A Modern Day Liberal Arts Program

If thither is iodine major lesson that we can learn existent in this world, it is the fact of impermanence of all(prenominal)thing. The world is constantly in a flux, forever fluid, as well as the reality that humanity moldinessiness front in his day to day battle to live a decent, comfortable life. Everything is changing. If we would borrow a cliche to describe it, the appropriate whiz is conviction is achanging. And during this metre when a lot of modifys atomic number 18 taking place, t here(predicate) is the importance and essential that the designs in our colleges to keep abreast with these changes.Failure to do so provide only lead to an otherwise failure which is a mar in educating our assimilators to prepargon in that locationfore to face the realities of the removed world. In the slip of paper of generous Arts Programs, the issue stated above is more than appropriate. Lest we for get off, lovable Arts was founded by scholars whose start turn out is t o maximize and develop the intellectual electrical condenser of its assimilators. The word Liberal in latin means libera which means free. The intent of plentiful arts so is to free its student from the bondage of ignorance.This is the moderateness why in the sanctioned course of instruction in whatever slack arts scarper of instruction orbits like language, literature, philosophy and mathematics argon include. The actor for this is to enhance the higher faculty of its students and nurture their ability to be well-verse with the remote world and at the same time of the possibilities of what role they go outing renovate in fellowship. The role of Liberal Arts by nature of instruction in general chthonian a stripeting of a antiauthoritarian system is the fulfillment of every mans intellectual potential for growth and cultivation.Under comporting that the democratic system bestows on man his in force(p)s for equality, liberty and freedom, the explode pla yed by Liberal Arts colleges towards these oddments is to empower the individua leanic to exercise these innate chastens attached to him by the form of this political frame-up. Through the programs offered by Liberal Arts, an individual is march onn the right tools to arrive at the cogency to think and express his ideas that is in final result(p) in his pursuit of personal development and jump on.The result of the process then is that it uplifts the spirit of the person as an individual and simultaneously shapes him to be a productive explodeicipant in the society that he allow be a part of. At the same time the effect of this on the society at considerable is the assistment on the hale disposal to advance in its ability to think. Advancement in the way the society think result bring an outcome where the society can attend resolution to the challenges it faces in the fast changing world.Nevertheless, the question that lingers in the face of an ever-changing world i s Is the curriculum offered by Liberal Arts programs full to keep students prepargond to realize their potential at once they leave the support of campus life? The answer to this is very obvious. though the canonical curriculum that is included in the program gives the student the basic skills in cerebral assay and basic k flatledge to act effectively in society, there is assuage the bring for it to be flexible and open to other cases to make it applicable to the changing world.In todays changing terrain of realities, there are cardinal points that students of this Liberal Arts Program impart have to deal with in order to grow and be equipped with the right tools for them to function and get into in the foreign world. One is communication and the other one is apply science. why communication and engine room. On a cursory look the two seems replete(p) apart. The first one is al proficient about intangible while the latter is cover and definite. One may raze con clude that engine room is far from the aim and mission of any liberal arts curriculum.Yet, on a ambient look the two complement with from each one other. There is a need to master the basics of communication thorough which technology provide be intentiond as the tool to convey it. What then are the benefits of program for the student and to the society at large? One, the vision which the program has set for each student is for him to be an all-around person who can participate in the outside world with right tools to keep at measure with the changing world, especially in this age of Information Revolution.As for the society at large, the benefit it can derive from this program is the actualization of everything that was taught in liberal arts classroom to be practiceed by its student in the outside world. Society can sow the fruits of labor of every student of the program. In a gist, this Liberal Arts Program provide aim on what Knoblauch says about the uses of literacy, tha t it never stands but, that it is always used for something for professional competence in the technological world, for civic responsibility and the preservation of heritage, for personal growth and self-importance fulfillment, for social and political change (220).Communication The main goal as to the stress of the program towards communication is obviously the intent of propagating literacy among little people. If we follow what Hirsch verbalise in his study, the literacy rate in United States is only around 66% (2). It is therefore right to conclude that that there are basically one third of the population of the country who are illiterate. The program then will aim at equipping the students with skills that can make them speak well, import well and understand how to convey and relay their thoughts and ideas to others and to the society they are part of. How can these ends be met with the program?In the program under the light of communication, a curriculum which will inc lude subjects on right computer incubate and musical composition will be designed. These issues can be communicate by the inclusion of speech subjects with the objective of training the students in the right manner of being an effective communicator. Speech. There are already in some Liberal Arts programs that include this subject of speech in their curriculum. In this program the same will be applied exactly with a new philosophy in treating the subject so that the maximum potential of the student can be reached as soon as possible in the campaign of the program.The approach would be the utilization of 95% of the class hours in the honing and speech practices to be inclined to the students. The pattern of doctrine then would be breathing exercises during the start of the class. After this and throughout the presbyopic duration of the semester, the students will be called to present a prepared speech in front of the class, a speech with the duration of five minutes. This w ill happen throughout the cover. Applying this method of teaching how to speak properly in front of an audience will develop at the same time the confidence of the student to fight stage fright.Meanwhile, the final examination for the campaign will be an extemporaneous speech by which each student, gaining already the confidence to stand in front of an audience, will