Perspectives on the Liberal Arts

Donald Kagan writes,  "Instead, I find a kind of cultural void, an ignorance of the past, a sense of rootlessness and aimlessness, as though not only the students but also the world was born yesterday, a feeling that they are attached to the society in which they live only incidentally and accidentally."

In my case, Donald Kagan is correct.  I do have a sense of aimlessness in my life, and that is precisely why the liberal arts education attracted me.  It allowed me to embrace my aimlessness, explore my never ending interests and passions, and assist me in narrowing down my path in life.  Kagan refers to this individualized, scattered structure of today's liberal arts education as it's "greatest shortcoming."  I would argue that it fits perfectly with our generation.  We need room to explore and understand how we can best utilize our skills.

I also find disagreement in Kagan's statement regarding our individualistic nature.  He says, "...today's liberal arts students come to college, it seems to me, bearing a sort of relativism verging on nihilism, a kind of individualism that is really isolation from the community."  With my experiences in the liberal arts, my motivations to explore my interests do not stem from solely finding personal fulfillment, but understanding where my talents meet the worlds needs.  I would argue that liberal arts students pursue this type of academic structure because they feel it would best prepare them to interact in their community.  So my apologies to Donald Kagan, but my generation has stronger altruistic values than he perceives.  Yes, we have been stated as being the most confident generation, but that confidence will allow us to achieve our goals we have for our society.