Synaptic

Grace took a highly creative approach to her Liberal Arts Conversation paper in LAS 110. The assignment was to stage a conversation among the student and several writers from our unit on the liberal arts. The story Grace wrote is enjoyable in its own right, and she does a lovely job of weaving in evidence from her sources using paraphrases and footnotes. She clearly expresses the points of agreement and disagreement among the authors and imagines a true intellectual conversation.

-Valerie Billing

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The doors open and the flight attendant’s voice rolls over the intercom, “Boarding now first-class passengers.”

I wait patiently for her to call my boarding class as I flip through the novel Supermarket by Logic, but my mind seems too distracted to focus on the intensity of the pages in front of me. She calls zone three, and I stand up from the seat I was slouching in. I walk towards the attendant’s desk and let her scan my plane ticket. She scans the ticket and clears me to board the plane. Strolling through the tunnel to the plane doors I read over my ticket that states seat B23. I walk down the right side of the plane through the narrow aisle to find row B. I then realize my misfortune as I peer at my seat, one of four seats centered in between the two aisles. I sigh softly and toss my carry-on into the cabinet above my head and take my seat.

“Hello dearie,” an older woman says as she nears the row of seats.

I immediately stand to help her with her luggage. She sits in the seat next to me marked B24 and we both relax into the middle of the plane. I usually love flying when I am regularly seated next to the window, but today I am seated in the center. I pull out Supermarket again in an attempt to read as I see an older man with scruffy gray hair and glasses stopping to peer at his plane ticket.

“I believe this is my seat,” he announces, peering at me and the older woman on my right.

The woman scrambles to stand and introduces herself to the man, I follow to do the same, feeling a little timid and unmannered.

“Hello, my name is Eleanor Roosevelt,” She says, shaking his hand. I feel a bit uncomfortable as they shake hands; I struggle to introduce myself politely.

“Hi, my name is Grace Helgeson,” I say reaching my hand out towards him. He shakes my hand strongly, almost in a professional manner.

“Hello, I’m William,” he nods towards our handshake.

I take my seat as he packs his luggage and takes his seat next to mine. At this time, the plane is filling up quickly with other passengers and the growing sound of conversation. Other passengers fill the seats surrounding us as a small infant cries; my chair jolts as a mother and toddler sit behind me. The plane is almost at capacity as an elderly woman with short dark hair hurries to her seat, purse in hand, and sits next to Eleanor.

“Hello, my name is William Cronon,” the man sitting next to me says leaning forward to shake her hand. I thought it was oddly formal that he felt the need to introduce himself but I enjoyed the comforting atmosphere.

“I’m Adrienne Rich,” she responded in a sweet tone.

I suppose it was nice to have some familiarity in such a small row of seats. I relax back into my seat and push my headphones into my ears. I skim through a playlist on my phone as the seat-buckle sign lights up. I close my eyes and plop a piece of mint gum into my mouth preparing for take-off. I felt the movement of William next to me. I opened my eyes to see him pull out a book from his briefcase which was shoved between the back of the chair in front of him and his feet. He acquired a book titled Intersections: An Introduction to the Liberal Arts.

“Oh a Liberal Arts book, how wonderful!” Eleanor exclaims from beside me. I was surprised at first that I wasn’t the only one noticing William’s book.

“You know, a liberal education is not something any of us ever achieve,” William says peering at a page in the book (10).

“How so?” Eleanor says pressing her hand to her chin.

“In fact a liberal arts education is not a state, rather it is a way of living in the face of ignorance,” William says as he leans forward speaking to Eleanor.1

My mind attempts to wrap around the words that came out of his mouth. They were so powerful and well- spoken that I contemplated saying something professional in response, but what came out of my mouth was, “What exactly is a liberal arts education?” My attention turns towards Adrienne as she leaned forward past Eleanor to speak.

“I want to suggest that there is more essential experience past our education that you owe to yourself, one which depends on you, in all interactions with yourself and the world,” she announces.2

“Exactly Adrienne, I agree that a liberal arts education aspires to nurture the growth of human talent in the service of human freedom,” he responds.3

Thinking about my own education and my attendance at Central College back in Iowa, a liberal arts institution, I thought that maybe this conversation could use my younger insight.

“William, I agree, but I think modern times call for a new emphasis,” I say turning towards him. “Why do you think that many students today don’t choose or understand the importance of a Liberal Arts Education?”

William goes to speak but Eleanor interrupts before he gets the chance to respond,

“Perhaps because there are so many books and the branches of knowledge in which we can learn facts are so multitudinous today, we begin to hear more frequently that the function of education is to give children a desire to learn and to teach them how to use their minds and where to go to acquire facts when their curiosity is aroused.”4

“Isn’t that what education is about?” I say, feeling my eyebrows cross in confusion.

