tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/liberal-arts-22104/articlesLiberal arts – The Conversation2023-09-18T12:20:58Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2110112023-09-18T12:20:58Z2023-09-18T12:20:58ZWhat are the liberal arts? A literature scholar explains<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548349/original/file-20230914-29-irzrgz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1540%2C1001&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Cicero defined 'liberal arts' in a book he wrote about rhetoric in a republic. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/cicero-royalty-free-image/157165581?adppopup=true">ra-photos/E+ via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The term “liberal arts” is one of the most misunderstood terms in the public discourse on higher education today. A higher education expert <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/01/25/liberal-education-advocates-discuss-ways-reclaim-conversations-about-academe">once said</a> that putting the words “liberal” and “arts” together was a “<a href="https://www.gallup.com/education/231746/higher-education-drop-term-liberal-arts.aspx">branding disaster</a>” – one so toxic that it was undermining public support for higher education. To break down the meaning and origin of the term, The Conversation reached out to <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=PAm7pfgAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Blaine Greteman</a>, a professor of English, who looks at how the term emerged in ancient times.</em></p>
<h2>What does the term mean?</h2>
<p>Contrary to how it might sound, “liberal” in the phrase “liberal arts” has nothing to do with political liberalism. And the “arts” part is not really about the arts as most people understand them, such as painting, dancing and the like.</p>
<p>The “liberal” in “liberal arts” derives from the Latin “<a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0059%3Aentry%3Dliberalis1">liberalis,</a>” meaning “free.” “Arts” comes from Latin “ars”, for “knowledge” or “skill.” The word “artifact” has the same root: something made by human skill or knowledge. “Liberal arts,” in this sense, is education that equips a person for life as a free citizen. </p>
<p>That was how the Roman statesman and philosopher Cicero meant it 2,000 years ago when he became the first on record to refer to a “liberal arts” education. Cicero did this in “<a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0683%3Abook%3D1%3Asection%3D35">De Inventione</a>,” an influential handbook on rhetoric written around 90 B.C. Cicero composed the book as a young man considering the role that public speaking served in the life of a republic.</p>
<p>In his later and more comprehensive work, “<a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0120%3Abook%3D1%3Asection%3D17">De Oratore</a>,” Cicero explained that the full liberal arts education will equip students with a deep understanding of human emotion, skills in literary expression and a “comprehensive knowledge of things,” or “scientia comprehendenda rerum plurimarum.” This is the “education befitting a free person,” or “eruditio libero digna.”</p>
<p>It’s easy to get bogged down in what exactly that comprehensive or universal education entailed for Cicero or his followers in the Renaissance. But “liberal arts” for Cicero didn’t mean some subject, like “art” or “English,” so much as it meant a broad, general education.</p>
<p>Classically, meaning from the ancient Roman educational system up through the 1800s, when the Victorians began to reform education as practical training for the masses, students would pursue the “trivium” – grammar, logic and rhetoric – before continuing to the “quadrivium” – arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music. But to get hung up on where painting, ballet or history fits into this scheme kind of misses the point.</p>
<p>“Liberal arts” really means education that is broad, and not strictly vocational, in that it gives you the ability to exercise free choice as a citizen and thinker. A course in philosophy or history will improve a student’s communication skills in ways that will ultimately help them find a job, but the core purpose of the class is to study deeper lessons of the self or the past. That’s very different from the way a course in electrical engineering might cultivate skills students will use in a career designing circuits.</p>
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<img alt="Author, sociologist, historian and civil rights activist W.E.B. Du Bois poses for a portrait in a study room." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542666/original/file-20230814-25671-qtkqsa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542666/original/file-20230814-25671-qtkqsa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=621&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542666/original/file-20230814-25671-qtkqsa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=621&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542666/original/file-20230814-25671-qtkqsa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=621&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542666/original/file-20230814-25671-qtkqsa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=780&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542666/original/file-20230814-25671-qtkqsa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=780&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542666/original/file-20230814-25671-qtkqsa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=780&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Historian W.E.B. Du Bois advocated for the liberal arts in his 1903 book ‘The Souls of Black Folk.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/author-sociologist-historian-and-civil-rights-activist-w-e-news-photo/538843974?adppopup=true">David Attie/Michael Ochs Archives via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Why does studying the liberal arts matter?</h2>
<p>True freedom, as I see it, is the ability to choose wisely between arguments and theories about how the world works and understand how language can manipulate or elevate us. This is why 17th-century English poet and revolutionary John Milton focused his <a href="https://milton.host.dartmouth.edu/reading_room/areopagitica/text.html">foundational anti-censorship text, “Areopagitica,”</a> on the civic value of the liberal arts. “Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties,” Milton wrote. </p>
<p>One of the greatest defenses of the liberal arts in America was written just 37 years after the Civil War by W.E.B. Du Bois. “<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/408/408-h/408-h.htm">The Souls of Black Folk</a>” is probably best known today as a groundbreaking work of sociology.</p>
<p>Du Bois also insisted that without access to a complete and comprehensive liberal arts education, Black Americans can never truly be free. To the question, “Shall we teach them trades or train them in liberal arts?” Du Bois answered, “<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/408/408-h/408-h.htm">Both</a>.” But he maintained that liberal arts must always be the foundation, because “to make men, we must have ideals, broad, pure, and inspiring ends of living, not sordid money-getting, not apples of gold.”</p>
