The Liberal Arts education is depicted in these selections as an over-all education for people that want to have good working and learning skills instead of a certain kind of skill.  While this may be true, I think that a lot of the time, the writers are coming up with excuses for Liberal Arts students not really knowing what they want to do when they graduate from college.  While there is nothing wrong with not knowing what one wants to do after college, I don't necessarily think that Liberal Arts is only for those who are clueless.

I, for instance, have pursued English because I want it to help me improve reading and writing skills for a specific purpose.  I intend to go to law school upon receiving my Bachelor's degree in English.  English is one of the top recommended majors outside of business for those interested in going to law school because it teaches how to read critically and argue a certain point clearly.  I think that, so far, I have mostly been given the kind of education that I expected.

The Mission Statement of the English Department states that "discussing literature...teaches the ability to articulate and defend ideas" (206).  This will certainly help any one of the many students that "the English Department sends...on to law school" (206).  So while the English Department is teaching skills such as learning and being adaptable, it is also teaching specific vocational skills to those who intend to use them.

Mathew Arnold argues that literature contains "the materials which suffice for thus making us know ourselves and the world" (197).  In his argument, he is trying to convince the reader that literature is the key to being a learner.  I absolutely agree that literature has these materials.  The materials I believe one needs to know oneself and the world are words.  Certainly anyone who can convincingly describe oneself knows him/herself better than someone who can not.  Knowledge of the meaning and proper use of words is the tool needed by anyone to be an apt learner.

One other thing that stuck out in my reading was in the Liberation from History section of the first excerpt.  I agree that a Liberal Arts education allows the student "freedom from the accidents of history" (191C).  Studying history in general is done so that the student may learn from the mistakes of those who came before us and improve on their methods.  Without the study of history, man would be stuck making the same mistakes over and over, and we would never advance as a society.  Therefore, the Liberal Arts education provides a student with something that is vital to anyone who wants to succeed: the ability to learn from the mistakes of oneself and others.  Without this talent, any student will be hopelessly unsuccessful in all endeavors.  If we can not learn from those that tried before us, we will not be able to solve any problems.

Liberal Arts education does turn students into ready workers for society in any field that involves communicating, but that is not its only purpose.  Liberal Arts can just as easily serve as vocational training to someone who is willing to view their work as such.  While being taught to learn, I am also being taught skills that will be valuable to me in my likely pursuit of a law degree.