Liberal Arts…What Kind of Major Is That

Liberal Arts…What Kind of Major Is That

By Mike Davids, Director of Marketing, Communications and Public Relations

Liberal Arts—it’s not liberal and it’s not art, so what is it?  According to Justin Watson, PhD, Dean of Faculty at Holy Cross College, “It’s a pragmatic, four-year intellectual, social, and emotional educational program that teaches students how to think, work, and get the job done.”

“Yes, it takes students on the search for ’truth, beauty, justice, and understanding’ through the recorded thoughts of the greatest thinkers in history. However, by studying history along with philosophy and literature, students learn that the great ideas were hard won.  Christianity, democracy, and the idea that all men are created equal started as revolutionary ideas that people died to defend,” Watson continued.

“Following the logic and rhetoric of the great minds is like trying to follow Michael Jordan on a basketball court—you need to condition the mind, practice your communication skills, and try really hard.” Noted Watson, “A student who has completed a four-year liberal arts program is ready for the world in all its difficulty and complexity.”

Liberal Arts students read books that changed the world, discuss the ideas they find, debate these ideas with professors and classmates, and learn to write in a clear and consistent style about their interpretations and insights. “We need citizens, leaders, teachers, believers, and business people who can do what they say they will do and change things that need changing. That’s exactly what men and women like Thomas Jefferson, Susan B. Anthony, and Frederick Douglas accomplished in their lives. If we too want to accomplish something, we are a step ahead if we read how it has been done before,” Watson reiterated.

What good is Liberal Arts in a world obsessed with the latest technical skills?

“Learning a skill prepares the individual for a specific job; A liberal arts education teaches students to think, to apply information, to create new ideas, to communicate, and to influence others. In short, it is preparation for success,”   says Br. Richard Gilman, CSC, PhD, President of Holy Cross College.

Graduate schools tend to look favorably on liberal arts graduates, especially MBA, law, education, and programs in the humanities. However, many businesses also prefer liberal arts graduates, especially those who expect to train employees for leadership and sales positions such as those at banks, investment firms, insurance businesses, and communications companies.

Very few corporations can hire a recent college graduate without providing extensive, specialized training in their own specific industry.  This is why many hiring agents prefer liberal arts graduates. These graduates have learned how to learn, how to think for themselves, how to communicate verbally, how to read critically, how to interpret ideas, how to communicate effectively in writing, and how to defend an idea—critical skills for business and leadership.

Students who have spent four years thinking, writing, and debating fundamental questions such as “Would you rather live in a democracy or a theocracy?”; “What are ‘inalienable’ human rights?”; “When, if ever, should an individual sacrifice himself or herself for the greater good?”; have stretched and opened their minds and will be less intimidated by simpler questions like “How do we improve customer service in the third quarter?”

With the ability to think, question, communicate, and persuade, liberal arts graduates are prepared to work in diverse industries with diverse people, cultures, technologies, products, and ideas. They have learned that great minds make great strides forward by asking “why?”, “what if?”, and, “why not?”

Who would want to pursue a liberal arts major?

Many students today would rather not pin themselves down to a specific career track.  When a student focuses on a skill such as computer programming, rather than experiencing a broader education, they run the risk of becoming easily replaced by technological changes, resource reallocations, or lifestyle changes.

For example, will there be work for diesel mechanics in 10 years if truck manufacturers change to fuel cells or battery power?  Will website developers be in hot demand if simple, website-development software replaces html code writing?  Will geologists be in demand if the world stops drilling oil wells and begins growing biofuels?  Will metallurgists be in demand if advanced plastics replace steel in the auto industry?

As a Liberal Arts major 30 years ago, I don’t think I could have survived the waves of change that I have experienced in my own career without the well-rounded training it gave me. I have worked for an audio tape publisher that went out of business when CD’s replaced them, for an advertising agency that went out of business during the dot com crash, for a direct mail company that went out of business when the costs of paper and postage overwhelmed their margins, and for a trade association that was made obsolete by an act of Congress.

You might say that I have been unlucky, but I feel blessed that my college experience prepared me for anything. No one knows what the future will bring, however if there is a college major that prepares students to face it head on, it is the one that puts a priority on thinking over memorizing, interpretation over knowing, and imagination over procedure.

When change happens, we liberal arts majors expect it, adapt to it, and use it as a spring board to new ideas. We know that Rome wasn’t built in a day, and we also know that the Roman Empire collapsed when it became resistant to change. We can find Rome on a map.  And, because we know something about their history and culture, we’ll have an easier time traversing the global marketplace, cutting a deal to sell American goods, or to bring Italian products to American shores.

In a world where today’s hot opportunity is tomorrow's dead end, we need to invest more in education that helps broaden our vision so that we can see the road ahead, to the side, and around the next big curve. As Oliver Wendell Holmes once said, “Man’s mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.”