and here's my story.

hm. officially "liberal studies: modern period" is "a study of the causes and consequences of the Enlightenment - the movements, revolutions, reactions and revivals which led to and derived from it. Appreciating the elements of Western Culture that preceeded the Enlightenment, the student will have the opportunity to trace the progress of liberalism, nationalism, romanticism, socialism and evolutionary theory. From this intellectual basis, the student will have the opportunity to engage contemporary discussions about post-modernity, pluralism, and the prospects for achieving a global cultural system."

i got that from the ids website. i'd quote it, but since this is a blog, i don't think i have to. to shorten that definition, i'm getting a classic liberal education (or as cynthia called it, a classic harvard education. i like that one better. it sounds smarter.) in my words, i'm getting to take a lot of cool history, literature, philosophy (and religion), political science, and of course ids classes that are combined in some way shape or form to give me a better or broader understanding of the world around me. alexander meiklejohn mentions the idea of teaching intellignence versus some main idea or trade. that's what i'm doing in getting a liberal education. i'm becoming (or at least trying to) a little bit more intelligent, or well-rounded, if you will. what i'm specifically trying to avoid is completing my undergraduate career knowing how to do business, how to communicate, the specifics of american literature, or exactly how political systems in the united states work.

one time, i heard some one describe his concentration (also liberal studies: modern period) a cop out. i disagree. i kind of think that what's wrong with higher education is that it is so major driven and that people strive to finish in four maybe five years with specific knowledge about a specific thing that they can specifically use for a specific job. that must be comforting to them, but its comforting to me that i am going to graduate in four maybe five years having taken cool classes, read cool stuff, and really just learned a whole lot more about, well, everthing. college was like that once. its not anymore.

but i digress...

all of that being said, i'm going to move on to the post-graduation stuff, because that's really on the top of my mind at all moments of my life right now. i'm currently waiting to hear back from the university of maryland at college park b/c i want to get my masters in college student personnel (ie i wanna be one of those geeky touchy feely student affairs people when i grow up). eventually i want to get my phd in it too, along with some greater understanding (b/c naturally i'll need to publish) of education policy. THAT way, i can continue with my quest to make a liberal education, the very one i am getting (shit, this makes me sound elitist) the norm once again in higher education, or perhaps just a little bit more popular. at the very least i want to work in some kind of residential college setting (much like watauga) that has a liberal curriculum at its core.

since my major is so varied, i haven't taken any courses that really stick out in my mind as specifically liberal studies, but some good books i'd reccomend are:
the experimental college by alexander meiklejohn
any book about the history of american higher education
or one i haven't read yet, but am excited to: academic keywords: a devil's dictionary by cary nelson and stephen watt