Megan Holung
This class helped me to take a step back and understand what it really meant for me being educated at a small school with a liberal arts core curriculum. I have begun to question things a lot more to get a better understanding, and then I try to relate it to my education and how I can flourish in the future by using my knowledge.
Ashley Squairs
This class has really opened up my mind. I had no idea that coming into this class I would eventually feel this way. It just goes to show that those 'stupid liberal arts courses' that we are supposed to take have a purpose. They allow us to open our minds to new topics of thinking and discussing and allow us to ask questions and critically analyze.
Casey Holland
This class really brought out the 'higher education' aspect of a liberal arts education. These are the most important questions of life that we're approaching. I wasn't aware that formal education concerned itself with these kinds of questions and thoughts. It really opened my eyes. I believe we could safely say that we've exited the realm of mere instruction and ventured into an entire universe of self-discovery and reflection. It's a re-discovery of what it means to be human. The learning doesn't stop when you leave the classroom...it begins.
Morgan Lloyd
I had forgotten about the idea that we are in college and provided with a liberal education in order to become well-rounded people and learn. Everyone now seems to think we go to college to get a job. If education is thought about this way, appreciation for knowledge is lost and there is no point in even taking the courses. Liberal arts and higher education help one see the bigger picture in life and appreciate it all the more.
Meghan Plate
I was not at all sure what to expect from this class, but I quickly learned. The standing of the liberal arts throughout time periods helped me to gain a better understanding of the liberal arts curriculum we practice today. Prior to this course, I knew I wanted to learn not only to get skills for a job, but also to simply learn more. This course has helped me to explain my choice of studying at a liberal arts college. Also, I am able to relate and apply the teachings of the various books we have read this semester to my own life.
Adam Netsky
This class showed me various perspectives on the meaning and value of a liberal arts education (from the political perspective in Nussbaum to the notions of the divine and the sacred in Boethius and Dreyfus and Kelly). It also helped me to reflect on how the liberal arts and my philosophy major will help and inform me as I continue to learn new skills and develop my creative capacities.
Michelle Law
This class taught me how to appreciate learning for the sake of learning. Through the values of a liberal arts education, we can find true happiness and meaning in life. You will never find meaning from money or material things that may give you temporary gratification. Learning and critical thought are unique to human life and we should exercise them.
Olivia Martinez
From this class, I learned how having a liberal arts education provides meaning to your life. By taking classes in various subjects, we students are able to be well-rounded and understanding of many different areas of life. I’ve also learned the value of knowledge in terms of making moral judgments and decisions.
Sophie DeCastro
This class has opened my mind to all education and given me a new thinking process. I have come to realize that we need a liberal arts education to teach us how to act like morally good people. My education has guided me in deciding which career path I am choosing and knowing that I want to continue learning about the world we live in. Without the education we receive, we would not make advancements in the world or discover who we are.
Meleana Spera
From this class, I now have a greater understanding of doing things for the sake of doing things – with no results in mind. Through all the books we have read, it has become more evident that the fullness and richness of life is attainable by those wishing to attain it. This class has taught me to slow down and reflect, to contemplate my life and the things in it, to appreciate the world around me, knowing that divinity can be found nearly everywhere. This class has taught me things that are seemingly separate from the normal college class and curriculum and in that way they are the most important things in life.
Ryan Pallas
The class showed me how to be a just person through studying and through everything I do. It showed me the importance of a liberal arts education in a post-modern world and that truth and wonder are what is most important. We go to college not only to get a job afterwards, but to learn, and that learning is itself an end.
Mike Beckwith
As a liberal arts student, I always felt that the classes that didn’t relate to my major were a waste of time. After taking this class, I learned that a liberal arts education makes students well-rounded and gives them skills that go beyond their field of study.
Jacob Wampler
This class, as a whole, showed me that the age-old, tired cliché “knowledge is power” is true. Not that it gives one power, but that it itself is power. By having a love for learning, an appreciation for that which is meaningful in the world, our entire lives become “higher education,” never ceasing, always reaching for a more complete grasp of the world.
Genie Hamilton
Learning is not something that should be motivated by grades or by a desire for a good paycheck – it should be intrinsically motivated by a desire to live a meaningful life.
Nic MacLane
From this class, I have seen all kinds of things I used to take for granted – this planet, other people, awful experiences – all of these are meaningful. People are especially meaningful, for I cannot have a shared sense of awe at the magnitude of the universe with a hammer. My everyday objects are meaningful, though, especially my instruments, for without them, I would have no comrade with which to make music.
Justin Rister
This class showed me that the liberal arts have a larger scope than just a practical application. The liberal arts can improve the human experience overall by helping one live a more meaningful life.
"When I first signed up for this class, I was unsure what to expect. Through the study of philosophy, I have been able to view the world and education as a means to reach a higher intellectual level, therefore becoming a master of my art, and of life."
—Bre Melino