being between a man and a wife and refuse to believe that it can be any other way. These people do not even want the marriage to be called a civil union, because they feel that it is not right for people of the same sex to become a legal couple. They them faggots or dykes and some refuse to even be in the same room as them. Another group of people in todays society where Americans are not accepting of them is people of Arabic descent. After the attack of America, these people were singled out due to the extremists from their home country. Even if these people were American citizens, they were harassed and discriminated against. People admitted to looking over their shoulder when they believed that someone was near them that could have originally come from a terrorist country. Some people refused to get on airplanes if there was someone on the plane who was Arabic descent. These people are labeled as terrorists, even if that is not the case. Still another area in which Americans tend to not be accepting of our own people is when some people see a younger person with tattoos, body piercings, or dyed hair. Someone who is more conservativ...