Project 2 Major Exploration
Connections Table
FYS 110-C (Fall 2020)
Prof. Frank
| Topics/ Questions | Boyer (Approaches to interpreting/evaluating a major) | Scheuer/Ungar (Connections to Liberal Learning) | ___ENGLISH_______ Major Req.s |
| Career/Technical Training v. Liberal Learning | -“Students overwhelmingly have come to view general education as an irritating interruption– an annoying detour on their way to their degree. They all too often do not see how such requirements will help them get a job or live a life” (Boyer 217).-”About half the faculty said that undergraduate education in America would be improved if there were less emphasis on specialized training and more on liberal education” (Boyer 221). | -”A liberal education is not about developing professional or entrepreneurial skills, although it may well promote them. Nor is it for everyone; we need pilots, farmers, and hairdressers as well as managers, artists, doctors, and engineers. But we all need to be well-informed, critical citizens. And the liberal arts prepares students for citizenship in all three senses – civic, economic and cultural” (Scheuer 4). | -“The political science major emphasizes the development of skills in effective writing and speaking, as well as creative problem solving”. -“Our small classes and abundant individual attention from faculty give students ample opportunity to hone those skills”.-“The study of law involves many aspects of social life and integrates many fields of study. Judges and lawyers are expected to handle different litigations, ranging from social to medical, environmental and other applications. Thus, law schools encourage students to have diverse undergraduate majors”. |
| History/Tradition | -”the crisis of our time relates not to technical competence, but to a loss of social and historical perspective, to the disastrous divorce of competence from conscience” (224) | -“One of the traditional civic dimension, which embraces a range of activities such as voting and jury service, advocacy, volunteering, dialogue and information sharing, and other forms of participation in the public sphere” (Scheuer 4). | Learning outcomes: -“Have mastered essential facts relevant and necessary to the study of global political life. This involves a working knowledge of the key actors, structures, institutions and historical dynamics that constitute the contemporary political order. It also includes a broad familiarity with the historical roots of that order”.-”Have an informed sense of the historical dimension of the various political issues, developments, trends, theories and forms of inquiry relevant to the students’ interests”. |
| Social/Economic Implications | -“Students, in their search for a secure future, have read the signals all too literally, and the liberal arts have taken a back seat to the more practical, career-related training” “‘Employers recently have begun looking harder for liberal arts people” (Boyer 219).-”In response to marketplace demands, many institutions are offering narrow technical training and providing credentialing for occupations, devoid of rich intellectual content” (Boyer 223). | -”there is much concern about whether America is keeping up with CHina and other rising economies in the STEM disciplines” (Ungar 4)“Being a productive member of a community: doing something useful for oneself and for others, whether in a factory, farm, home, office, garage, or boardroom. It’s also about being a critical consumer and seeing the connections between political and economic spheres” (Scheuer 4). | Learning Outcomes: -”Be able to conduct sound and rigorous social inquiry using a variety of methodologies and techniques”.-”Be able to compete successfully for placement in graduate programs or employment relevant to the field of study”. |
| Ethical/Moral Issues | -”Specialists must make judgments that are not only technically correct but also include ethical and social considerations. And the values professionals bring to their work are every bit as crucial as the particularities of the work itself” (225) | -”The overall goal is to foster vibrant and prosperous communities marked by fairness, inclusion, and (where critical thinking comes in) intellectual rigor” (Scheuer 4). | “Have an enlightened understanding of the multicultural nature of global (but especially American) political life.” |
