A true university education encompasses far more than the narrow, specialized study of a single discipline. Only through exploring the broad spectrum of liberal arts courses can students become truly learned.
It has been observed that a lot of well-known historical figures possess a well-rounded intellect, such as Van Gogh and Leonardo Da Vinci. They possess skills in various fields, from science to art and the humanities. Using their example, one could make an argument in favour of widening the courses taught in different disciplines, effectively making all students study a plethora of subjects. This is a complex area of discussion, and needs to be approached from different points of view, to come up with a holistic solution.
From a student's point of view, most of them have more specialised interests as they grow older. Indeed, that is the reason the current education system pushes students to study various subjects when they are younger, so that they are more likely to find and pursue their interests as they grow older. A university education, on the other hand, is where students tend to enter with a specialized interest in mind, and with a lower preference for trying out various courses. There is just a small fraction of students who take up interdisciplinary courses that cover a more eclectic range of topics. Even these courses tend to be unidirectional, with barely any that have equal focus on science and humanities. But should students also be made to learn liberal arts courses to fulfil a 'true university education'? A student may argue that subjects like sociology and history bored them back in middle/high school. Their interests tend to be more inclined towards the single discipline that they signed up to study. This could be an argument against the claims of a further 'encompassing' university education.
In the IITs, the most prestigious engineering universities of India, a majority of the students pursuing their B.Tech tend to take the mandatory humanities courses for granted, not focusing on them at all. They argue that it takes more time and effort to study a humanities course, and that they didn't pay for this. This may bring other things into question, like the teaching quality, but the professors of these courses are highly qualified, with several years of experience. If students are made to study liberal arts or the humanities without their interest, will they really learn? Forcing or pushing students to take courses may put these subjects on their transcripts, but does this form a 'true' university education, as argued? It would not be a great approach to force such courses, but with this stance, we may look to other ways to help students get a good education. It may be possible to have students learn more diverse topics without making them explore a whole field that they ruled out, in favour of taking the specialised courses that they do.
A more existential question to ask may be, "If students simply go ahead and study specialized topics, without much outside-knowledge, what is a true university education? Without compulsorily requiring students to broaden the span of their courses, how will they be well-rounded as a human being after they graduate?" Liberal arts courses could be offered as electives for students to take. The core courses of every discipline could have elements added to them that are more value-based, without fully deviating from the specialized topics themselves. A true university education is not one that is forced upon students; the well-roundedness of students comes about with a better university environment, one where the interlacing of subjects is embraced. Students could be given other avenues and ways to learn the kinds of things one would learn in a liberal arts course.
Hence, although a true university education covers far more than a single specialization, it does not mean that students' ability to be well-rounded comes about by exploring liberal arts courses. The other fields also have the ability to be taught in a value-based manner, without having students study liberal arts to gain knowledge. Thus, the claim made is false; students do not have to adhere to the liberal arts courses to become 'truly learned', there are other ways.
| Post date | Users | Rates | Link to Content |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-06-30 | Technoblade | 66 | view |
| 2023-06-24 | s.sim | 58 | view |
| 2021-04-22 | SadiaIqtidar | 58 | view |
| 2021-02-25 | deadFish | 65 | view |
| 2020-10-24 | amininilooffar | 45 | view |
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Comments
Essay evaluations by e-grader
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 3, column 113, Rule ID: SENTENCE_WHITESPACE
Message: Add a space between sentences
Suggestion: Tech
...jority of the students pursuing their B.Tech tend to take the mandatory humanities c...
^^^^
Line 3, column 296, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: didn't
...tudy a humanities course, and that they didnt pay for this. This may bring other thin...
^^^^^
Line 5, column 113, Rule ID: POSSESIVE_APOSTROPHE[1]
Message: Possible typo: apostrophe is missing. Did you mean 'students'' or 'student's'?
Suggestion: students'; student's
...e specialization, it does not mean that students ability to be well-rounded comes about ...
^^^^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, but, hence, if, look, may, really, so, thus, well, such as, on the other hand
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 30.0 19.5258426966 154% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 16.0 12.4196629213 129% => OK
Conjunction : 17.0 14.8657303371 114% => OK
Relative clauses : 18.0 11.3162921348 159% => OK
Pronoun: 55.0 33.0505617978 166% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 96.0 58.6224719101 164% => OK
Nominalization: 21.0 12.9106741573 163% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 3391.0 2235.4752809 152% => OK
No of words: 668.0 442.535393258 151% => Less content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.07634730539 5.05705443957 100% => OK
Fourth root words length: 5.08386624201 4.55969084622 111% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.86745195913 2.79657885939 103% => OK
Unique words: 299.0 215.323595506 139% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.447604790419 0.4932671777 91% => More unique words wanted or less content wanted.
syllable_count: 1052.1 704.065955056 149% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.6 1.59117977528 101% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 12.0 6.24550561798 192% => OK
Article: 10.0 4.99550561798 200% => Less articles wanted as sentence beginning.
Subordination: 5.0 3.10617977528 161% => OK
Conjunction: 7.0 1.77640449438 394% => Less conjunction wanted as sentence beginning.