“Not always, Grace. A liberal education means more than just literal knowledge, it’s a responsibility to yourself,” Adrienne adds in. “It’s the responsibility you hold to yourself in not allowing others to do your thinking and refusing to fall for easy and shallow solutions to real problems.”5

I believed that education just meant education, and that was what “students” were supposed to do. But now sitting in this turbulent plane and listening to this conversation, I am beginning to question what the meaning of a liberal arts education really is. Can it be more than what I thought?

“I’d like to add that it is also about freedom,” William remarks, “Freedom in the sense of making a difference in the world around you.”

“William, that is a brilliant idea, I think that along with freedom comes service and civic duty,” Eleanor announces, “As citizens economic problems will often claim our attention, and the power to understand them is essential to wise solutions.”6

“I never thought about it in that sense Eleanor,” I spoke quietly towards her. “Considering in today’s society economic and political problems seem to have a big impact, I agree that being taught to think about all of these important issues really means more in our education.” And just like that, listening to them speak about different viewpoints of what my own education means, a light bulb went off in my head.

“This conversation is a heavy one,” I declare as they simultaneously all nod in agreement.

“I’d like to add, Grace, that a liberal arts education also made a breaking point for women as well,” Adrienne says speaking around Eleanor. “A liberal arts education taught me as a young girl to resist the forces in society which say that women should be nice, play safe, have low professional expectations, drown in love and forget about work.”7

“Adrienne, I understand exactly what you mean; when I was younger I suppose my own education was fairly typical, and I confess with some shame that at the age of twenty, when asked by an Englishwoman how our government functioned, I was as completely floored as if she had asked me to describe the political events on the moon!” Eleanor said laughing as she spoke.8

The plane began to rock in turbulence as I thought about my own education as a woman. I tried to put my own feet into the shoes of Eleanor and Adrienne in the history of education. Honestly, it was hard to even imagine a time when women and girls didn’t understand the political system or strive for high-paying jobs. My parents have always raised me to work hard and dream big, and that is what a liberal arts education means to me.

“I never thought of it that way,” I say. “I think that I was never truly aware of the privilege I’ve had coming from my own generation, and the opportunities I’ve had because women of the past have paved the way for me to receive a full education.”

“The liberally educated understand that they belong to a community whose well being is crucial to helping the community flourish by making other’s successes possible,” William says, disrupting my train of thought.9

I could tell that he didn’t have much to add in connection to the women’s movement, but I enjoyed his addition to the conversation.

“I just hope by the end of my own education that I will be as wise as you three,” I say smiling as I pick up my book again.

I could tell the conversation was ending, but their words lingered in the air surrounding us. I’d like to imagine the words floating around the plane, bouncing against the ceiling and floor until they magically made their way into another person’s mind. I felt young in this plane, sitting next to who I thought had to be the wisest human beings. I felt thriving as I felt their words inspire me somewhere deep in my soul. I could still feel the strong tone of Adrienne’s voice ringing in my ears and the softness of Eleanor’s voice. William, on the other hand, did not linger in my ears, but I still felt some recognition of his perspective.

The plane suddenly took a downward tilt. I peered past William’s shoulders to the nearest window and watched the clouds turn into a blur of white and blue. We shuddered to a halting stop and I waited patiently for the passengers to clear the plane. William was the first to reach the aisle, then Eleanor, lastly Adrienne. I stooped down to grab my book which had fallen to the floor during the landing. As I reached my hand down to grab the smooth cover of my book, my hand fell upon something much thinner and wider than my book.

I pulled the object out and my eyes read: Intersections: An Introduction to the Liberal Arts. I walked down the aisle to reach William and return the book but he was too far gone. For some reason, I felt the urge to open the front cover, and to my astonishment, there was writing on the inside of the cover. It read:

“Grace, may this book be your guide to a liberal arts education and your wings to freedom.”

I couldn’t help but smile as I stepped off the plane and walked to the luggage gate.

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1 Cronon 16
2 Rich 7
3 Cronon 12
4 Roosevelt
5 Rich 9
6 Roosevelt
7 Rich 7
8 Roosevelt 7
9 Cronon 15

Works Cited

Cronon, William. “Only Connect: The Goal of a Liberal Education.” Intersections: An Introduction to the Liberal Arts, Edited by Valarie Billing, Joshua Dolezal, Paulina Mena, Susan Wight Swanson, Tapestry Press. Ltd, 2020, pg. 10-17.

Rich, Adrienne. “Claiming an Education.” Intersections: An Introduction to the Liberal Arts, Edited by Valarie Billing, Joshua Dolezal, Paulina Mena, Susan Wight Swanson, Tapestry Press. Ltd, 2020, pg. 5-9.

Roosevelt, Eleanor. “Good Citizenship: The Purpose of Education.” Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, vol. 107, no. 2, 2008, pp. 312–20.