be taught the run through of speaking their minds out in a comprehensible and structured format. The evaluate for this course will be unlike in any other speech subject. Since the usual count on of the instructor in this case is lumping the whole class into one and giving the highest uniformize to the one who stand out among the rest, this will not be the system for this subject.Since the instructor is observing and academic session at the back of the classroom most of the time, he will grade each student according to his come on in the curriculum. Since a semester is long enough for a student to take some(pr enominal) times to stand in front of the class to speak, the basis whether the student passes the subject is whether he has improved in his speaking skills. Writing. It is well known that in every Liberal Arts program there entails an intensive training for create verbally.It is even said that without focus on this aspect of such a program is a sure doom for the whole curriculum altogether. Writing is the most bmful form of communication since it takes a lot of practice and discipline in order to put what one has in mind into indite words. Many have tried to design different approaches on how to address this and how to pluck it as a college experience for students. There are a hundred methods applied to teach penning in school and so far there are only a handful or a small percentage of those who are taught who came out as cheeseparing writer.In this program concerning piece of music, there will only be two types of makeup skills that will be given priority and importance. One is essay writing and the second one is fanciful writing. Essay Writing. As I have said there are many approaches tried on this subject to attain the goal that the students gain the skill of writing well. There are many colleges which tried to start-up the writing development of student by applying the formulation of instructing their students to put their ideas into writing. But in this program, the approach will be different.Part of the programme will be for each student to write different signifiers of essays. These are assignments that will be scheduled for the students to submit to the prof during the course of the semester. This intent is only the tip of the iceberg in teaching the students how to write. First, to let the student feel the words and see how his ideas are transformed into written school texts, part of the daily activity of the students in this subject is the humans of what you called a morn page paper.This paper will be written continuously for half (prenominal) an hour with the instruction to the student to write everything he thinks or sees or smells or anything that comes to his mind during that session. Grammar, systax, punctuation and sentences structure in this activity are not considered. There are no right tenses here or correct English. The point of the exercise is to make the student flex his writing muscles. Another part of the activity that will be included in this course is the creation of a journal by every student.It must(prenominal) be clear to the student that to learn how to write one must practice it as regular as possible. And there is no regular activity that will force to the student to write by retentivity a journal. Creative Writing. As part of the growth of the student a creative writing class will be designed to encourage him to use his creativity in expressing himself. They say the most difficult kind of writing is the creative one. So why then torture these students of the program to undergo a rigo rous writing training that would make their roll bleed?The answer to this question is the simple training process that the mind adjusts to the difficulty of the task and keeps at par with it. The analogy that I will use for this case is the simple game of playing chess against a computer. If the player would start at the most difficult and professional level of the chess game, it is of course expected that the a notice player will lose hundreds of times. Yet, at the same time this failure to beat the computer in a chess game will give the player hints and samples of how to play the game decisively.Sooner or later the player will line up to the playing style of the computer and will experience his first win. utilize to playing with the highest level the computer can offer, the player then will find it easy to play the lower level skill of the computer. apply in the case of writing and considering that creative writing is the most difficult style of writing, if the student learn s to use his language to write a creative piece, it is conclusive to say that any form of writing then will be easy on his part since he has already know the most difficult one.It is like sparring out with a heavyweight then fighting a featherweight will then be easy. This course will take two semesters to complete, during the Fall and Spring semester. Part of the activities here will be on the sport story writing exercises, several sessions of rewriting a previous written assignment. And for the final examination of the students, a short story that runs in 15 pages will be submitted to the professor for evaluation on the draw close of the student. Also, as part of the curriculum, the students will be given reading list for the two semesters.This reading list will be novels of classic and contemporary writers of fiction. The genre for the novels does not matter. It may be a pulp fiction, speculative fiction, modernist novels or any other types. From this list the students will ch oose which they wanted to read for their development in writing a short story. There are three objectives by which this course is chosen and included in the curriculum. First is for the student to learn how to clasp his language, second is for him to express himself creatively and the third is for him to write better.Technology Since one of the changes that are fast shaping the terrain of reality and the human society at large is the advent of the Information Revolution, it is appropriate that the curriculum being offered by Liberal Arts includes courses that will enhance the ability of the students to keep abreast with this renewing in technology. Right now, the role played by knowledge technology has encroached on almost every aspect of everyday lives of the modern man.Since the load objective of any Liberal Arts program is to free the students from the bondage of ignorance and prepare him with the realities of the outside world, inclusion of technology in the curriculum is no t at all unexpected. Instead, it is totally anticipated to be the course of performance of every program. One of the subjects that will fall under this category of technology in the curriculum of this specific Liberal Arts Program is the basic introduction on computer technology. Most colleges have incorporated in their curriculum the use of computer to their students, like how to use word processor, spreadsheets and parachute presentation.But this approach under the light of the fast integration of information technology in the lives of the modern man is already passe if not over-the-hill altogether. Teaching a student how to use the computer right now is like teaching him how to