Francisco Viramontes

November 19, 2014

Mrs. Potter
English 110.052
If you ever need to be inspired you know you can always go to a TED talk. These talks
always have great a way of conveying messages through passionate people and through multiple
mediums. In her talk A call to reinvent liberal arts education, Liz Coleman uses all three
methods of persuasion; logos, ethos, and pathos to drive the point home that liberal arts
education needs to undergo some drastic changes. Her ethos appears through quoting a few
people, such as her students and Thomas Jefferson. The pathos that she uses really reaches out to
groups of people who either adore liberal arts with an astounding passion, or the politically
active who care about the future of how our government is going to be run. Her logos surfaces
through logical and coherent thinking; her clear and distinct tone gets her message across without
any turbulence. Although she speaks her mind about the absurdness and the great importance in
reforming liberal arts education, her lack of passion in her tone consistently makes the listener
lose interest in what she is saying.
Liz Coleman uses her ethos, or her reputation, authority or experience exponentially well.
It appears consistently throughout her entire presentation. As president of Bennington College,
she emanates an extraordinary aura of authority when it comes to discussing liberal arts. Her
diction appeals to scholars and experts in the field of liberal arts. Liz Colemans usage of
Thomas Jeffersons quote If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it
expects what never was and never will be, it establishes a solid foundation for ethos as well.
She also uses that quote to state that we cannot be ignorant and free; we must choose one or the

other, which sparks some thinking. She also quotes here students in what they think of this
situation, also boosting her ethos. At the same time Liz Colemans words can be too shunning,
creating distrust among its intended audience, making them feel alienated.
Liz Coleman begins to use pathos or arguing through provoking emotions or feelings,
when she discusses how the life was sucked out of liberal arts and how the civic engagement was
also taken in that process, giving a stygian atmosphere around the future of liberal Arts. As she
continues, her discussion about the damage that is being done to our democracy with narrowminded education also evokes emotion to those who care about the future of the United States.
Her tone was not one of anger, but of being concerned and aware of what is happening with the
American education system. She discusses how in schools, civic participation has become extracurricular, rather than mandatory. The time when the most emotions get stimulated is when she
analyses some of our countries qualities that get mocked by the rest of the world. How the
United States had a public education system that was a role model to the world, now which is
recognized as a grand failure. The United States had students that have mastered many basic
skills but now lack cultural literacy and cultural integrity. Sadness is invoked more when
Coleman says that we cannot even see what we are doing to our democracy. She talks about how
the United States has some of the most amazing resources to use, but the majority of the public
neglects to use them or does not even consider them into their thoughts. When she says that the
only way to solve the problem with liberal arts today requires absolute recreation, it created this
atmosphere of despair and failure, which we as a nation, have failed to preserve the integrity of
liberal arts.
I love the logos when Liz Coleman using the simple cause and effect technique to
illustrate that the price for being an expert in liberal arts comes with increased technically and

more specific career paths, which appeals to any persons logic, or common sense. When she
says students are learning more and more about less and less it makes you think logically that
our education system is in bad shape. When it comes to liberal arts, people should be learning
more about more and more. She then shows a picture about the 20 different subfields of
anthropology, which makes you think that it is a bit excessive to have 20 different subfields for a
specific field of study. Coleman also argues the fact that fragmentation of knowledge hurts and
cripples academic integrity. When she proposes her solution to the reconstruction of liberal arts,
she makes it sounds clear and distinct; making it easier to understand what she says and what she
wants. I also adore how she uses her students words "deep thought matters when thinking about
things that matter," which logically make sense. I also adore how she says that critical thinking
will result in more of the public developing a sense of civic virtue that will help save our
democracy. She then uses more logical persuasion in the sense that if a new resource that can
preserve the integrity of liberal arts education can be developed; it relies on the audience to use it
as a resource. Her last logical tactic puts out that if we do one thing it will result in another. For
example, she says that if we participate in the new reformed liberal arts in Bennington College,
we will develop the critical thinking needed to saving our dying Democracy.
In conclusion, Liz Coleman demonstrates how the American liberal arts education system
is failing how it requires radical changes. She then discusses how if we repeal this system civic
participation would increase, and in effect would save the American democracy. Her methods,
details, and words convinced me without unreasonable doubt that the honor of liberal arts is in
danger, and that even though we are growing as a technologically advanced nation, we should
not just focus on technology, but also on humanities. Although she uses a grand amount of
esoteric words that had me engulfed and suddenly alienated, in the end Liz Coleman effectively

persuades her intended audience that liberal arts needs to change and that Bennington College is
helping making that change.

Citations: Coleman, Liz. "A Call to Reinvent Liberal Arts Education." Liz Coleman: A Call to
Reinvent Liberal Arts Education. TED, 1 June 2009. Web. 24 Nov. 2014.
<http://www.ted.com/talks/liz_coleman_s_call_to_reinvent_liberal_arts_education?language=en>.