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IN CLASS ESSAY

A university education enables us take the information learned from the world around us and include it in our everyday lives, helping us to carve our future. USF believes that a general education is one that "gives us knowledge about the world and those who live in it" and a university education is one that is "meant to accomplish many things" (Waugh). Indeed, general education is a part of the university education for it prepares one for his/ her entrance into the world of college and adulthood. A general education can be described as one that is attained through kindergarten, elementary school, middle school, and high school, where we obtain the basic knowledge about life and the building blocks to success. In a university, general education takes the knowledge that we obtained through these twelve years and apply it to the world around us creating and open door for new ideas and standards.

In the text, there are several assumptions which are made that bring the university to this philosophy about university education. Waugh states that the liberal arts are the “foundation” dating back to prehistoric times when these arts were first established, and is also a very important factor in understanding the entire university experience.She also states that that of a global union, bringing people of all types of races and ethnicities together and understanding the vast cultures of the world and seeing ourselves as one society. Also, things that happen around us all in our surroundings in some way effect the way things happen all round the world. The university education is also believed to help us better understand ourselves as individuals and how we fit into society. This fact is acknowledged by the sentence "We learn about ourselves as individuals and not just as citizens of the universe, as inhabitants of the earth, and as members of societies both global and local"(Waugh).Through required text and professional teaching provided by the university, we are able to take our new found knowledge as well as those obtained previously throughout our lives and proceed into the career aspects of life.

General education programs enable us to take what was learned in our previous years of school and take it to a more advanced level. For example, college math and composition are all branches of the basic knowledge learned from classes such as algebra and literature in high school.However, the repetition of these basic principles is an important part in the process of gaining new knowledge with better understanding. General Education classes are just the beginning of an entire system of learning which covers all factors of life. It is important to take the knowledge which you obtained through these general education classes and carry them with you along the path to ultimate success and graduation. Some may feel as though the knowledge of math or art or literature may not necessarily be of importance in whatever field of work they chose to enter. For example an art major may not choose to take specific math classes because of its insignificance in the field. However, he/she may not realize that math is critical in some art subjects, thus referring back to the argument that general education is critical in all aspects of university education. We may not notice how important college math and composition and art classes really are until we are challenged to face them in everyday life. Thus, general education is an important ingredient which universities must include in the mixture along with knowledge in order to produce a more expanded knowlegable experience.

Works Cited

Waugh, Joanne. General Education: A philosophy of a university education.