<p>He was concerned that Booker T. Washington’s “unnecessarily narrow” emphasis on vocational education might come at the expense of this broader education in the arts of freedom. For his part, Washington <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1903/10/the-fruits-of-industrial-training/531030/">felt</a> that inspiration, ideals and “dead languages” were less important than learning “how to apply the knowledge of chemistry to the enrichment of the soil, or to cooking, or to dairying.”</p>
<h2>Are the liberal arts a luxury?</h2>
<p>A similar debate is playing out today in places like West Virginia University. The state’s government and university leadership <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/west-virginia-university-crisis-looms-gop-leaders-focus-102910130">announced in August 2023</a> plans to cut 32 programs, including its entire Department of World Languages, Literatures and Linguistics.</p>
<p>Many faculty and students protest that this move sacrifices a broad civic education and equates a college education with job training.</p>
<p>The governor, university president and legislature have argued that the university’s offerings <a href="https://wvutoday.wvu.edu/stories/2023/09/11/gee-addresses-misrepresentations-of-wvu-transformation-work-during-faculty-senate-meeting">“must align majors with future careers.</a>”</p>
<p>Republican Eric Tarr, state Senate finance chair in West Virginia, <a href="https://wvrecord.com/stories/649159606-tarr-west-virginia-doesn-t-need-any-guidance-from-the-aft">explained in an opinion piece</a> written for the West Virginia Record that the goal of the budget decisions is to “provide degrees that lead to jobs.” In other words, to train workers to work, rather than educating citizens in what Du Bois and Cicero would have called “the knowledge of being free.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211011/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Blaine Greteman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>When people hear the term ‘liberal arts,’ it may sound like a phrase with political overtones. A scholar of literature explains why that’s wrong and takes a closer look at its origin and meaning.Blaine Greteman, Professor and Chair of English, University of IowaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1505252021-02-05T13:05:53Z2021-02-05T13:05:53ZGraduate students need a PhD that makes sense for their real lives<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379769/original/file-20210120-15-16tqhid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3927%2C5890&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Doctoral programs often prepare graduates to become professors, but those jobs are scarce today.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/student-stands-and-reads-a-book-among-the-stacks-in-the-news-photo/586158350?adppopup=true">JHU Sheridan Libraries/Gado/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>There used to be a time – back in the 1960s – when it made sense for doctoral programs to prepare students to become professors. For that <a href="https://www.historians.org/publications-and-directories/perspectives-on-history/may-2003/we-historians-the-golden-age-and-beyond">brief postwar moment</a>, there were more jobs for professors than there were doctorate holders to fill them.</p>
<p>But that time is <a href="https://www.nber.org/system/files/chapters/c12863/c12863.pdf">long gone</a>. <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/04/bad-job-market-phds/479205/">Professorships are scarce</a> now, and most people with doctorates will end up working <a href="https://ncsesdata.nsf.gov/doctoratework/2017/html/sdr2017_dst_12-3.html">outside of academia</a>.</p>
<p>In “<a href="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/title/new-phd#:%7E:text=The%20New%20PhD%20is%20a,change%20agents%20throughout%20our%20world">The New PhD: How to Build a Better Graduate Education</a>,” former professor and university president Robert Weisbuch and I argue that graduate programs aren’t preparing doctoral students for the jobs they’ll likely have outside college classrooms or laboratories. </p>
<p>We propose a new design for graduate school that points graduates toward fulfilling work both inside and outside the academy. </p>
<h2>Rethinking doctorates</h2>
<p>Instead of seeking work across society, many highly skilled doctorate holders end up teaching a course here and there – for <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/04/20/new-report-says-many-adjuncts-make-less-3500-course-and-25000-year">low wages</a> – in the vanishing hope of full-time jobs as professors. This <a href="https://www.hepg.org/her-home/issues/harvard-educational-review-volume-89,-issue-4/herbooknote/the-adjunct-underclass">proliferation of adjunct labor</a> devalues the people doing it and the academic workplace together. </p>
<p>We argue that the problem starts with an intense desire to stay in academia no matter what. Professorial jobs are scarcer than ever, but doctoral education <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-03191-7">socializes students</a> to want those jobs above all others.</p>
<p>Professors model a rarefied existence without educating students to prepare for the actual alternatives they will face. For example, <a href="https://www.chronicle.com/article/a-degree-of-uncommon-success/?cid2=gen_login_refresh&cid=gen_sign_in">scientists are encouraged to narrowly specialize</a> within their subfields, while <a href="https://www.press.umich.edu/8845365/manifesto_for_the_humanities">humanities scholars are given few opportunities to collaborate with others</a> in ways that are common in most workplaces. </p>
<p>In both cases, we believe graduate students would be better served by a curriculum that encourages a wider variety of skills and capacities, including working in project teams and translating their work to nonspecialized audiences. <a href="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/title/new-phd#:%7E:text=The%20New%20PhD%20is%20a,change%20agents%20throughout%20our%20world">Our research finds</a> that such a program would draw more people of color and more women, and that graduates would be <a href="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/title/new-phd#:%7E:text=The%20New%20PhD%20is%20a,change%20agents%20throughout%20our%20world">more competitive in today’s job market</a>. </p>
<h2>Why should anyone care?</h2>
<p>What happens to the doctorate holder ripples outward. The doctoral curriculum shapes liberal arts curriculum because doctoral programs train most professors who teach liberal arts subjects. And the way universities design and <a href="https://www.aacu.org/sites/default/files/files/LEAP/leap_vision_summary.pdf">teach the liberal arts</a> affects colleges, high schools and every other level of the education pyramid.</p>
<p>We’d like to see an academic experience that remains rich in scholarship but is far less hermetic. In “The New PhD,” we offer real-life examples of programs that offer disciplinary expertise while recognizing the diverse career outcomes that students will face. </p>
<p>A new humanities doctoral program at University of Iowa’s <a href="https://obermann.uiowa.edu/programs/humanities-public-good">Obermann Center</a> and the <a href="https://versatilehumanists.duke.edu/internships/">Versatile Humanists program</a> at Duke University are examples. They place graduate student interns in a variety of workplaces outside the university. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.chronicle.com/article/outcomes-based-graduate-school-the-humanities-edition/">Lehigh University</a> and other schools have used alumni career data to redesign their curriculum and prepare graduates for the jobs they will actually encounter. For example, the department recently added a certificate program in writing instruction. </p>
