Opinion

Reactions to The Atlantic’s ‘How Liberal Arts Schools Are Failing America’

Some of our contributors weigh in on Scott Gerber’s recent piece. It’s worth noting that there are entrepeneurship programs present in the ‘Cac:

“This article stresses the importance of learning how to make money. Money is crucial to living, yes, but it is not the end goal (I hope) for most people’s education, certainly not mine. I don’t want to run a business, and I don’t want to sell a product. I want to continue learning, thinking and being critical of what I find in front of me, and in the process be of value to those around me, helping to solve problems and make forward progress. My ‘Cac education has not formed me into another gear to throw into the massive money making machine everyone seems to think we should be a part of. Instead, Amherst has made me a citizen of society, a problem solver, and a thinker. So many of our issues now-a-days involve people lacking the education and critical skills to make smart, informed decisions; if liberal arts schools like those in the ‘Cac produce more thinkers, I say, the more the better… Also, this article totally disregarded the fact that many liberal arts schools have the advantage of alumni connections, which are a huge deal in terms of securing a job.” –Follow @runnerrunner13

“I value my ‘cac and liberal arts education and have really found myself growing as a person because of it, but I worry that this foundation will not be strong enough for a successful and grounded career path, nor that it will provide me with the skills for business, leadership, etc.” –Follow @sbrolins

I do agree with this article in that liberal arts degrees may not prepare us for biochemical engineering or the like, but it does teach us how to think and problem solve- skills that other graduates may lack due to job-specific programs and training. Above all else, however, it allows us to learn how to learn which in any job is the first step in a career. Paired with critical problem solving or reasoning skills, learning makes us especially unique candidates because we learn faster and apply that acquired knowledge in new and (potentially) beneficial ways, all to better the company or sector we end up working for. In that respect, along with the extensive alumni networks developed from these schools, we make for excellent job candidates after college in spite of our “liberal arts degree.”–Follow @TheLeinbacher

There is a strong possibility that I will leave college with a very limited set of immediately applicable professional skills. I don’t know how to rebuild a computer switchboard, or program a mining drill, or put together an ad campaign. I don’t know how to do accounting, or how to administer physical therapy, or when a criminal can be released on bail. If I knew all of these things, but was not confident in the ability instilled in me by my liberal arts college to apply myself to any area of subject matter and learn it quickly, by asking questions and by understanding the whole concept, I would consider my education an abject failure. The article in question makes two claims, one of which I agree with and the other I find to be deeply disturbing. Decrying the liberal arts due to the inability of graduates to find immediately gainful employment is absurd. The beauty of a liberal arts degree lies in the freedom with which the holder can easily and frictionlessly jump from one job to another, gaining new skills and learning new trades. Frictional unemployment is a phrase that may seem like a euphemism, but it is in fact the result of a new economy that we will soon be entering into, whereby graduates are not pigeonholed into one career for ten or fifteen years at a time, but are instead able to leave a job after two or three years, learn a new skill, ask new questions, and arrive at a completely different job. I would argue that this is a more valuable skill than pure entrepreneurship, and one that is valued and cultivated at liberal arts schools across the country. I was one of three interns from liberal arts schools at my social media marketing internship this summer, working alongside 15 other interns who were marketing or advertising majors from larger research universities. Although they all came in with much more extensive background and industry knowledge than I did (I’m a psych major??), I would argue that my learning curve was significantly steeper, and that I asked more questions, learned more, and ultimately performed as well or better as an intern in the same position. The second point that the article makes is a good one. Although the value of the liberal arts education is inherently intrinsic, I believe that an added element of how to monetize the degree would not take away from the subject matter involved. Applying this level of entrepreneurship seems beneficial to me, but combining this idea with the defamation of the liberal arts is overextended and in poor taste. –Follow @mcshaq_