Just All of the Essentials

When I was college “shopping” a few years ago, I found that any Liberal Arts foundation would stress the importance of an Liberal Arts education. I thought it sounded nice and would look great on a resume, so I bought into it. At the time, I thought that the institutes were pushing Liberal Arts so they could boost enrollment, but after completing half of my college education at a Liberal Arts institute, I have found that the Liberal Arts education really is important.

So what exactly is a Liberal Arts education? Well, in simplistic terms, it is getting a little taste of everything with, of course, a concentration in one's major. The student, no matter what major, is required to take a few English classes, a fine art, a science, a math, a history, a religion, and so on. Liberal is often thought of being opposite of conservative, but I don't think in this instance that it really means that. I believe that, in this sense, liberal means more free; to have the freedom of an open-minded education instead of being confined to one subject matter.

Liberal Arts educations are not only beneficial, but essential. Most of the time education is viewed as being skill oriented or “learning” oriented. Skill oriented educations would be the ones focused on achieving a specific degree to work a certain job, such as in the medical field, engineering, or accounting. A “learning” oriented education would be one that is much more flexible, such as psychology, religion, or philosophy. However, there should not be such a distinction between the truth because for either education to reach its full potential, the two types of learning should be combined.

All subject matters- reading, writing, arithmetic, science, fine arts, communication, history, religion, philosophy, health, and physical fitness- are intertwined together. For example, one has to master reading before they can comprehend math word problems or read about history. Also, a student must understand math before they can learn chemistry or create proportionally correct art. That is why I am so glad I chose Gardner-Webb to complete my nursing degree, instead of going to a community college. In nursing, it is important to be able read the doctor's orders and instructions for medications. In addition, we need to be able to write well to document as well as communicate with the patient, other nurses, and doctors. It is essential to be competent in math to calculate drug doses. A nurse also needs to have a great grasp on cultures and religions so they can not only respect their patients, but connect with them. It useful for the nurse to understand psychology because it helps them to better understand why their patients are acting a certain way and how to respond therapeutically to them. The nurse, of course, needs to be master of science, health, and physical fitness. The list goes on, but it is fairly obvious that it is important to incorporate these liberal arts in all types of education.