Liberty From Machinery

Robotically, learning things being taught in school is not a bad thing at all. Following instructions, adopting a routine, and systematizing things are essential elements of skills acquisition, after all. But what is mostly lacking (which is very alarming) among most students and the general public as well is the interest or motivation to critically know, understand or comprehend, scrutinize, and even criticize established schools of thought. Being able to do just that is actually the end goal of education, and not just merely to give people a passport to the highest-paying job there is. People are very susceptible to subscribe to this self-defeating view that education is merely a tool. Hence, the need to further integrate liberal arts education.

To save current and future generations from falling prey to the capitalistic view on education, the role of liberal arts needs a lot of empowering, not just as a part of technical degree programs but as an independent field of knowledge. Its independence must also be made accessible for mass correspondence.

Although mostly hinged on *classical learning*, liberal arts is as progressive as technical courses. It continues to evolve and respond to the increasing complexities of modern-day scholastic learning and practical applications. To better understand the importance of liberal arts education, one has to look at the benefits it can provide. Liberal arts boosts the vitality of our mind and intellect. Pretty much like the muscles in our body, our mind needs to be exercised to master a particular area to aid for faster and better acquisition and utility of skills. Liberal arts exercises the mind's intellectual capacity by de-routinizing a person from a rather methodical functioning. Liberal arts does this by exposing the mind to limitless possibilities, enabling a person to think out of the conventional box. Moreover, it equips a person with a "mental grammar" enabling the mind to function in the sound structure of thought, knowledge, and intellectual movement creating the habit of organized thinking and rational analysis. Liberal arts trains us to think on our own even before being prompted to merely respond to external stimuli. It leads us to forming our own understanding of the world and not just mere subscribers to others' philosophies.

Also, liberal arts education enables us to see things as a whole. It ties up in good harmony the discrete, specialized skills from technical areas into a beautiful whole. It does this by being an impetus for our mind's formation of a universal map giving us a panoramic view on how the world and the life works. This universal map organizes our thought processes, giving us the ability to discern things according to their relations, hierarchies, and systems.

The academe has always been the most ardent believer on how important liberal arts is. Established institutions of higher learning have responded accordingly upon recognition of the widening commercialized view on education. As bastions of holistic education, they have made their liberal arts programs accessible in the internet. These liberal arts programs being offered as college course online attempt to equalize the domineering presence of technical courses in the web. Various liberal arts-advocate colleges and universities have come to accept the extremely high dependence of people to the internet and saw this as a good opportunity to further their advocacy of better minds and soul for the people.

The University of Phoenix Online, Saint Leo University, The Art Institute Online, The Strayer University, and Penn State Online offer online liberal arts degree with focus on general studies. The University of Illinois Online offers three courses under their liberal arts program for undergraduate students. Bigger universities like Walden University, Capella University, University of Phoenix, Kennedy western University, Boston University Online and many others offer both undergraduate and graduate liberal arts degrees. The majors or areas of specialization are really as varied as humanistic interests. There is African Studies, Philosophy, American Studies, Asian Studies, French, Archeology, Hispanic Studies, German Studies, Political Science, Philosophy and Law, Theater Arts, Sociology, World Literature, Classical Literature, Ethics, English, Women Studies, and a lot more. Other links to more institutions and online education options are available at www.universities.com.

All these institutions are one in offering the greater public the chance to have a holistic education. They collectively and independently advocate the advancement and greater appreciation to the worth of liberal arts education amidst the increasingly technological and technical world.