I am no doubt what you would call a liberal arts baby. I was a double major at a small private liberal arts college in the middle of nowhere Maryland. I studied abroad multiple times, participated at conferences, even won some awards. I’ve been published, worked multiple jobs on campus, been the teaching assistant, the president of XYZ organization, managed budgets of tens of thousands of dollars and to what end?

To receive my up-teenth rejection letter stating that while they’re interested in my experiences, I’m just not what they’re looking for right now.

What I’ve come to realize in my post-grad job hunting life is that while people may say they value a liberal education, most people don’t even know what that means. It’s easy to throw away my resume for an event planning job as “International Studies and German Studies” seems to be a giant black mark on the education portion of my resume. It takes a certain kind of person to see the value in my education, even though the job posting asks for “Communications, Public Relations, Marketing or equivalent majors only.”

So why is a liberal education valuable in a world dominated by STEM and other specialized degrees?

Well, as with a truly liberal education, I took science classes, where I was taught how to think in a more concise and processed manner. A in B solution yields C results. Why? Can this be replicated? What does that replication mean? I took math and computer science classes where I learned that the smallest misstep or . out of place can crash your website. I learned troubleshooting and detail-oriented thinking.

I took art and theater classes that showed me the power of stepping out of your comfort zone. I learned how speed and tonality can make a question sound more like a fact. How with the slightest direction, a piece can be changed from cocky to concerning, from boisterous to thoughtful. You learn not only to fake confidence, but fake faking confidence, a dichotomy that is not always easy to decipher.

I took a language class, and then some more language classes, learning that words themselves are more than words - they are the ideas and feelings for which we prescribe certain words. Love is not exactly Liebe not exactly l’amour and while I love you is translated to ich liebe dich and je t’aime, the power in what you’re saying is not universality translated. Furthermore, you learn that the power of words most often is not in the words themselves, but in the way we communicate those words with our voices and bodies.

I took english and other humanities classes where I learned that it’s more important to understand why a person chooses to write sometimes than what the person even writes. I’ve learned to take into consideration not just the what, but the how, why, and who. I’ve learned that semantics are not just semantics, but that the way certain philosophers and writers chose to express their ideas matter a great deal. I’ve learned the way we chose to frame things, color things, allow things to come in and out of focus both subtly and not is important. Every action is deliberate and finding out why is enlightening in way that the text or action themselves is not.

I took economics and politics, history and anthropology. I've learned the importance of being able to express complex phenomena in laymen’s terms. I’ve learned to question and question again the validity of sources and even understand the value of sourced information that is inherently biased. I’ve learned to accept that while history can never change in its factuality, the way we read history is ever changing and that is the rub and where we can not only learn about our past but about ourselves. I’ve read the story of the Acirema people as every good Anthro 101 student does and realized it’s not my place to judge what is good and what is wrong. But in taking it back to politics, understanding that while no universal moral can be forced into reality, some basics needs should be agreed upon and met.

This is what a liberal education has afforded me - the ability to learn how to think in every kind of situation. The ability to communicate not only to peers in the field but to the stranger on the sidewalk not only what I have learned, but why that is important to you. I’ve learned to write 50 page research papers and then write that same thing again in only 10. In a world dominated by the need for specialized this and specialized that, we’ve forgotten the true meaning of higher education - the ability to learn how to think unencumbered by facts and figures, needs and necessities. Any true math major will reveal to you that math does not lie outside of the humanities at all, but that higher level math is more the language of philosophy than anything else.

So please, know that when you read my resume and it says “Education: Bachelor of Arts in International Studies and German Studies” know this doesn’t mean I’m some politics student who’s managed to learn German. Know it means I was a college student who loved learning how to learn, thirsty for a way to make the unknown known. Know it means I’m up for the challenges the work force will provide. But above all, know it means I know how to think and how to learn, because that’s the true foundation a liberal education gives you. I may not know the in and outs of social media marketing this second, but I sure know how to get there.