A Liberal Arts Degree: Gambling Your Time and Money?

            Choosing the right path in higher education proves a difficult task. Colleges offer a wide variety of degrees, yet the liberal arts degree possesses an interest for everyone in one way or another. More over, one must note that the liberal arts degree and the liberal arts education are two different things: the degree bases its studies off of many categories, while the education focuses on one particular subject (for example, microbiology) while also having a broader range in general studies. The liberal arts degree has a variety of requirements and students find some courses engaging and others repulsive. A key factor that makes the degree so appealing resides in the wide variety of experiences and knowledge it has to offer. Through those experiences, many even find the career choice they have longed to discover. As a student seeking a college education, I have considered pursuing a liberal arts degree for these very reasons; however, I must not only consider the positive outcomes, but also the drawbacks of this type of degree, as well. Although a four-year liberal arts degree offers a wide variety of experiences and knowledge, this particular degree can be expensive and time-consuming.

Fig. 1 “Quote on Liberal Arts.” 

Photo Credit: comerecommended, 16 Apr. 2014.

            The liberal arts degree appeals to the interest of many students because of the variety of experiences and expansive knowledge the degree offers. This comes from the many different courses the major requires. For example, according to the “Liberal Arts Distribution Requirements” article, the degree requires courses in writing, in math, in natural sciences, in humanities, and in global awareness (1-2 of 3, ¶ 1-14). Any student can acquire a greatly diversified intellect from these many categories. In addition, Sanford Ungar, a liberal arts college president, voices his argument for the degree in his essay, “The New Liberal Arts.” In his essay, he explains how the degree is not useless – how many people believe – but that it is a degree that helps someone adapt to change in the economy. He writes, “it is far wiser for students to prepare for change – and the multiple careers they are likely to have – than to search for a single job track that might one day become a dead end (Ungar, 190-191).” From this statement, it can be concluded that the broad range of knowledge and variety of experiences that the liberal arts degree offers allows students to adapt to sudden changes in the economy and their careers – through this view, the liberal arts degree can be seen as Gollum’s “precious” in the world of college education. The quote in Figure 1 agrees with Ungar’s notion that the liberal arts degree makes a student flexible in the job world. However, towards the end of his article, Ungar unmasks a downside to liberal arts: the unreasonable “runaway costs” (195). The liberal arts degree offers invaluable knowledge and diverse experiences; however, Ungar convicts the liberal arts of being expensive which leads me to my next point that the liberal arts degree may not be worthwhile because it is overpriced.

Fig. 2 “Textbook costs on the rise.” 

Photo Credit: Funpopper, 16 Apr. 2014.

            The four-year liberal arts degree costs an incredible amount of money, especially for those wishing to go beyond this particular major and going for something more career-focused. In a scholarly article titled “Making College More Expensive,” Gary Wolfram revealed that the college price tag has increased drastically. He exposed that the rate of increasing college prices has soared past the rate of the economy’s inflation. Over a ten-year time period – from 1994/95 to 2004/05 – he discovered that college prices skyrocketed fifty-one percent for public schools and thirty-six percent for private schools (Wolfram, 5, ¶ 17). These surging college prices spread like an epidemic, a plague that keeps dispersing and you hope it will cease and hope that you won’t be affected, but in reality it just keeps infecting the public and no one can escape it (except, in this case, those who don’t go to college). In addition, Figure 2 gives a visual of the contrast between exploding college prices and inflation. Such a dramatic increase in price exposes the outrageousness of college expenses. More over, to assume that students can afford attending college for more than a four-year time span (the time it would take to earn a liberal arts degree) at such absurd prices is preposterous. Pursuing a liberal arts degree may not be worthwhile after one considers the high cost of college and also the great amount of time it takes.

Fig. 3 “Family House.” 

Photo Credit: umamahlearningacademy.blogspot, 16 Apr. 2014.

