Liberal Farts Education

Originally published in the Valparaiso University student newspaper, The Torch, on April 9, 2010.

Last Wednesday, I sat in Grinders Cafe attempting to explain deconstructionist literary theory to a friend of mine. Graciously, she listened. Clearly excited about the topic, I rambled on for quite some time. Whenever I talk about my major (English), most people usually ask, “What are you planning to do with that major?” It’s so common I expect it nowadays.

My friend, in step with her predecessors, followed up with that same stale, albeit warranted question. And I answered her with my usual reply - that I plan to

write one day for some publication. Learning to read properly, I told her in more or less words, is essential to learning to writer properly. Fumbling my words, I managed to somehow articulate a vague argument about the importance of a liberal arts education. I told her of all my plans, contingent on so many unforeseeable variables.

In my experience, most people tune out and wonder why I chose such a useless major.

They ask themselves, “What is the practical application of a English major?”

As it turns out, my friend is not one of those people; she understands. She’s a double major in music and psychology. Confessedly, she’s not really sure about how any of her studies will manifest in employment. Admirably, she’s courageous enough to pursue music academically; if there is a major stigmatized for its practicality, it’s music and art.

Applying a collegiate education to the work world is no new struggle, but recently this very problem reached a boiling point. Last Monday, Nancy Cook of Newsweek wrote, “(T)here's no denying that the fight between the cerebral B.A. vs. the practical B.S. is heating up. For now, practicality is the frontrunner, especially as the recession continues to hack into the budgets of both students and the schools they attend.”

The statistics she reports are astonishing. A 2009 survey showed that nearly 56 percent of incoming freshmen said it was “very important” to find a college whose students found solid, reliable employment. Colleges are feeling the pressure to cut back on programs such as philosophy and performing arts. Newsweek reports that Centenary College in Louisiana felt pressured to remove 44 of its majors - all liberal arts majors.

But thinking that practicality is the future of education is manifestly wrong. As graduate programs increase enrollment, the conventional wisdom that majoring in business increases your chance of getting into an MBA program is not as accurate as one might think. Only one-fifth of students accepted into the Yale School of Management were business majors, equivalent to the number of those who majored in the humanities. The admissions counselor responsible for that class, Bruce DelMonico said, “It's not a question of, ‘Do you have the particular classes,’ but it’s “Do you have the mindset, the temperament, the intellectual horsepower to succeed?’”

To be fair, this argument shouldn’t be misunderstood as a case for more philosophy and literature classes. The pendulum swings both ways. Every music major should understand the science behind why their instruments make certain sounds. Each member of each of our choirs should understand the anatomy of the throat and voice. A painter must know how the chemicals in various pigments and mediums affect colors and text.

For a true liberal arts education to occur, the pedagogical binaries of science versus art, math versus poetry and so on, must cease to exist. In truth, advanced physics requires creativity, ethical philosophy requires the scientific method, and musical notation requires numerical comprehension.

Fortunately for this university, President Heckler seems to have an understanding of this concept. The second draft of the Strategic Plan encourages “rigorous interdisciplinary innovation” and emphasizes the need for “experiential” learning.

The recent draft of the Strategic Plan demonstrates an understanding that employers and graduate schools are looking for skills and not necessarily content. While it may not be crucial for an engineer to know the relevant metaphors in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” it is vital that they know to read analytically. It may not be essential for a business major to know the manner in which various ions bond together, but it is important that they know how to form and test a hypothesis.

There is no easy way to predict how one’s major will manifest in employment. Even those with very specific and narrow paths ahead, jobs in this tumultuous market are hard to come by. For now, it is in every student’s interest to squeeze every ounce of experience and knowledge out of this university. After all, it surely isn’t cheap.