The Idea of a University stresses that a liberal education should encompass all disciplines such as reading, writing, math, science, technology, language, literature, social studies, physical education, public speaking, political science, anthropology, and so on. Studying these subject areas alone was not good enough in Newman's mind. He wanted us to be able to tie these concepts into real life applications. He also wanted us to use these subject areas inter-connectedly. Newman's focus is to create a world of thinkers who are self-sufficient. Newman believes that with a foundation in many disciplines allows the individual many options in becoming whatever he or she wants to. Newman explains; "Again, as health ought to precede labor of the body, and as a ma

n in health can do what an unhealthy man cannot do, and as of this health the properties are strength, energy, agility, graceful carriage and action, manual dexterity, and endurance of fatigue, so in like manner general culture of mind is the best aid to professional and scientific study, and educated men can do what illiterate cannot; and the man who has learned to think and reason and to compare and to discriminate and to analyze, who has refined his tastes, and formed his judgments, and sharpened his mental vision, will not indeed at once be a lawyer, or a pleader, or an orator, or a statesmen, or a physician, or a good landlord, or a man of business, or a soldier, or an engineer, or a chemist, or a geologist, or an antiquarian, but he will be placed in that state of intellect in which he take up any one of these sciences or calling I have referred to, or any other for which he has taste or special talent, with an ease, a grace, a versatility, and a success, to which another is a stranger".

In this world you never know what tool you will need to deal with an issue. No one tool will do the job for all situations. All situations in life will vary. Equipping yourself and knowing how to practically use that knowledge will offer freedoms that are unlimited.

Newman believes that unless students have a basic knowledge background, they will have a difficult time in figuring out how to make things work. For example, currently our technology has advanced us to the point that we now have the use of computers. If a person learns the basics of the different computer software packages, when the new software packages come out we are still able to use them. Sure, there maybe new adjustments however; all the basics of the software will be the same. I know from my own experiences that this is true. I started my learning experiences on a dinosaur word-processing softw

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Approximate Word count = 1269
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)