Today, we might call some of these fields general education or general ed. Only a few of the initial liberal arts in medieval times are still considered liberal arts courses. Anything related to science or math is not a part of liberal arts studies. Further, music and the study of drama are often viewed as separate from the liberal arts.

When people get a four year bachelor’s degree in liberal arts, they have generally studied one of the following disciplines: history, literature, foreign languages, or philosophy. Related fields like journalism, political science, or women’s studies may comprise some liberal arts studies but are not considered degrees in liberal arts. A person who does complete a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts will also have some acquaintance with general education studies. Usually the first two years of college are composed primarily of general education requirements. However, liberal arts majors will spend their junior and senior years mostly studying the field in which they hold the greatest interest.

Taking liberal arts courses is also required for most people who would graduate college. A science major still must pass English, may be required to take a foreign language, and will probably study philosophy. The liberal arts major, on the other hand, goes beyond introductory courses to more intensive study.

Many wonder what can be done with a liberal arts degree and how it serves students who choose a liberal art as a major. Actually, many students with degrees in liberal arts are in high demand in entry-level positions in businesses because they usually have excellent communication skills. Many with liberal arts degrees do pursue teaching. A degree in English or History can also serve a person well who wishes to pursue studies in law.

It is true, however, that liberal arts studies do not always address the practical. For example, it may be interesting to know all about Socrates, but this rarely comes up as a job requirement. However, continued interest in liberal arts fields and the value of understanding human thought still is taught, written about, and needed. Liberal arts specialists may not become the best-paid employees in the world, but they do enjoy the every day process of engaging in inquiry about the way in which we live, write, and think.

The idea is to give you a well rounded base of knowledge so that you don’t just learn the core needs for your choosen education path.

There are seven of them: grammar, dialectic, rhetoric, arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy.

History

[edit] Definition

The term “liberal arts” is defined by the Encyclopædia Britannica Concise as a, “college or university curriculum aimed at imparting general knowledge and developing general intellectual capacities, in contrast to a professional, vocational, or technical curriculum. In Classical antiquity, the term designated the education proper to a freeman (Latin liber, “free”) as opposed to a slave. In the medieval Western university, the seven liberal arts were grammar, rhetoric, and logic (the trivium) and geometry, arithmetic, music, and astronomy (the quadrivium).

In modern colleges and universities, the liberal arts include the study of theology, literature, languages, philosophy, history, mathematics, and science.[1]

[edit] Artes Liberales

Artes Liberales[2] was the medieval and earlier nomenclature for the Trivium and Quadrivium (artes triviales and artes quadriviales), the education and training deemed suitable for free persons (Latin liber: free), as distinct from the artes illiberales for the less (or not) free, now broadly termed vocational education.

The Trivium, the artes sermocinales:

* Grammar, Rhetoric, and Dialectic (language, oratory, logic)

The Quadrivium, the artes reales or physicæ:

* Arithmetic, Geometry, Astronomy, and Music

[edit] Liberal arts colleges

Main article: Liberal arts college

Main article: Liberal arts colleges in the United States

Liberal arts colleges are institutions which place a particular emphasis upon undergraduate study in the liberal arts. Generally, a full-time, four-year course of study at a liberal arts college leads students to a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree. Liberal arts colleges have traditionally emphasized interactive instruction (although research is still a component of these institutions) and are known for being residential. They typically have a smaller enrollment, class size, and lower teacher-student ratios than universities. These colleges also encourage a high level of teacher-student interaction at the center of which are classes taught by full-time faculty rather than graduate student TAs (who teach some classes at Research I and other universities). Although the genesis for what is known today as the liberal arts college began in Europe, [3] the term is commonly associated with liberal arts colleges in the United States. Liberal arts colleges are found in countries all over the world as well.

Following completion of their undergraduate studies at liberal arts colleges, students often continue to graduate study in other institutions, such as professional schools (for instance, in business, law, medicine, or theology) or graduate schools.

[edit] References

1. ^ Liberal Arts: Encyclopedia Britannica Concise. Encyclopedia Britannica.

2. ^ The Seven Liberal Arts in the Catholic Encyclopedia.

3. ^ Harriman, Philip (1935). Antecedents of the Liberal Arts College. The Journal of Higher Education, Vol. 6, No. 2 (1935), pp. 63-71.

[edit] Further reading

* Blaich, Charles, Anne Bost, Ed Chan, and Richard Lynch. Defining Liberal Arts Education. Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts, 2004.

* Blanshard, Brand. The Uses of a Liberal Education: And Other Talks to Students. (Open Court, 1973. ISBN 0-8126-9429-5)

* Friedlander, Jack. Measuring the Benefits of Liberal Arts Education in Washington’s Community Colleges. Los Angeles: Center for the Study of Community Colleges, 1982a. (ED 217 918)

* Joseph, Sister Miriam. The Trivium: The Liberal Arts of Logic, Grammar, and Rhetoric. Paul Dry Books Inc, 2002.

* Pfnister, Allen O. “The Role of the Liberal Arts College.” The Journal of Higher Education. Vol. 55, No. 2 (March/April 1984): 145-170.

* Reeves, Floyd W. “The Liberal-Arts College.” The Journal of Higher Education. Vol. 1, No. 7 (1930): 373-380.

* Seidel, George. “Saving the Small College.” The Journal of Higher Education. Vol. 39, No. 6 (1968): 339-342.

* 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.

[edit] See also

* Great Books

* Master of Arts in Liberal Studies

* Doctor Liberalium Artium

* Renaissance Humanism

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Liberal arts

* The Seven Liberal Arts, Catholic Encyclopedia

* Philosophy of Liberal Education

* Liberal Arts at the Community College

* A Descriptive Analysis of the Community College Liberal Arts Curriculum

* The Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts

* Academic Commons

* CatholiCity: Catholic Encyclopedia

* CollegeNews.org: News from America’s Leading Liberal Arts Colleges and Universities