Preposition: 13.0 4.38483146067 296% => Less preposition wanted as sentence beginnings.
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 28.0 20.2370786517 138% => OK
Sentence length: 23.0 23.0359550562 100% => OK
Sentence length SD: 39.9493780443 60.3974514979 66% => OK
Chars per sentence: 121.107142857 118.986275619 102% => OK
Words per sentence: 23.8571428571 23.4991977007 102% => OK
Discourse Markers: 2.96428571429 5.21951772744 57% => More transition words/phrases wanted.
Paragraphs: 5.0 4.97078651685 101% => OK
Language errors: 3.0 7.80617977528 38% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 18.0 10.2758426966 175% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 4.0 5.13820224719 78% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 6.0 4.83258426966 124% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.298714899677 0.243740707755 123% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0943319523809 0.0831039109588 114% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0721724311746 0.0758088955206 95% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.19279516767 0.150359130593 128% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0857814072109 0.0667264976115 129% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 14.4 14.1392134831 102% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 48.13 48.8420337079 99% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 7.92365168539 111% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 12.3 12.1743820225 101% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 12.48 12.1639044944 103% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 7.92 8.38706741573 94% => OK
difficult_words: 133.0 100.480337079 132% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 11.0 11.8971910112 92% => OK
gunning_fog: 11.2 11.2143820225 100% => OK
text_standard: 11.0 11.7820224719 93% => OK
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
Write the essay in 30 minutes.
Rates: 66.67 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 4.0 Out of 6
---------------------
Note: the e-grader does NOT examine the meaning of words and ideas. VIP users will receive further evaluations by advanced module of e-grader and human graders.
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 3, column 113, Rule ID: SENTENCE_WHITESPACE
Message: Add a space between sentences
Suggestion: Tech
...jority of the students pursuing their B.Tech tend to take the mandatory humanities c...
^^^^
Line 3, column 296, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: didn't
...tudy a humanities course, and that they didnt pay for this. This may bring other thin...
^^^^^
Line 5, column 113, Rule ID: POSSESIVE_APOSTROPHE[1]
Message: Possible typo: apostrophe is missing. Did you mean 'students'' or 'student's'?
Suggestion: students'; student's
...e specialization, it does not mean that students ability to be well-rounded comes about ...
^^^^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, but, hence, if, look, may, really, so, thus, well, such as, on the other hand
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 30.0 19.5258426966 154% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 16.0 12.4196629213 129% => OK
Conjunction : 17.0 14.8657303371 114% => OK
Relative clauses : 18.0 11.3162921348 159% => OK
Pronoun: 55.0 33.0505617978 166% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 96.0 58.6224719101 164% => OK
Nominalization: 21.0 12.9106741573 163% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 3391.0 2235.4752809 152% => OK
No of words: 668.0 442.535393258 151% => Less content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.07634730539 5.05705443957 100% => OK
Fourth root words length: 5.08386624201 4.55969084622 111% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.86745195913 2.79657885939 103% => OK
Unique words: 299.0 215.323595506 139% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.447604790419 0.4932671777 91% => More unique words wanted or less content wanted.
syllable_count: 1052.1 704.065955056 149% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.6 1.59117977528 101% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 12.0 6.24550561798 192% => OK
Article: 10.0 4.99550561798 200% => Less articles wanted as sentence beginning.
Subordination: 5.0 3.10617977528 161% => OK
Conjunction: 7.0 1.77640449438 394% => Less conjunction wanted as sentence beginning.
Preposition: 13.0 4.38483146067 296% => Less preposition wanted as sentence beginnings.
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 28.0 20.2370786517 138% => OK
Sentence length: 23.0 23.0359550562 100% => OK
Sentence length SD: 39.9493780443 60.3974514979 66% => OK
Chars per sentence: 121.107142857 118.986275619 102% => OK
Words per sentence: 23.8571428571 23.4991977007 102% => OK
Discourse Markers: 2.96428571429 5.21951772744 57% => More transition words/phrases wanted.
Paragraphs: 5.0 4.97078651685 101% => OK
Language errors: 3.0 7.80617977528 38% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 18.0 10.2758426966 175% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 4.0 5.13820224719 78% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 6.0 4.83258426966 124% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.298714899677 0.243740707755 123% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0943319523809 0.0831039109588 114% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0721724311746 0.0758088955206 95% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.19279516767 0.150359130593 128% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0857814072109 0.0667264976115 129% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 14.4 14.1392134831 102% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 48.13 48.8420337079 99% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 7.92365168539 111% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 12.3 12.1743820225 101% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 12.48 12.1639044944 103% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 7.92 8.38706741573 94% => OK
difficult_words: 133.0 100.480337079 132% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 11.0 11.8971910112 92% => OK
gunning_fog: 11.2 11.2143820225 100% => OK
text_standard: 11.0 11.7820224719 93% => OK
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
Write the essay in 30 minutes.
Rates: 66.67 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 4.0 Out of 6
---------------------
Note: the e-grader does NOT examine the meaning of words and ideas. VIP users will receive further evaluations by advanced module of e-grader and human graders.