First, I would like to apologize because I didn’t realize that our professors needed these by Friday. I thought it just needed to be done before class Tuesday. I understand if I cannot receive a grade or if my grade will be lessened because of it’s tardiness, but I’m doing the assignment anyway.
The Wikipedia definition of a liberal arts school is pretty vague, saying that a liberal arts school teaches general knowledge as opposed to a professional or technical school which emphasizes on specialization. With this definition, I would have to say, that I don’t believe Converse can be considered a liberal arts school. We in the Petrie School of Music definitely have a very specific set of courses. Our days revolve around music, and not much else. We do have our GEP courses, which insure our liberal arts education, but for the most part, our studies are very focused on our intended majors. I also believe that this holds true for not only the PSoM but the rest of the school as well.
The question is asked, why does a music student need to take these GEP’s? Why can’t we just focus on our music degrees? I think that taking other classes, such as Botany or Philosophy, can help us to always keep an open mind. It could show us the other subjects we maybe interested in so if one day we wake up and can no longer do music we have an idea of what we can do instead.
I also believe that Converse’s teaching style and classroom size are unlike most other liberal arts schools. The teaching is far more one-on-one than in a large liberal arts college because we don’t have huge classes. We can have more of our questions answered in class and make sure we truly understand the information, unlike other liberal arts, do-it-yourself, colleges. Converse College truly is the coupling of a liberal arts school and a professional college.
Believe it or not, Petrie School of Music's professional degree programs require us to take a relatively large percentage of non-music classes.
ReplyDeleteWhen I talked to an Oberlin Conservatory representative last fall, she said Oberlin Conservatory only lets music majors take about 5 non-music classes OVER ALL FOUR YEARS - unless you decide to enroll in their 5-year, dual degree program which lets you get both a Bachelor of Music from the Conservatory and a Bachelor of Arts from the College of Arts and Sciences.
So the roughly 30% of liberal arts, non-music classes we can take as Petrie School of Music students is generous.
Some food for thought: CONVERSE is indeed a liberal arts institutions. It strives to create well-rounded individuals that have a variety of experiences and interests and a deep knowledge of many different subjects. THE PETRIE SCHOOL is a professional school, which strives to create skillful individuals that excel in a single subject--music--with many facets--performance, history, theory, etc. YOU are currently enrolled in both.
ReplyDeleteI know that it seems that you're just in the Petrie School at the moment, but you'll have a wider variety of classes as your four years progress. Our hope is that you'll begin to make connections between your GEP classes and your music courses.
Oh, and the next time you're unsure of when something is due, check out the course's syllabus. It's almost always there.