This post invites responses, video and otherwise, about how your education has shaped who you are. Please join the discussion by commenting or posting a video of your own.
In the video I talk briefly about the impact my study abroad experience in Vienna, Austria in 1989 had on me. I then ask you how your education changed who you are.
On Friday, January 22nd, I headed to 402 Burrowes with other students and faculty in anticipation of seeing author Alicia Partnoy discuss her works and her past as an Argentinean prisoner of war. In her talk, “From Prison-Writing to YouTube: Testimonial as Tools for Survival,” Partnoy recounted her capture by the Argentinean army in 1977 for publicly opposing the government and their policies. After being locked up with hundreds of other female prisoners in a 9×9 meter cell in a prison called La Escuelita, Partnoy began to write poems, later published in her poetry anthology Revenge of the Apple, as a means of building what she calls “a bridge of solidarity” between her and her fellow prisoners. The sense of community formed among the female prisoners is one of the reasons Partnoy refers to literature as a “tool for survival.”
Partnoy is a huge part of the movement towards gaining recognition and demanding action for the disappearance of Argentineans that she says still occurs today. When asked why she felt it was so important for her to be a part of this cause, Partnoy answered, “We in academia can speak for others because we have the authority.” As an English major, I couldn’t have agreed with this statement more. What is the point of building a reputation as an author if not to speak for those who aren’t in a position to communicate their problems? This talk led me to think about how different our lives as Americans would be if our rights were not protected by the Constitution, and if we instead had to risk our safety to convey our thoughts.
Partnoy also discussed YouTube as a more democratic form of testimonial, which led me to believe that YouTube will play a large role in future testimonials. It is on YouTube, after all, that you can truly express yourself with little threat of censorship. And what better way to reach the masses about important social issues than through something as universal as YouTube?
One of the highlights of the Fall 2009 semester was the celebration of 100 years of Liberal Arts education at Penn State.
Edwin Erle Sparks, the 8th President of Penn State, established the College of the Liberal Arts in 1909 by bringing art and mathematics together with the School of Language and Literature and the School of History and Political Science. (For more on our history, see the CLA website.)
As we begin our second century, it is perhaps fitting to pause a moment to consider: how will liberal arts students, faculty, staff, and alums commemorate the bicentennial anniversary of the College; what will have changed; and what will endure?
In considering this, I am confident of only two things:
- Education in the liberal arts will have been transformed by the digital media revolution through which we are living; and
- The values and abilities taught by the liberal arts – respect for diversity, ethical leadership, excellence in communication, and creative, critical thinking – will remain of decisive importance for a successful and meaningful life in 2109.
Let me end by inviting you to respond to any or all of the following questions:
- How has the liberal arts experience at Penn State changed over the past 100 years?
- What are the values, skills, and ideas that endure?
- How will an education in the liberal arts change in the next 5, 10, 50, 100 years?
- What forms of communication will the College community use to commemorate our bicentennial?