<p>Programs like Lehigh’s admit smaller student cohorts to advise students individually as they progress. We support this curated approach to doctoral education, and believe a program should admit only as many students as it can advise carefully and attentively. </p>
<h2>Valuing people of color and women</h2>
<p>Doctoral students don’t resemble the demographics of the country at large. Black Americans, Latinos and Native Americans together make up about <a href="https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/AGE775219">30% of the U.S. population</a> but only <a href="https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/2017/nsf17306/report/who-earns-a-us-doctorate/race-and-ethnicity.cfm#:%7E:text=Participation%20in%20doctoral%20education%20by,of%20Hispanic%20or%20Latino%20doctorate">15% of U.S. doctorates</a>. Women are <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1002/chem.201600035">greatly underrepresented</a> in graduate STEM programs.</p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>And once women and people of color get through the door, they often feel a <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/11/03/study-finds-serious-attrition-issues-black-and-latino-doctoral-students">lack of support</a> from their institutions. A 2014 study found <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/11/03/study-finds-serious-attrition-issues-black-and-latino-doctoral-students">fewer than half</a> of Black and Latino doctoral students in the behavioral and social sciences earned a doctoral degree within seven years. More than a third left their programs without finishing.</p>
<p>Graduate schools can recruit more diverse students by looking to the undergraduate pipeline and even high schools. Many undergrad programs recruit heavily among students from marginalized groups. But graduate schools compete for a much smaller pool of qualified and interested candidates, and such recruitment can strain departmental budgets.</p>
<p>One way to do this is for graduate faculty to work with teachers at all levels to excite young people about their fields. The City University of New York has done this successfully with its <a href="http://www.diversiphd.com/about">Pipeline Program</a>, which immerses undergraduate and graduate students from underrepresented groups in academic culture. Surveys tell us such social engagement helps <a href="https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.13-02-0021">persuade underrepresented students</a> to pursue graduate study. </p>
<p>At CUNY and elsewhere, on behalf of students from all backgrounds, work is being done to make doctoral education more attentive to the reality that doctorate holders face. Our book describes that work and brings it to light.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/150525/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Leonard Cassuto does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Graduate programs can be rich in scholarship and still prepare students for real-world careers.Leonard Cassuto, Professor of English and American Studies, Fordham UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1473332020-10-13T13:25:17Z2020-10-13T13:25:17ZPandemic presents an opportunity for small liberal arts colleges to change<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/362724/original/file-20201009-17-1o4y8bd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C22%2C5000%2C3308&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Colgate University is a small liberal arts college in upstate New York.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/colgate-university-campus-news-photo/516312600?adppopup=true">John Greim/LightRocket via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>In their newly released book, “<a href="https://beltpublishing.com/products/the-post-pandemic-liberal-arts-college?_pos=1&_sid=840428a7b&_ss=r">The Post-Pandemic Liberal Arts College</a>,” <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=QmUVRhcAAAAJ&hl=en">Steven Volk</a>, emeritus professor of history at Oberlin College, and <a href="https://www.bethbenedix.com/">Beth D. Benedix</a>, professor of world literature, religious studies and community engagement at DePauw University, call for small liberal arts colleges – that is, those with 3,000 students or fewer – to not just respond to the economic pressures of the pandemic, but to make themselves anew. Here, the authors answer questions about what changes need to occur.</em></p>
<h2>Will COVID-19 be the death of small liberal arts colleges?</h2>
<p><strong>Beth D. Bendedix:</strong> <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/content/private-nonprofit-college-closures-and-mergers-2016-present">Dozens of these colleges</a>, which are colleges that offer a broad-based education and are less vocationally centered, already have <a href="https://www.marketplace.org/2020/08/20/some-small-colleges-closing-for-good-covid19/">collapsed</a>. </p>
<p>And anywhere from an estimated <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/02/01/new-book-examines-market-stress-bearing-down-colleges-and-universities">10%</a> to <a href="https://penntoday.upenn.edu/penn-in-the-news/coronavirus-pushes-colleges-breaking-point-forcing-hard-choices-about-education">20%</a> of these schools are in danger of closing because of the unique economic pressures that they face. There are about <a href="https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/ranking-category-definitions">200</a> liberal arts college in the U.S. What Steve and I say in the book is that this moment of multilayered crises – the pandemic as well as racial and social inequity, and economic and environmental instability – provides an opportunity for these colleges to radically reimagine and transform the nature of what they do.</p>
<p>For too long, many of these schools have been <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/5/1/18311548/college-admissions-secrets-myths">elitist, exclusive,</a> <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/us-liberal-arts-colleges-less-diverse-other-private-universities">overwhelmingly white</a> and <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/09/how-liberal-arts-colleges-are-failing-america/262711/">disconnected from the problems</a> the majority of people in the world face. They need to become institutions of access, equity, shared power and extraordinary relevance.</p>
<h2>Why should they focus on social mobility?</h2>
<p><strong>Steve Volk:</strong> Social mobility – that is, the ability of individuals born into low-income families to move into higher income brackets – has been <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/social-mobility-memos/2018/01/11/raj-chetty-in-14-charts-big-findings-on-opportunity-and-mobility-we-should-know/">stagnant</a> for decades. Only <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/social-mobility-memos/2018/01/11/raj-chetty-in-14-charts-big-findings-on-opportunity-and-mobility-we-should-know/">half</a> of Americans born in 1980 earn more money per year than their parents did at the same age. Education, which was long seen as an engine for social mobility, no longer fills this role.</p>