Many students who are opting for a career-based education do not want to pursue the liberal arts degree because it consumes much of one’s time. Students do not want to spend four years pursuing the degree and then have to continue their college education another two to four years. They want to start a new chapter in their lives – particularly a family life. College education interferes with buying a house and starting a family. For example, my mother wanted to pursue a degree in elementary education. However, after she had me, along with a full-time job, raising my older brothers and me demanded more time and effort than she could manage and she felt obligated to quit. The education, full-time job, and raising a family overwhelmed her. So, if one wanted to have a degree, but also raise a family, he or she would have to put off one thing until it was accomplished before starting on the other. If not, one of their responsibilities would suffer. If one would choose to pursue a career-focused degree, having to obtain the liberal arts degree would consume too much of one’s valuable time and interfere with starting a family.

            The liberal arts degree offers expansive experiences and invaluable intellect because of the many diverse courses it requires. However, obtaining a degree has some major drawbacks. The task of acquiring the degree costs an exceptional amount of both time and money. For those seeking a college education, the liberal arts degree presents itself as something to consider. However, after viewing these consequences, not everyone will find this degree worth its price. I appreciate and value the knowledge offered by the liberal arts education (as mentioned before, the liberal arts education differs from the degree in that it focuses on one subject). However, the liberal arts degree consumes too much of ones time and money – I feel this way, my mom felt this way, but not everyone feels this way. Some people do find the liberal arts degree worthwhile. One must ask himself or herself whether or not to gamble the time and money the liberal arts degree requires.

Words Cited

“Liberal Arts Distribution Requirements.” Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences. School of Arts and Sciences, Rutgers. 2014. Web. 6 Apr. 2014.

Ungar, Sanford. “The New Liberal Arts.” “They Say / I Say”: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing with Readings. Eds. Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein, Russel Durst. 2nd ed. New York: W. W. Norton, 2012. 190-191, 195. Print. 6 Apr. 2014.

Wolfram, Gary. “Making College More Expensive: The Unintended Consequences of Federal Tuition Aid.” Cato Institute 531 (2005); 5. Policy Analysis. Web. 7 Apr 2014.

Sacrificing Health for Convenience: Is Fast Food as Bad as People Claim?

Fig. 1 "Fast Food Advertisement." Photo Credit: Picz.in, 1 Mar. 2014.

            We all know how fast food tempts us with its delicious and convenient appeal. Fast food restaurants advertise the deliciousness of their food by focusing on the texture and flavor of the food in commercials or posters. However, the main reason why fast food tempts us so easily seems to arise from its convenience. This convenience comes from its fastness, cheapness, and the fact that you don’t have to cook it yourself. Yet, despite all these positives, an underlying guilt seems to appear after eating fast food. This results from the belief that fast food has harmful affects on a person’s health. Yet, when you look at the contents of the food – meat, tomatoes, lettuce, and onions – it does not appear so terrible. Is fast food really as bad as many people claim? Such a question needs to strike us as important because if fast food causes harmful affects on our bodies, many of us need to reevaluate our diets. Fast food can negatively affect a person’s health in many ways; however, as long as the rest of our diets balance out the bad, the more convenient route may not pose as such a great threat.

Fig. 2 "Too much Omega-6." Photo Credit: kimberlysnyder.net, 8 Mar. 2014.

One Clinical Nutritionist, Kimberly Snyder discusses the negative effects fast food can have on a person’s health in her blog post titled “The Long-Term Effects of that Fast Food Meal.” In it she explains that people should avoid eating any fast food because of the harmful effects that it has on the body and because those effects will stick with you. For example, the overuse of antibiotics in livestock can lead to resistant bacteria and can deplete good bacteria in the stomach. In addition, the high sugar content in fast food can lead to aging skin and even cataracts. Fast food also harbors an over abundance of omega-6 fatty acids, which in high quantities leads to cancer, blood clots, and weight gain. However, she says if you must eat fast food, consumers must avoid certain items such as double meat burgers, white bread, and heavy salad dressings (Snyder, 2-6 of 22). Equipped with the knowledge of how these things can affect our bodies, we can fully comprehend why Snyder passionately stands against consumption of fast food meals.

