Education that hones professional skills and that is focused on technology or business has recently gained traction as students and their families question the relevance of a broad liberal arts education. However, it would be wise to heed the words of Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, who said, “Technology alone is not enough. It is technology married with the liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields the results that make our hearts sing.” For Jobs, the liberal arts approach is indispensable to the success of even a technology-focused organisation.
Deborah Rosario
Liberal Arts curriculum
The liberal arts curriculum derives from ancient Greece with subjects that were intended to foster citizenship and participation in public life. This was formalised in the European Middle Ages and the Renaissance as the trivium (grammar, logic, and rhetoric) and the quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy). Over time, a liberal arts education came to be associated with a curriculum that facilitates cross-disciplinary study.
A liberal arts and sciences curriculum is now pervasive in most higher education institutions in the United States at the bachelor’s degree level. Typically, students are required to apply themselves to subjects of general education in various disciplines for approximately the first two years of undergraduate study. The spectrum ranges from the sciences, maths, social sciences, and government to history, music, and literature. For the remaining two years of the four-year program, students can specialise in the subjects of their majors. However, students need not limit themselves exclusively to a particular discipline but rather can select interdisciplinary majors, or majors and minors. Furthermore, though the curriculum is termed “liberal arts,” the sciences are among the disciplines that students can study.
The way that liberal arts programs are administered differs from institution to institution. Liberal arts colleges in the United States are typically private colleges with smaller class sizes centred on the liberal arts curriculum. Many larger universities also have a school or college of arts and sciences which delivers a liberal arts curriculum. Even in other technical programs, a liberal arts education may be possible. For instance, the Whiting School of Engineering at Johns Hopkins University encourages undergraduate students to take classes from other schools within the university – from the school of arts and sciences, as well as the schools of medicine, public health, and music and dance.
Financial point of view
From a financial point of view, a liberal arts education can also be justified. The Georgetown University Centre on Education and the Workforce conducted a study on the return on investment (ROI) from different types of educational institutions in the United States – the lifetime earnings minus the cost of going to that institution. According to the study, in the long run, the median ROI for liberal arts colleges after 40 years was higher than all institutions except doctoral institutions with the two highest levels of research activity (as classified by the Carnegie Classification). Though higher, this was close to the ROI of four-year engineering and technology institutions and business and management schools.
Skills to learn
A liberal arts education can teach a wide variety of skills vital to the workplace. Students learn the arts of reasoning, critical thinking, and problem-solving. They learn to build solutions by analysing and organising
data. They learn to develop a moral and ethical code by which to measure actions. They learn communication skills, logic, and eloquence in both speaking and writing. They learn how to work in teams and collaborate.
Anna McCullough, Assistant Director of International and Transfer Recruitment at Baker University, suggests that a liberal arts education is crucial to preparing for 21st-century careers. She says, “21st-century careers will demand flexibility from workers, as companies increasingly require a wide variety of duties from employees, and switching careers is becoming ever more common. Acquiring transferable skills is crucial to maintaining flexibility: and a liberal arts education excels at teaching students those transferable skills through its broad-based approach.”
A liberal arts education can help students be nimble and navigate jobs that don’t yet exist. Indeed, according to research undertaken by the Strada Education Network, the combination of technical skills and human skills will prepare individuals for future work. The report indicates that human skills (as opposed to those that can be performed by a robot) such as leadership, communication, and problem-solving, are among the most in-demand in the labour market.
It is precisely these skills, critical to surviving and succeeding in the present and future workplace, that the breadth of a liberal arts education can nurture.
For more information, students can visit the EducationUSA website (https://educationusa.state.gov), and for individual questions or direct counselling with an EducationUSA adviser, please write to USEducationQueries@state.gov.
The author, Deborah Rosario, is an EducationUSA Adviser at USIEF Mumbai