<p>Educational “merit” is determined within <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/02/learning/lesson-plans/still-separate-still-unequal-teaching-about-school-segregation-and-educational-inequality.html">unequal and highly segregated</a> K-12 school systems. These school systems are largely funded by property taxes and often <a href="https://www.educationdive.com/news/should-private-funding-be-allowed-in-public-schools/419978/">supplemented</a> by private donations that bring in <a href="https://scholar.harvard.edu/jlhochschild/publications/social-class-public-schools">significantly more resources</a> for wealthy districts.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, a substantial minority of low-income children are <a href="https://www.epi.org/publication/early-education-gaps-by-social-class-and-race-start-u-s-children-out-on-unequal-footing-a-summary-of-the-major-findings-in-inequalities-at-the-starting-gate/">so far behind</a> when they enter kindergarten that school success will be very hard. Even leaving cost apart, students from low-income families often lack the academic credentials (test scores, GPAs, AP courses, extracurriculars) to get into selective colleges. Or they <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/2013a_hoxby.pdf">don’t consider applying</a> in the first place. The result is that colleges have become part of “an inequality machine,” in the words of Georgetown research professor <a href="https://chronicle.brightspotcdn.com/f7/79/db2b3fdcdeb615fc3519d20ca5f4/chronfocus-inequalityv2-i.pdf">Anthony P. Carnevale</a>. </p>
<p>In 2017, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/01/18/upshot/some-colleges-have-more-students-from-the-top-1-percent-than-the-bottom-60.html">38 colleges</a> – several of which were small liberal arts colleges – enrolled more students from the top 1% of income earners than from the entire bottom 60%.</p>
<h2>Is it a problem that small liberal arts colleges are increasingly becoming enclaves for the wealthy?</h2>
<p>Absolutely, we would argue. We believe that education cannot nurture democracy if the peers with whom students engage are largely wealthy and privileged like themselves. If students do not daily engage with those whose lives have been shaped by struggles against poverty, racism or displacement, they will not understand the reality lived by a growing portion of U.S. society.</p>
<p>Liberal arts colleges have long understood the role they can play in creating a more just society. Yet <a href="https://chronicle.brightspotcdn.com/f7/79/db2b3fdcdeb615fc3519d20ca5f4/chronfocus-inequalityv2-i.pdf">financial pressures</a> and the chase for “the best and the brightest” students are pushing these colleges to “take the inequality given to them and magnify it,” as Carnevale stressed. They need to return to the promise of their mission statements if they are to continue to benefit both their students and U.S. democracy.</p>
<h2>How can these schools cut costs?</h2>
<p><strong>Volk:</strong> The fundamental financial problem of higher education rests on the fact that <a href="https://www.mhec.org/sites/default/files/resources/mhec_affordability_series7_20180730_2.pdf">instructional expenses continue to climb</a>. These increases are being driven by a variety of factors including the rising cost of skilled faculty, the fact that colleges prepare students for the working world, and that world is saturated in new technology that comes with its own price tag. They are also being driven by the <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2020/10/06/benefits-academics-only-college-opinion">expansion of services</a> colleges now see fit to provide, including comprehensive mental health and wellness counseling.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the wages that families relied on to pay for most of their children’s college tuition before 1970 have remained <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/08/07/for-most-us-workers-real-wages-have-barely-budged-for-decades/">stagnant for 40 years</a>. And public funding for higher education has <a href="https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/issue-briefs/2019/10/two-decades-of-change-in-federal-and-state-higher-education-funding">declined considerably</a> over the past 20 years. </p>
<p>Many colleges and universities have <a href="https://www.air.org/sites/default/files/downloads/report/Cost-Savings-or-Cost-Shifting-Contingent-Faculty-November-2016.pdf">cut their expenses</a> by reducing salaries and benefits, replacing full-time, tenure-track faculty with part-time and contingent staff. <a href="https://www.aaup.org/issues/contingency/background-facts">Adjunct instructors</a>, hired on a course-by-course basis and often without health care or other benefits, now outnumber full-time professors. This approach strikes us as fundamentally inequitable. </p>
<p>While private liberal arts colleges would benefit from policy changes that affect public institutions – changes such as expansion and increase of <a href="https://studentaid.gov/understand-aid/types/grants/pell">Pell grants</a> and <a href="https://studentaid.gov/manage-loans/forgiveness-cancellation">loan forgiveness programs</a> – they can also move to reduce their own costs and lower tuition. <a href="https://www.chronicle.com/newsletter/the-edge/2020-05-27">Catharine Hill</a>, a former president of Vassar, recently warned of the risks of colleges’ continuing to try to out-prestige one another.</p>
<p>While liberal arts colleges spend less on amenities designed to attract students than do larger universities, they still spend a <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2018/09/why-is-college-so-expensive-in-america/569884/">significant amount</a> on housing, meals and noninstructional student support services. “When we compete with each other, it pushes up costs,” Hill said. “We do cool things, but it costs more money.”</p>
<p>Chief among these is the awarding of <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/admissions/article/2020/06/01/author-discusses-new-book-merit-and-higher-education">merit scholarships</a>, which largely go to families that could afford to pay a full tuition. As education author <a href="https://www.chronicle.com/article/merit-aid-wont-help-colleges-survive/">Jeff Selingo once observed</a>, merit aid has turned into a financial burden for many colleges. It deprives the schools of funds that could support students in need even as colleges bring in less cash from wealthier students.</p>
<h2>Why should anyone care about the fate of small liberal arts colleges?</h2>
<p><strong>Beth:</strong> If small liberal arts colleges insist on retaining their exclusionary strategies at a time when America is experiencing this cultural shift, then we say good riddance.<br>
But if they do take this opportunity to become truly accessible institutions, there is so much our world stands to gain from a liberal arts ethos. Fundamental to that ethos is a commitment to the idea that knowledge can’t be compartmentalized or contained within one sphere or discipline; it’s the conversation and connections between these spheres that produce the most useful knowledge. Also fundamental is the residential component. Though the practice of living and learning together on a small campus stands to look very different on the other side of the pandemic, the aspect of regarding campus – be it virtual or actual – as a home, with all the intimacy that that entails, is a central feature of the liberal arts experience. </p>