Fig. 3 "Cows and Hormonal Injections." Photo Credit: youthxchange.net, 1 Mar. 2014.

Yet, even though Clinical Nutritionist Kimberly Snyder allows the occasionally fast food meal, some people would think that eating fast food falls in a category of off limits. One of these people, Richard Stossel, in his article, “Why You Should Avoid Fast Food at All Costs” writes about the harmfulness of fast food. The article first emphasizes the harm it has on animals and later points out how we consume sick and ill animals, which in turn negatively affects us. The Fast Food Industry injects plenty of antibiotics and hormones in the animals it uses to produce meat (2 of 6, ¶ 11, 14; Snyder 2 of 22). Kimberly Snyder also talks about this in her blog post I previously mentioned (2-3 of 22). I already talked about the harmful effects of antibiotics, but not hormones. Stossel stated that hormones put stress on the bodies of livestock causing them to lose more health benefits they potentially had. The Fast Food industry also harms animals by putting them in poor, dirty environments and in tight quarters. Such an environment causes the meat in animals to lose its health benefits. It also poses as an unsanitary environment for processing meat (Stossel, 2 of 6, ¶ 8-14). By understanding the state of the animal’s health before butchering and quality of environment it lives in, we can see why Stossel suggests staying away from such harmful food at all costs.

Stossel, in his article, also discusses how industries over process their fast food meat. In fact, the article stresses this by explaining that scientists use chemicals to make the food seem fresher. The chemicals listed in the article gave freshness by adding smell or color to the food (Stossel, 3-4 of 6). Michael Pollen also brings attention to the need to stay away from over processed foods in his essay titled “Escape from the Western Diet.” In the essay, he states, “we should simply avoid any food that has been processed to such an extent that it is more the product of industry than of nature (Pollen, 437-38).” These two authors clearly saw the importance of staying away from over-processed foods, the main ingredient of fast food. So, we can see that better options exist than fast food.

Processed foods pose a threat to our bodies because of all the unnatural ways industries grow livestock. The animals contain many antibiotics and hormones that reduce the health benefits consumers would potentially have received. Processed foods cause harm to our bodies because they contain an over abundance of additives such as sugar and omega-6 fatty acids. For these reasons, we need to reduce the amount of fast foods we eat and focus on more healthy alternatives. Some people, like Richard Stossel, argue that we should never eat such foods. Yet, there comes a time when we have no other alternative – such as when we travel or shop – that we need the convenience that fast food has to offer. As long as we have more healthy foods to balance out the terrible foods provided by the fast food industry, our bodies will recover from the harm fast food causes.

Works Cited

Pollan, Michael. “Escape from the Western Diet.” “They Say / I Say”: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing with Readings. Eds. Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein, Russel Durst. 2nd ed. New York: W. W. Norton, 2012. 434-40. Print. 14 Feb. 2014.

Snyder, Kimberly. The Long-Term Effects of That Fast Food Meal [Infographic]. Kimberly Snyder’s Health and Beauty Detox. 2014. Web. 1 Mar. 2014.

Stossel, Richard. “Why You Should Avoid Fast Food at All Costs.” Natural News. Truth Publishing International, 6 Jan. 2009. Web. 1 Mar. 2014.

My Loves and Hates of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

With every game franchise, there are those particular games that are loved more than others. Some people have their favorites out of a series and one of my favorites of The Legend of Zelda series is Skyward Sword. However, this is not a purely loving relationship. There are some parts of the game that make me very irritable with the producers. Yet, even with the negatives of this game, the positives are so numerous they outweigh the negatives. Overall, this is an amazing game.

