Uses of a Liberal Education free essay sample

Both Mark Edmundson (â€Å"On the Uses of a Liberal Education†) and Gary Saul Morson (â€Å"Empathy with us†) see that college students have become lazy and seems to receive â€Å"an education worthy of the name. † Although both authors have some similarities in their ideas, they also have their own outlooks on what college students’ attitudes and practices show towards the liberal education. Edmonson’s views on college students is that they are lazy and really only want to take the classes that are easy with teachers who don’t really care is the students learn anything. He explains about the time his own students were given the opportunity to evaluate him and he bolted for the door as if it were time for recess in elementary school. Why did he do this? Because, even if he knew that his evaluations were in the hands of his students, they would all say that he was â€Å"just fine†. We will write a custom essay sample on Uses of a Liberal Education or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page He feels though, that his students deserve more, that his lectures and jokes weren’t taken to the level of depth he wished they would’ve. When Edmundson speaks about his previous student Joon Lee, he becomes saddened at the fact that most students he has now are more self-centered and only see the black and white aspect of things instead of the gray areas in-between. He has solid points when it comes to the fact that some students don’t seem to care about what they’re learning, as long as they get the grades they want. He definitely has a point about focusing more on school knowledge and less on sports and fraternities or sororities. Morson, on the other hand, agrees and also disagrees with Edmundson’s views. Morson agrees that nowadays students are more involved with themselves, careers, and materialistic items than school. He points out that some students attribute their unwillingness to learn to being bored in class. The professors kill the interesting topic, a theory one student called â€Å"condescension†. This is when the teacher uses Shakespeare, Tolstoy, or Milton against the students’ values. Morson shows that unless the teacher denounces the â€Å"effects of sexism, colonialism, or capitalism,† he is â€Å"progressive†. But if he speaks of heterosexuality too little, he is â€Å"reactionary†. Although Morson feels similar to Edmundson on most theories, he also shows his disagreement. When responding to Edmundson’s view, Morson chooses to also agree with fellow author Nussbaum, who sees the value of literature as â€Å"the narrative imagination[†¦]what it might be like to be in the shoes of a person different from oneself,† or as Morson refers to as a way to â€Å"identify† with others. He explains that even though his students are not â€Å"nineteenth century Russian orthodox aristocrats,† they are still able to associate with Anna Karenina’s hardships from within themselves. This shows that students are willing to learn and that even is the material’s difficult, students still take advantage and learn. Overall, both Edmundson and Morson have valid points and arguments about whether or not students are in class to learn or to â€Å"just pass†. In the end it’s whether the teacher is able to captivate his audience with the subject matter or not. Every student has the ability to learn and to expand their mind, but it’s the teachers’ job to make it an interesting enough class in order for anything to stick into their students’ minds.