<p>Steve and I believe that so much in the liberal arts approach has the promise to generate innovation that can solve the world’s urgent problems. With its emphasis on collaboration and creative problem-solving across a wide spectrum of disciplines, the liberal arts approach is well set up to provide students with the skills that are essential for <a href="https://widgets.weforum.org/nve-2015/chapter1.html">today’s global workforce</a> and for a <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/157845/case-liberal-arts-college-coronavirus-crisis">post-pandemic world</a>.</p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/147333/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>I wanted to disclose that I am the Founder and Director of the nonprofit organization, The Castle (legal name, Putnam County Coalition for Education and the Creative Arts), (<a href="http://www.castlearts.org">www.castlearts.org</a>) which partners with public schools in Putnam County, IN to create a culture of arts-integrated project-based learning.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Steven Volk does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>To secure a better future, small liberal arts colleges must focus on providing more opportunities for upward mobility, authors of a new book about the pandemic’s effect on the colleges say.Beth D. Benedix, Professor of World Literature, Religious Studies and Community Engagement, DePauw UniversitySteven Volk, Professor of History Emeritus, Co-Director, Consortium for Teaching and Learning, Great Lakes Colleges Association, Oberlin College and ConservatoryLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1169302019-05-16T04:06:43Z2019-05-16T04:06:43ZNew Gates-funded commission aims to put a value on a college education<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274783/original/file-20190516-69186-od7geq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A growing movement is forming to focus on the economic benefits of a college degree.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/vector-concept-investment-education-coins-books-232590190?src=0edn1SoedJ2gVKtXU0as8A-1-1">Alex Oakenman from www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Gates Foundation is poised to disrupt American higher education with a new <a href="http://postsecondaryvalue.org/">Postsecondary Value Commission</a>. As its name suggests, the commission aims to define the value of a college degree.</p>
<p>Among other things, the commission plans to “aid policymakers in gauging what the public gets for its investment in higher education.” If Congress listens to the commission, it could become harder for students majoring in the liberal arts or humanities to secure a federal loan or grant. </p>
<p>As a political scientist who <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=uUXDvV4AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">researches education policy</a>, I anticipate that the country will move to a two-tiered system. It will be one in which the affluent will be able to acquire a liberal arts education at elite private institutions, while students who depend on federal financial aid will be steered toward career-focused majors at public universities.</p>
<p>In effect, the country will have one higher education system for the rich and another one for everyone else.</p>
<h2>The goals of the commission</h2>
<p>The Gates Foundation has convened this commission to address a real problem: student debt. Total student loan debt in 2019 is <a href="https://medium.com/forbes/student-loan-debt-statistics-in-2019-a-1-5-trillion-crisis-5b0d975e252f">US$1.56 trillion</a>. There are <a href="https://medium.com/forbes/student-loan-debt-statistics-in-2019-a-1-5-trillion-crisis-5b0d975e252f">44.7 million</a> U.S. borrowers with student loan debt.</p>
<p>The commission will address a question that is on the minds of many families, policymakers and taxpayers. And that is: Is college worth it?</p>
<p>The commission will propose a definition of college value to guide policy conversations. In a conference call with reporters, Mildred Garcia, the commission co-chair, shared that she had just spent a day on Capitol Hill talking with legislators. She stated that “we are definitely hoping” that the commission’s work will “affect” the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act that controls – among other things – how federal student aid is disbursed.</p>
<p>Just as the Gates Foundation pulled off a revolution in K-12 education with its <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-bill-gates-pulled-off-the-swift-common-core-revolution/2014/06/07/a830e32e-ec34-11e3-9f5c-9075d5508f0a_story.html">support for the Common Core</a>, the foundation is serious about using policy advocacy and lobbying to enact “<a href="https://postsecondary.gatesfoundation.org/updates/help-wanted-supporting-colleges-and-universities-on-the-road-to-transformation/">institutional transformation</a>” of higher education. </p>
<p>For instance, commission member Anthony Carnevale, director of the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, recently noted how a recent move by President Donald Trump to focus more on outcomes of specific programs at colleges and universities is “one more step toward a widely supported movement to reorder higher education as we have known it.”</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274786/original/file-20190516-69169-16e4jxt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274786/original/file-20190516-69169-16e4jxt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274786/original/file-20190516-69169-16e4jxt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274786/original/file-20190516-69169-16e4jxt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274786/original/file-20190516-69169-16e4jxt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274786/original/file-20190516-69169-16e4jxt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274786/original/file-20190516-69169-16e4jxt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274786/original/file-20190516-69169-16e4jxt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Anthony Carnevale, director of the Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce, is a member of the new Postsecondary Value Commission.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://cew.georgetown.edu/about-us/staff/anthony-p-carnevale/">Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>“In a shift toward program-level outcomes, every college will be unbundled down to the program level – its identity, traditions and structure will become less important,” Carnevale wrote in an opinion piece titled “<a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2019/03/26/president-trumps-embrace-program-level-earnings-data-game-changing-opinion">The Revolution is Upon Us</a>.”</p>
<p>“Instead,” Carnevale wrote, “the outcomes of students in each particular major or field will be elevated in importance.”</p>
<p>Carnevale seemed to be aware of the potential threat this poses to the liberal arts. He wrote that society will have to “think of new models for assuring core liberal arts curricula that are essential to the well-rounded learning that students need.”</p>
<h2>Impact in question</h2>