Fig. 1 A comparison of Twilight Princess and 

Skyward Sword graphics. Photo Credit: IGN thread boards

One thing that I was disappointed with was the graphics. IGN – a leading source for entertainment and games – may have given it an excellent review, but after playing Twilight Princess, I’m not sure I agree with them (Drake). I tend to favor graphics that lean toward realism; it draws a player into the game and makes them forget that they are actually playing it and, in doing this, it allows the player to become the hero of the story. In my opinion, Twilight Princess did an excellent job of that and I was disappointed when Skyward Sword did not follow suit. Instead, it went with a more childish appeal.

Along with the graphics, another item that I did not like about this game is some of the boss fights, particularly The Imprisoned (for those who do not know, a boss is an important antagonistic character that the player must fight). Not only were the fights cumbersome, but you had to do relatively the same fight THREE TIMES. I am not the only one who hated fighting The Imprisoned. It was rated number 8 on SrewAttack!’s Youtube video “Top 10 WORST Zelda Bosses” (SrewAttack!).

Fig. 2 Link practicing the different angles of swinging

 a sword for the player to become accustomed to it. 

Photo Credit: digitaltrends.com

Fig. 3 Link displaying his running ability. 

Photo Credit: tumblr

If there is one thing that makes up for the previous disappointments, it would be the controls. Skyward Sword is played on the Nintendo Wii counsel and it uses a motion-sensitive remote, which allows the player to swing the remote as though you were swinging an actual sword. On top of that, the producers took it one step further and had it where the sword swings in the same direction that you do. The controls easily allow someone to become submersed or absorbed in the game and it makes for a wonderful gaming experience. Another feature unique to the game’s controls is Link’s ability to sprint, which is unlike any other game in the franchise so far. It allows Link to have an extra physical ability (a short sprint up a wall) and adds some speed in traveling short distances.

When it comes to long-distance traveling, Link’s means of transportation took an unexpected turn in Skyward Sword. In almost every game of The Legend of Zelda franchise, Link has a horse to travel great distances. One thing that is unique about Skyward Sword, however, is that instead of a horse, Link has a giant bird! Technically called a Loftwing, the bird is a bit tricky to maneuver at first, but once you get the hang of it, flying on the Loftwing provides plenty of fun.

Fig. 4 Link and his loftwing. Photo Credit: Maquina das Artes

Needing a Loftwing to travel would be unnecessary if the setting wasn’t large, which leads me to another fantastic aspect of Skyward Sword: the vastness of its setting. In my experience of gaming, I always appreciate a feature like that. Many others feel the same. Bissell wrote about the importance of a large setting in his article “Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter.” He expresses that as gamers, we lean toward something big enough to become submerged in. We love a massive universe that we can explore with countless possibilities (349-61). It seems that as new games arise, the setting becomes larger and larger. And with each game we finish, our desire to have an even larger setting becomes greater.

Besides the vastness of the setting drawing players into the game, people are also drawn to being able to play the role of the hero. Americans have the desire, as emphasized in the American Dream, to draw on their individualistic nature and make their own path where they play as the “hero” in their own life. To make it to the top by our use of determination, motivation, and a drive to be the best can be translated into the feelings that a player might receive when playing a video game such as Skyward Sword. Video games help support our need to “play the hero” and “save the princess” whereas in our own lives this is not possible.

It is easy to see that the positives in this game greatly outweigh the negative aspects. The graphics may not be my favorite, but they leave gamers with in imaginative way of seeing the world. The game is filled with many puzzles that engage the mind, allowing one to develop their creative-thinking skills. These features, among others, allow a gamer to become submersed in a game and escape the real world for a time to become an “alter ego.” They are roles that we can slip into that help bring out the desires and emotions that we want in our lives. These things are not just unique to Skyward Sword; they can be seen in other games of the franchise as well. The Legend of Zelda franchise has given gamers a wonderful gaming platform to experience and interact with.