Well Rounded Person

1042 Words5 Pages
“The Goal of Liberal Arts” The Well-Rounded Person: RP2 The term well-rounded doesn’t necessarily have a definite definition. Characterizing someone as well-rounded depends upon personal views and outlooks. In the essay The Goal of Liberal Arts: Continual Education for all of Us, Ralph Hickman delineates the goals of a liberal arts education. The question posed by Ralph Hickman is, “by earning a liberal arts education does this make you a well-rounded person?” Different people with different backgrounds may or may not agree with Hickman’s stance on what a well-rounded person is. I believe that a well-rounded person is a person with knowledge beyond a liberal arts school containing traits of values learned throughout experiences beyond a classroom. On the other hand, I contend that a person can never actually become entirely well-rounded. One must acquire the title of a well-rounded person by the process of skills mastered throughout their lifetime. It is a never ending process to become well-rounded because a person is always changing and being put into different circumstances. Your morals, upbringings and values can define personal well-roundedness. The knowledge of which you are continually acquiring can be a reflection of well-roundness depending on how you choose to apply it. A liberal arts degree is just a small stepping stone to the path of becoming a well-rounded person. In Hickman’s essay many essential points came up about the goals of a liberal arts education. Hickman say; “the concept of well-roundedness seems to serve as a paradigm for the essential goal of education.” With this being said, it is believed that by attending a liberal arts university and receiving knowledge from all different fields that one becomes well-rounded. In reality though, when do we know when ones’ education is fully complete? Does completing education in a liberal arts

More about Well Rounded Person

Open Document