Value of a Liberal Arts education…
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none.
Absolutely none since it doesn’t give you any skills that you can use in the real world right?
I was a Literature and Writing major with a Writing emphasis. I often think about my education and what practical skills it has given me and has it aided me in getting a job? Am I any better off than a high school graduate? Should I have spent those years getting work experience instead? There are those colleges that espouse the benefits of a liberal arts education (here also)… but are they lies?
One thing is for sure, I’m a completely different person due to the education I received. I used to think that I went to college to get a degree. I’m not going to be influenced by the liberal spunk that they spew. Wrong. I am completely influenced. I have been convinced in a lot of ways.
I am a different thinker, a deeper thinker than I would be had I gone the computer science route. I have been forced to read books that I never knew existed. I had to research concepts that I would never have heard of and that most people have never heard of. Yet a lot of these things influence people’s lives every day.
Every time I turn on the television, I think “the medium is the message.”
Everytime I read the bible I think about literary theory…
Everytime someone disagrees with me I think about Cultural Studies.
They start talking about multi-ethnic churches and I think about PostColonialism.
Racism… The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison.
The poor in Africa?… Out of America by Keith Richburg.
So how valuable was my education? Can’t put a price on it I suppose. Priceless. Invaluable. Even though I enjoyed reading before school, I would never have even thought to read the books that influenced me the most. I would not even have heard of most of these books. Now I approach almost everything I do with a new mindset. The bible is new to me and much more socially and culturally relevant than I had ever thought possible.
If I had read this post in 1999, I would probably have gone to a Christian private school… but you know what? I’m glad I didn’t.
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3 Comments, Comment or Ping
Jonathan
Education is never wasted in any form. I think liberal arts educations are great..even if they aren’t practical. You go through and end up a deeper thinker and perhaps go a different route than you once led. Sometimes I wish my education was more of a liberal arts one.
The Bible is so socially relevant in today’s society it’s amazing. People that resist believing it sometimes end up yearning for its message. It’s hope that we must inspire to those in need. Need of basic necessities such as food, health, shelter…but even more so need of God.
Mar 17th, 2008
brian
you’re confusing a liberal arts education with a liberal arts degree.
most colleges and universities follow the liberal arts philosophy, but they don’t just offer liberal arts degrees. for example, jason went to berkeley, a well reknown liberal arts school, but he majored in chemistry, a science.
so he has a liberal arts education as you do. i, on the other hand went to a technical school where all they care about teaching is the field of study.
your link to penn, states “A liberal arts education provides a broad exposure to humanities, sciences, and social sciences in addition to your major area of study.”
so you need to differentuate between a liberal arts degree and education.
Mar 17th, 2008
Corrie
Wow, nicely put. Makes me appreciate my liberal arts education (a B.A. in Music rather than a BMus) so much more! I hadn’t actually thought about the relevance of a college education in quite some time, but in one short post you’ve convinced me that it was of immeasurable value!
I actually did attend a Christian college (one of the better ones, in my opinion), but I sometimes missed the higher academic standards of a major university. I’ve tried to make up for that, since then, by reading extensively.
In fact, I decided after college that the whole point of higher education is to inspire us to learn more. Most semester-long classes can only give you a cursory introduction to topics that could take a lifetime of study.
P.S. I always thought B.A. implied a liberal arts education, and therefore would be considered a liberal arts degree, even if one had not majored in Liberal Arts.
Mar 19th, 2008
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