Liberal Arts Under Scrutiny

That fount of conventional wisdom, National Public Radio, aired a segment this morning on pressures faced by liberal arts colleges during the current economy, though it could have run anytime in the last 25 years such did it trot out the tried-and-true elements of a good news story:

 

Liberal arts schools have long had a rap of being a kind of luxury, where learning is for learning's sake, and not because understanding Aristotle will come in handy on the job one day. But economic pressures and changes in the world of higher education have now put them more on the defensive than ever.

"There's been a lot of hand-wringing for a long time about the relevance of a liberal arts education, but I think those worries have heightened over the last couple years," says Bowdoin College President Barry Mills.

There has been a lot of hand-wringing, certainly, but there has been much more than that. Why do students continue to attend these elite colleges? Why do parents (and donors) continue to support them? How is it that students even at large Research-1 universities end up as history majors? Could there be some greater value to understanding Aristotle than initially assumed? Ah, the 17th paragraph, or several minutes in, if you were driving:

 

[Wellesley Provost Andy]Shennan says a liberal arts education that teaches kids lifelong skills of how to think and how to be adaptable in whatever job they end up doing is actually more important now than ever.

"We are not giving up in any way on the basic beliefs that we have about the long-term value of a liberal arts education," Shennan says. "But we also don't have our heads in the sand, and I think we have to continue to make the case as persuasively as we can."

Now there's a story. A producer might even start out with a complex premise about making that case, and use the space to delve into the above questions in a way that is more enlightening about the pressures on educators - and students. Of course, it is easy (and very important!) to be critical; and that is largely the point. There is a societal good at stake as we continue to formally hand-down the traditions of knowledge and thinking to every next generation. It is what should and often does motivate the best professors, administrators, legislators and philanthropists to re-commit themselves as well as public and private resources to building a better society. We are creating these future leaders every year and it is crucial that we endow them with the combination of practical skills and the esoteric knowledge to be able to apply them wisely, selflessly and with an eye to our future.
 
This is why commencement ceremonies around the country are such an exalted moment, because this task we've set ourselves to gets explicitly acknowledged in eloquent words by memorable speakers. It's everyone's accomplishment, embodied in these graduates each semester. Thank you, liberal arts majors. Excelsior!
 


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