Neil Tambe – BA 2009 Organizational Studies, Political Science
One of my favorite sentences in all of prose comes from a Slam Poem spit by Suheir Hammad (viewer beware – it’s political and has some profanity), “I’ve read too many books to believe what I’m told”. To me, this is the essence of the liberal arts education – it teaches you how to not believe what you’re told and to question instead.
My liberal arts education was riddled with literature from many different areas of human understanding – philosophy, politics, physics, organizational theory (and more) – and it was really fun at the time. What I didn’t realize during my time as an undergrad, however, was that it was intense training to deeply question darn near everything. Our professors pushed us in the classroom to deepen our understanding of coursework, beyond what was on the page. We were encouraged to challenge ideas and then express our own.
We were specifically encouraged NOT to do exactly what has been done before. We were taught to ambitiously and confidently discern the truth, the beauty or essence of an idea. We were not taught a methodology to follow; we were rather groomed to create our own frameworks for understanding something new. We thought – and then we did something about it.
I think that’s valuable. The way I see it, there’s a lot that’s amiss about the world these days. Following the “best practices” of the world today will only get us to the best the world currently has to offer. In many cases, I don’t think that’s ambitious enough to safeguard the well-being of humanity in the short or long term (think: health and disease, poverty, ethno-communal violence, etc.). If it were ambitious enough, we would’ve probably already solved the world’s most compelling problems. We obviously haven’t.
The wonderful irony is that you don’t have to take my word for it, even though by posting this I am trying to convince you that the liberal arts are well worth supporting. If you’re a liberal arts graduate, like myself, you’ve read too many books to believe what you’re told.
Neil is an executive member of the LSA Dean’s Young Alumni Council
lsarecentgrad 
I see your point, and I agree to an extent. What is the job market like for liberal arts majors? I know the stereotype, and I know a few underemployed liberal arts friends — but I do not know the actual reality. Can you make money by investing in this degree? May seem rather materialistic, but if you can’t make money, why spend it? Why devote an entire degree to it when you can audit some classes?
Elyse, that’s a good point (also, hi!). I did a little bit of digging and tried to find some data. There’s a good summary of a recent study here: http://chronicle.com/article/Unemployment-Varies-by-College/130212/
This summary points out that there is indeed a different in unemployment rates by major:
“In general, it says, unemployment is higher among recent graduates with nontechnical fields of study, such as the arts (11.1 percent) and humanities and liberal arts (9.4 percent). Graduates who studied health or education, however, both have unemployment rates of only 5.4 percent.”
So, your point is documented in the data, though I have no idea whether that’s a “statistically significant” finding.
However, the big takeaway is that getting a college degree in general is what causes a material difference in employablility:
“The overall unemployment rate for recent bachelor’s-degree recipients is 8.9 percent, compared with 22.9 percent for recent high-school graduates and 31.5 percent for recent high-school dropouts.”
So regardless, I would posit that a college education (regardless of the major one chooses) is worth the investment.
But turning back to your more provocative point (which is obviously reasonable), why choose the liberal arts over, say, a technical degree?
I think there a lot of reasons. Maybe a liberal arts degree is more in the “sweet spot” of some students skills and interests which will help them learn and ultimately graduate. Maybe the liberal arts have more pedigree at one’s university. Maybe it’s possible to get a scholarship in the liberal arts…the practical reasons are endless. And, some think that liberal arts degrees are actually quite value-creating: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-06/postrel-how-art-history-majors-power-the-u-s-.html
That being said, this line of reasoning falls into the difficult and perhaps tangential (at least to some) line of argument about the PRACTICAL value of a liberal arts degree. Which i daresay is a miss on my part. There’s a lot of value in the liberal arts, I think, intrinsically and viscerally.
That’s a good topic for another post, perhaps. Thanks for commenting! Anyone else have any thoughts?
I do see the intrinsic value, and that getting a college education in general is better than not — but I’m saddled with the opinion of if your student loan amount exceeds your estimated first year’s salary, it’s probably not a wise financial decision no matter what your major. I know not everyone has to take out student loans, but a majority of students do, and they need to take a look at if this debt is worth it in the end. It probably wouldn’t have been worth me going to MIT and taking out $80k in student loans knowing that the estimated first year’s salary for my field is less than that. Instead, my $15k in student loans is much more manageable with my previous and current income, and allows me to pay off the loan much faster, saving myself some money in interest.
I’m not sure if the data is statistically significant (for one, how did they come to those numbers?), but if you compare their numbers to the country’s unemployment rate, 5% is a LOT better (for the work force) than 11%. People hardly complain with a 5% unemployment rate, but it’s an economic fall out when we get past 10%.
That being said, your post does bring to light a whole new perspective on liberal arts that I would not have considered/known in the past.
I think you make an important point Elyse, but it’s more than just about the job market – it’s about the job. I have little doubt that getting an engineering degree will lead to a better chance of finding a job directly out of college. Beyond that though, what kind of job will you be in? Will it be a job that makes you happy, or professionally fulfilled? Much of the value of a liberal arts degree is that you are allowed to explore multiple fields in an area that interests you, rather than one that will only lead to a job immediately after college.
This isn’t to say that there isn’t professional fulfillment in an engineering degree, but rather that liberal arts seeking students shouldn’t chose a degree off of a job market. Those that want engineering degrees because the study and field is a passion should absolutely pursue that. Those that are not interested, however, should seek their own path, rather than pursuing what will appear to lead to a job. Liberal arts degrees provide just one of those paths, though there are certainly others.
To say I have read too many books to believe what I am told, makes sense looking back at my liberal arts education. Especially now that I am three years into my career, I am constantly pulling from my undergraduate experiences without knowing, by challenging research in my current field.
Looking at the world of public health, it is necessary to utilize best practices. Given all that public health encompasses, best practices are always being updated, challenged, and improved based on new data or studies that prove more effective.
In a way the field that I have chosen to build on my liberal arts education is perfect because I am doing work that I am passionate about, that allows for exploration beyond what is currently being taught, mandated, or practiced.
” Especially now that I am three years into my career, I am constantly pulling from my undergraduate experiences without knowing, by challenging research in my current field.”
Sondra, isn’t that an awesome feeling? The pulling from your experiences without realizing it first part, I mean.
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