• Section One: The first section of this text is “What are the Liberal Arts?” which discusses the overall idea of the liberal arts education. Author Jeffery Scheuer explains that the term liberal arts can be a little misleading to what the education actually entails. While it does cover a broad spectrum of topics, it can be summed up as, “… ‘education based fairly and squarely on the nature of knowledge itself’” (Scheuer, n.d.). Rather than dumping a lot of information on students, the goal of the liberal education is to teach students to have a flexible way of thinking. It can also be split into two major elements which are critical thinking and citizenship. 
• Section Two: The second section is titled “Why Do We Need the Liberal Arts?” and focuses on the citizenship aspect of liberal arts education. Citizenship can be looked at in three different senses: contributions to society through civic duties, participation in cultural conversations, and being an active member in the community. In this section, Scheuer states that, “… we need pilots, farmers, and hairdressers as well as managers, artists, doctors, and engineers.” I think that this is a good point to bring up when discussing liberal arts education. While some argue that it’s too broad and you can’t find a good job with that form of education, you also have to keep in mind that there is such a wide variety of career paths in the world, and with a liberal arts education you are learning skills that will be beneficial in pretty much any job or aspect of life. At the end of the day, we all need to be well-informed citizens. 
• Section Three: Section three, “What is Critical Thinking?” goes into depth on the critical thinking element of liberal arts. Scheuer explains that this idea of critical thinking isn’t simple or easy to explain, and involves a lot of different concepts. Critical thinking includes, but is not limited to, skills such as, “…the ability to identify assumptions, draw inferences, distinguish facts from opinions, draw conclusions from data, and judge the authority of arguments and sources” (Scheuer, n.d.). This section also touches on critical inquiry in the liberal arts curriculum, which gets into far more advanced concepts such as thinking independently and thinking outside the box for example. 
• Section Four: This final section goes into more depth on critical inquiry and is titled “Importance of Critical Inquiry.” Scheuer explains that this form of critical analysis is reflected in many concepts that we run into everyday, including language. Scheuer also sums up in this section the main ideas and importance of liberal arts education. I think that one of the most important things to recognize when it comes to discussing liberal arts education is that, “Clearly there are no fixed rules governing this conversation; its signature is its openness” (Scheuer, n.d.). 

Connections: Between the Core Handbook, Ungars article, and this article, there are similarities and ways that they are all connected. The biggest connection I’ve noticed between all of these texts is the importance of the skills that are emphasized in the core curriculum and in liberal arts education. When looking back at Ungars piece, he talks about how those who study liberal arts are well informed on complexity and diversity  and learn problem solving skills. The main goal of a liberal arts education, that is consistently stated throughout both articles, is to keep an open mind and look at things from different perspectives. In the core handbook, these same skills are implemented into the curriculum. Under the core values statement section it says, “We emphasize civic understanding of the roles and responsibilities of the individual to the larger community.” This directly relates to the ideas embedded in liberal arts education, and is especially outlined in the second section of Scheuers article.

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