<p>While the Gates commission aims to educate students and families about which colleges and majors are a worthwhile investment, this approach alone may not have much impact. </p>
<p>Presently, the U.S. Department of Education’s <a href="https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/">College Scorecard</a> collects and publicizes information about the debts and earnings of graduates from different colleges. </p>
<p>However, research <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center-chalkboard/2016/04/29/is-college-choice-impacted-by-data-in-the-college-scorecard/">has shown</a> that most students do not respond to earnings data provided by the College Scorecard. It’s true that colleges with graduates who have <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center-chalkboard/2016/04/29/is-college-choice-impacted-by-data-in-the-college-scorecard/">higher median earnings</a> have seen a slight rise in the SAT scores of students who enroll. The College Scorecard has also had some effect on where students from affluent public or private schools attend, but otherwise the College Scorecard <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2768157">does not</a> influence who goes to college or where.</p>
<h2>Accountable to whom?</h2>
<p>So how can this commission transform American higher education where earlier reforms have not worked? By encouraging Congress to make federal loans and grants available to students in some majors, such as engineering or business, where graduates tend to <a href="https://1gyhoq479ufd3yna29x7ubjn-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/The-Economic-Value-of-College-Majors-Full-Report-web-FINAL.pdf">earn a high salary</a> upon graduation. Conversely, Congress might be moved to make loans and grants unavailable for students in other majors, such as theology or humanities, where <a href="https://1gyhoq479ufd3yna29x7ubjn-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/The-Economic-Value-of-College-Majors-Full-Report-web-FINAL.pdf">graduates do not earn as much</a>. </p>
<p>Congress has already entertained this idea with the PROSPER Act. This higher education bill would have <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-accountability-efforts-in-higher-education-often-fail-91716">ended access to federal student loans</a> for students enrolled in programs with low loan repayment rates. </p>
<p>Democratic senators such as <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2019/03/18/cassidy-warren-reintroduce-college-transparency-act">Elizabeth Warren</a> of Massachusetts have co-sponsored the <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2019/03/18/cassidy-warren-reintroduce-college-transparency-act">College Transparency Act</a>. The act permits the federal government to collect earnings data on graduates from specific college programs and majors. </p>
<p>Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, chairman of the Senate Education Committee, wants to <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/02/05/alexander-lays-out-vision-new-higher-ed-law">rewrite the Higher Education Act</a> to collect data on program-level outcomes. </p>
<p>Even President Donald Trump has joined on the higher education accountability bandwagon, signing an <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/sites/default/server_files/media/White%20House%20Executive%20Order.pdf">executive order</a> requiring the College Scorecard to publish program-level average earnings and loan repayment rates. </p>
<p>Where will this higher education accountability movement lead? </p>
<p>According to Carnevale, it will lead to a “streamlining” of public university systems. Students at the flagship public university will still be able to major in English. But higher education must become accountable to stakeholders who don’t want to subsidize <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2019/03/26/president-trumps-embrace-program-level-earnings-data-game-changing-opinion">“mediocre programs”</a> on every branch campus. </p>
<h2>Democracy and the liberal arts</h2>
<p>Would it be a tragedy if society did not subsidize young people to major, if they so wish, in the liberal arts or humanities? Yes.</p>
<p>By focusing on the economic returns of higher education, the commission may lead policymakers to put less weight on the other reasons that students go to college, including to read humanity’s greatest books, grapple with big questions about justice, study in other countries, work at internships and think about what to do with the rest of one’s life.</p>
<p><em>Editor’s note: The Conversation has received funding from the Gates Foundation.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/116930/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicholas Tampio does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A political scientist explains how a new commission that wants to measure the economic value of a college degree could end up devaluing the liberal arts.Nicholas Tampio, Professor of Political Science, Fordham UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1032762018-10-25T10:49:03Z2018-10-25T10:49:03ZFirst-generation college students earn less than graduates whose parents went to college<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240950/original/file-20181017-165891-1ylpr14.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">First-generation college students face uneven prospects well after college.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/graduates-wear-graduation-gownsceremonies-university-1007276779?src=eRQTGXFqNha6UtcR8TVrtg-1-0">Nirat.pix/www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When discussions take place about first-generation college students, often the focus is on how <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/10/04/institutional-change-required-better-serve-first-generation-students-report-finds">disadvantaged</a> they are in comparison to their peers whose parents went to college.</p>
<p>Research we <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11162-018-9523-1">recently conducted</a> shows that first-generation college students experience another form of disadvantage that lasts long after they graduate – and that is: how much they earn.</p>
<p>We are sociologists who focus on topics of <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=DE8cCDAAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">career progression</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=iGlfsJcAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">class inequality</a>.</p>
<p>Using data from the federal <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/b&b/">Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study</a> for 1992-93 graduates, we found that first-generation college students earn substantially less 10 years after graduation than college graduates whose parents went to college. This is the most recent data available that follows young people for 10 years after they graduate – a time when young adults’ incomes typically become more stable.</p>
<h2>Substantial wage gaps</h2>
<p>Our research found that first-generation men and women go on to earn, respectively, 11 percent and 9 percent less per year – or US$7,500 for men and $4,350 for women – than their peers whose parents also graduated from college.</p>