operate his television set. It is already given that young people who are going into colleges are well adept with the use of computer. The role that the Liberal Arts Program will take is to vim the knowledge of the student beyond from what is already known about information technology.The program then will include in its curriculum basic knowledge on computer hardware like repair and troubleshooting. include also in the curriculum is the study of how to use the most touristy software as of the present time. I said present time since this subject in computer software should be flexible to change at any given time to adjust to the fast rate innovations in information technology. Applying the popular Moores Law that the rate of progress of technology is rapid (ebrary Inc, 28) in this equation is appropriate.Computers are expected to perform calculations that doubles every two years, it must be anticipated that what is serviceable now will be passe and outdate in a pas de deux of years. Grading System There have been many debates regarding the best equalisation system that ought to be applied in gauging the intellectual progress of every student. In this program, the grading system that will be followed by the instructors and the professors will sit on the foundation that the bes t gauge of intellectual capacity and development of the student is the progress he shows in the class and in the array of activities designed in the curriculum.It must be understood that the adulthood of learning capacity of each student varies from each other considering students are different in their intellectual levels. The role that instructors and professors in the program then will be demanding and laborious since the process and discernment of what grade should get will be on their total evaluation of the students progress in their subjects. This grading system will be applied principally in the two major concerns of this program communication and technology. This kind of grading system is specifically appropriate to be applied in the speech and writing classes.Since these skills take time to be developed, it will be proper if the grading system is according to the progress that the student is making in the course. Take as an example the subject of writing essays. Though ev erybody in the class is taking the subject for the first time, some may have already an experience in writing that can give them an edge in earning a higher grade. To give each student the chance to get a good grade on the subject, each will be graded according to the development and how fast the student has instilled in himself the craft of writing.Moreover, grading each student according to his progress will put the focus of on imbuing the skill rather than alone acquire a high mark for the course. The payoff of this grading dodge is the fact that the priority of the student is how to improve his skills in the art of writing. When the goal of the course is focused on the improvement of the student in learning the craft rather than merely getting a good grade, the effect or result of this is the continuance of learning experience even if the course is already over.Since the student is oriented towards the goal of improving his skills and not just on the temporary and limited goa l of earning a good mark, the writing experience is expected to continue until the student is already out of the campus. sharp for a fact that writing better and effectively per se cannot be taught in a single or couple of semester, one of the main goal then of the course is for the student to continue putting effort to hone his skills in the endeavor of writing until his older and professional years.Though this proposal somewhat will be applied sparingly in the course of subjects concerning technology. Since the subjects are more concrete and mechanic in nature, the progress alone of the student in the curriculum will not suffice to gauge his effort in trying to learn the course. Conclusion The objective of any Liberal Arts program is to bring to freedom from ignorance each student that will take the course. At the same time, the program is designed with the main(a) goal of giving the student tools with which to face and participate in the outside world of the campus.These tools take the forms of skills like effective speech and deftness in writing craft and knowledge in the new technology bulky in the present age of ours. These skills will help the student be a better player and participant in the society once he is already outside the campus. The good about the program is that it complements the setup in a democratic society where each individual is given his right to pursue equality, liberty and freedom from ignorance. The curriculum that this program will focus on will be communication and technology since these two disciplines also complement each other.Skills in speech and writing will be given the great emphasis while technology through the instruction of how computer works will also be given an importance. The grading system also by which the student will be evaluated will sit on the foundation of looking on the progress of the student rather than meeting the expectation of the instructor or professor. The advantage of this grading scheme is the r e-alignment of priority for the student to look at the curriculum as a means to enhance his skills rather than merely getting high marks.Another point of this is the fact that the skills and discipline that the student may imbue on the whole program will be continued to be practiced even if he is already outside the boundary of the campus. cook Cited ebrary, Inc. Computer Science Reflections on the Field, Reflections from the Field. Washington, DC, subject area Academies Press, 2004 Knoblauch, C. H. Literacy and the Politics of Education. constitution Knowledge. EdRolf Norgaard. Boston, youthful York. Bedford/St. Martin, 2007. pp. (198-209). Hirsch, E. D. Cultural Literacy. Boston. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1987 Annotated Bibliographyebrary, Inc. Computer Science Reflections on the Field, Reflections from the Field. Washington, DC, National Academies Press, 2004 This book basically tackled the progress in information technology. In the paper, there is a need for it to be cited s ince the discussion is the fast pace development in this modern technology. The importance of the idea is to present that the reasoning of the writer in saying that there should be flexibility in the creation of curriculum concerning computer literacy. Knoblauch, C. H. Literacy and the Politics of Education. Composing Knowledge. EdRolf Norgaard.Boston, New York. Bedford/St. Martin, 2007. pp. (198-209). The underlying argument for the reason of the use of what Knoblauch said is to present the fact that literacy has its used in society. Since literacy is one of the objectives of Liberal Arts, it is important to cite his text to show what will be the function of being a literate in society. Hirsch, E. D. Cultural Literacy. Boston. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1987 The function of the information given by Hirsh in his book is to present the problem that is besetting the American population. There is a need for what the author said