Critical Thinking Example on the Article The Value of a Liberal Arts Education

Andy Chan, a blogger, in his article the value of a liberal arts education, January 25, 2010, asserts that many employers go for liberal arts graduates for employment due to their communication, interpersonal, creative and analytical thinking skills unlike what many people believe. The author goes ahead to tell of what he was able to do with his Bachelor of Arts; first, he got himself a job in corporate finance at the largest real estate company in America, second, he attended Stanford business school, third, he started, built and expanded a company that stores business files and records, fourth, he sold the company and got himself engaged in non-profitable community organizations, fifth, he founded and managed a leadership and renewal program for non-profit executive directors and finally, he became the chairman of a local foundation that dealt with local development issues. He includes a commencement speech by Steve Jobs in 2005 at Stanford bridge and uses the analogy to talk about three key issues which include: the purpose of a college education and what liberal arts is all about, the disadvantage of focusing on college as a technical education experience and how liberal arts approach to college education can help students get some of the answers to important questions in their education life. The author's targeted audience is the student population that is currently attending colleges, and he tries to develop a more personal relation with the students for his message to create an impact in their education lives in college.

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My response to the passage or rather a text is that complete satisfaction with what the author has to say. Being a student, the message the author offers gives a broader understanding of why we pursue our tertiary education. The liberal art approach of the college education makes one have a more precise understanding of what they want with their lives. And just as the author puts it, the liberal art approach develops a students capabilities, both rational and intellectual. I fully support the author's idea of liberal art approach for college education as it is advantageous and helpful to the students even as they prepare to take on the life after college.

The author uses a case study of himself in the text to explain some of the advantages of liberal art approach of a college education. This is seen where he goes ahead and tell us of his career life and because of the liberal art approach he took, none of those things he did ever cross his mind as he started his college education. The author still states the liberal art approach imparts skills that are integral to success in the broader world. He advises that one ought to like and love what he/she does because, in addition to happiness, it makes you successful. Whatever subject it is you are studying, make it act as a lens through which you view the world. This broadens you up and makes you meet with people who are exciting to work with probably because you might be interesting. According to the author, one would not go for a certain course just to get employment and so on but because it piques their interest and this makes them do it with much zeal eventually leading to their success.