<p>Even when we compare students who have the same characteristics and experiences – such as socio-demographic background, having children or not, the type of institution they attended, major and grade-point average – first-generation men and women still earn, respectively, 6 percent and 3 percent less than men and women college graduates whose parents went to college. This second comparison rules out the possibility that differences observed in the first comparison are due to differences in the individual attributes of the two groups.</p>
<p>The wage gaps are uneven across universities and majors. Colleges and universities that are somewhat selective show the largest wage advantage for graduates whose parents went to college. More elite and less selective schools report smaller gaps.</p>
<p>When it came to majors most associated with subjective criteria, such as arts and humanities, we found a wage gap among men as high as 17 percent. In other words, men who are first-generation and study arts and humanities don’t earn as much as their peers who study the same thing and whose parents went to college. However, for men with STEM, vocational and education majors, the gap is between 3 and 4 percent and not significant.</p>
<p>So, what drives wage differences between first-generation college graduates and graduates whose parents went to college? It is mostly labor market factors. First-generation graduates more often landed in jobs in the public and not-for-profit sectors, which tend to pay less than jobs in the private and for-profit sector. They were also less likely to work in urban areas, where wages are higher.</p>
<p>It is also interesting what won’t do much to change the wage gap between first-generation college graduates and their peers whose parents went to college: getting first-generation students to attend more elite colleges. Our research shows that elite college attendance would only lower the wage gap between first-generation college graduates and their peers among men, and even then only about 8 percent, or $600 annually. </p>
<p>Our findings suggest that <a href="https://www.jkcf.org/research/opening-doors-how-selective-colleges-and-universities-are-expanding-access-for-high-achieving-low-income-students/">well-intentioned efforts</a> to push first-generation students to attend the most prestigious colleges or to pursue higher-paying majors may not do much to change the wage gap that we discovered. First-generation students are already well-represented in several high-paying majors, such as business and health, so changing what first-generation students major in would not reverse the wage gap.</p>
<p>We also do not find much evidence of post-hiring discrimination by employers. In other words, first-generation college graduates with the same traits as their peers are paid the same amount when they enter the same occupations. </p>
<h2>Taking different jobs</h2>
<p>The issue is first-generation college students are not getting the same kind of jobs as their peers whose parents went to college. </p>
<p>Compared to their peers whose parents got a college degree, first-generation men are 4 percent less likely to be in the for profit sector and 3 percent more likely to be in state and local government. First-generation men are 4 percent more likely to be in clerical jobs and 3 percent more likely be in blue-collar jobs. They are 7 percent less likely to be in STEM professions. </p>
<p>This could be because first-generation college graduates are not familiar with the same types of jobs or don’t have the same kinds of networks as their peers whose parents went to college. It could also arise from where the jobs are located – first-generation graduates may live in different areas where there are fewer or worse job opportunities. They may also have a lower ability to relocate.</p>
<p>The difference in the kinds of jobs that first-generation graduates get could also arise from how employers in each field hire. For instance, <a href="https://www.scholars.northwestern.edu/en/publications/class-advantage-commitment-penalty-the-gendered-effect-of-social-">prior research</a> has shown that that <a href="https://www.sociologicalscience.com/articles-v5-24-562/">elite employers value</a> elite attributes more than working class attributes. One example is putting sailing on a resume versus track and field – elite employers are <a href="http://www-2.rotman.utoronto.ca/facbios/file/RiveraTilcsik.pdf">more likely to hire someone who sails</a>.</p>
<p>Though the gap is small for first-generation students with the same bachelor’s degrees, labor market sectors, jobs, locations, hours worked and demographic traits as their peers whose parents went to college, we still believe that this gap deserves attention, especially for those concerned with creating a meritocracy. While meritocracy means equal rewards for individuals who have reached the same colleges or jobs, we cannot ignore the fact that inequality by social origin plays a role in who reaches those colleges and jobs in the first place.</p>
<h2>Will wage gaps continue?</h2>
<p>One of the shortcomings of our research is that we look at students who graduated over 25 years ago. Data is currently being collected for how much those who graduated in 2008 are earning 10 years after graduation, but it will be a couple of years before it becomes available.</p>
<p>This more recent data will be key to understanding how the wage gap has changed over time. If it shows that a wage gap still exists 10 years later for both groups, it means that colleges, researchers and others concerned with fairness for first-generation college students must look at more than what kind of experience those students have in college. They will need to look at changing what happens after college – that is, what kind of jobs students get and how much money they earn.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/103276/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>First-generation college students earn substantially less than their peers whose parents went to college, new research shows.Anna Manzoni, Associate professor, North Carolina State UniversityJessi Streib, Assistant Professor of Socoilogy, Duke UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/865262017-10-31T22:01:52Z2017-10-31T22:01:52ZIs there too much emphasis on STEM fields at universities?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192335/original/file-20171029-13331-1y7do7z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Navdeep Bains, Canada's
innovation, science and economic development minister, takes part in a technology event in Ottawa in May 2017. The Canadian government has started up a $1.26-billion fund to support innovation-related business investments.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/stem-solutions/articles/2017-08-17/op-ed-is-the-investment-in-stem-education-paying-off">perception abounds</a> around the world that science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM subjects, matter more economically and academically than the humanities and social sciences.</p>
<p>China’s <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/china-targets-world-class-status-42-universities">plan to turn 42 designated universities</a> into “world class” science and technology powerhouses is the latest and starkest example. </p>
