Ever since I started applying to colleges my junior year of high school, I have heard the arguments for and against a liberal arts education. Now, with just one semester left at my small, private, liberal arts college, I have to say that it was a better choice than going into a program that could have potentially withheld useful information from me.
One reason I appreciate my school is the fact that there are not very many tracks that one can go on once they declare a major. For example, I'm a mass communications and a creative writing double major. When it comes to my communications degree, I lean more towards writing but through the school, I'm required to take design, writing, electronic media production (audio and video), along with my electives (public relations, etc.). As for my English degree, on the creative writing track, I have had to take multiple classes that go across the board into the other tracks including English Literature and Publishing.
Majors aside, the requirements that are asked of students at the basic level of liberal arts education include:
Written Communication
There are hardly any jobs out there that do not require writing. Whether it be an email or a memo, people have to know how to write and at least sound like a normal person when they do so.
Oral Communication
Probably not as much as written, but oral communication is almost as important. Think of all the people that you deal with every day, from going through the drive through at McDonalds to giving a formal presentation to your professors. Oral communication is the basis of all interaction and yet so many lack skills in this department. A liberal arts education capitalizes on these presentations and allows the skills to be honed.
Foreign Language
To be frank, I think its an absolute necessity, especially given our ever-changing world, that we all at least delve a little bit into another language, no matter what it may be. Some administer placement tests for language courses and other just flat out require the actual classes. The use of speaking a foreign language could also be tied back to the oral communication point, being able to communicate with a wider range of people.
Computer Proficiency
It's no shock that technology is pretty much the epitome of our culture, so it should also not come as a shock that computers were added to the liberal arts education. Though it is fairly rare for a college student to leave school without the knowledge to work a computer, I suppose in this case we better be safe than sorry.
Now, many people make the argument that all these extra classes are a waste of time, and it would be better to just get right into what you plan on doing with your life. I'm not saying that these people are necessarily wrong, but I do believe it's a conversation worth having. Let's take a high school senior, for example, who is incredibly gifted with chemistry. He does not particularly like chemistry, but he knows he'll be able to get a good paying job and everything will be okay. Now, this student decides to accept an offer to go to a Liberal Arts school to get his chemistry degree, and in his first semester he finds himself in a required class called "Who Knows What." In this class he learns about philosophy and decides to explore it more. One course leads to another and the next thing you know, we have a graduating Philosophy major with a minor in Sociology or whatever. The student is happier and can't stand to even hear the word chemistry any more.
In this sense, a Liberal Arts Education is definitely at an advantage. The use of further education to help find a kind of passion or more positive way of thinking is, in my opinion, more of what college should be. The cut and dry method of most universities has its perks but it encourages an attitude that if you are not ahead, you're last, instead of creating an environment for creative and intellectual growth for the individuals.