<p>Political and educational leaders everywhere hail the university’s role in driving economic growth and continue to introduce policies designed to achieve this goal. Students are responding to these signals by enrolling in increasingly large numbers in the STEM fields <a href="https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/as-students-move-away-from-humanities-programs-universities-adapt/article34207300/?ref=http://www.theglobeandmail.com&">at the expense of the arts and social sciences.</a> This is a worrisome trend and merits critical reflection.</p>
<p>Universities are no longer quaint preparation grounds for social and professional elites. They are multifaceted, frequently massive corporate entities that foster new knowledge, encourage cultural vitality and help prepare graduates in a vast range of fields to enrich the quality of their lives. </p>
<p>At their best, universities are bastions of exuberant debate, unparalleled tolerance and personal discovery. Of course, they are not always at their best, and narrow-mindedness in behaviour and programming can compromise their ideals and erode their distinctive scholarly qualities.</p>
<p>STEM programs are critical components of universities’ curricular and research missions, but so, too, are the liberal arts. And these programs should not be marginalized in market-driven, academic prioritization schemes. </p>
<h2>Liberal arts’ contributions to society</h2>
<p>The contribution of liberal arts to cultural and civic life is crucial and historically enduring. </p>
<p>Philosophers and political theorists have deepened our understanding of the ideological systems that govern our lives; historians preserve cultural memory and provide perspective on contemporary conflicts; novelists, poets and artists, both those who teach in universities and those who have studied in them, exhibit the infinite power of the imagination. </p>
<p>Nations that nourish these pursuits enhance the civility and spirit of their communities.</p>
<p>And like engineers and computer scientists, social science and humanities graduates contribute enormously to economic life. Tourists everywhere flock to galleries, museums and historic sites, staffed so often by higher education graduates, making tourism one of the world’s largest industries.</p>
<p>The health studies student who writes a thesis on food insecurity has learned how to conduct independent research, problem-solve and communicate effectively, skills that companies consider essential. </p>
<p>Those who are multilingual and have knowledge of foreign cultures help forge economic and social relations among nations.</p>
<h2>Liberal arts grads are versatile</h2>
<p>To understand differentiated learning strategies, now employed in the world’s best classrooms, teachers require a deep understanding of child development theories taught in education and psychology programs.</p>
<p>University graduates often end up in rewarding jobs that seem unrelated to their program specialization, but this is evidence of the versatility, not the irrelevance, of a high-quality university education.</p>
<p>Enlightened employers and recruiters in the STEM sector understand the added value of broad academic training.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192333/original/file-20171029-13311-pymln9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192333/original/file-20171029-13311-pymln9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192333/original/file-20171029-13311-pymln9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192333/original/file-20171029-13311-pymln9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192333/original/file-20171029-13311-pymln9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192333/original/file-20171029-13311-pymln9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192333/original/file-20171029-13311-pymln9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The world has more than 12.5 million recent graduates with STEM degrees, according to the World Economic Forum, which emphasizes a diverse skillset for a fast-changing global workplace. Still, perceptions persist that degrees in science, technology, engineering and math are best-suited for contributing to economic growth.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(The Human Capital Report 2016, World Economic Forum)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Stewart Butterfield, co-founder and CEO of <a href="https://slack.com/">Slack Technologies</a>, a remarkably successful American message-platforming startup, holds an undergraduate philosophy degree from the University of Victoria in British Columbia and a master’s degree in the philosophy and history of science from Cambridge. </p>
<p>As he told Forbes Magazine: </p>
<p>“Studying philosophy taught me two things. I learned how to write really clearly. I learned how to follow an argument all the way down, which is invaluable in running meetings. And when I studied the history of science, I learned about the ways that everyone believes something is true – like the old notion of some kind of ether in the air propagating gravitational forces – until they realized that it wasn’t true.” </p>
<p>He also hired Anna Pickard, who holds a theatre degree from the U.K., to be his editorial director, describing how he was impressed by her creative writing and her inventive “cat impersonations.”</p>
<p>Of course, no university graduate can be guaranteed a lucrative and rewarding career. Higher education is not insulated from economic downturns and instability.</p>
<p>Studies in Canada, for example, show that in buoyant times, <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/liberal-arts-grads-earn-about-10k-less-than-science-grads-1.3229367">STEM graduates earn more</a> than those from the arts and social sciences, though in the long term, the latter thrive and do far better than those with college level or no post-secondary education. In bad times, graduates from all fields struggle, including those from applied professional programs.</p>
<h2>Nortel’s collapse had impact</h2>
<p>In the late 1990s, in response to industry shortages, the government of the province of Ontario injected millions of dollars into universities that would commit to <a href="http://higheredstrategy.com/reminder-hot-jobs-and-hot-careers-never-last/">doubling the number of engineering and computer science graduates</a>.</p>
<p>In a few short years, <a href="https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/a-tale-of-toxicity-the-real-culprit-in-nortels-collapse/article7379114/?ref=http://www.theglobeandmail.com&">the tech bubble burst for Nortel Networks</a>, the Canadian-based high-tech giant that led the lobbying effort to expand the campus training programs. The collapse cost thousands of employees their jobs and left universities with under-enrolled science and tech departments.</p>
<p>One enduring problem is precarious or part-time employment. This especially affects unskilled labour, but the university-educated are not immune from part-time work with low wages and no benefits. Even universities fuel the new precariousness. </p>
<p>Ontario’s post-secondary institutions <a href="https://ocufa.on.ca/press-releases/rising-precarious-employment-threatens-quality-of-university-education-say-ontario-professors/">depend heavily</a> on highly trained contractually limited faculty to teach undergraduate and diploma students, a phenomenon common throughout the economy in many fields – not simply the arts. </p>
<p>In the United States, between 1975 and 2014, the proportion of faculty <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/04/the-ever-shrinking-role-of-tenured-college-professors-in-1-chart/274849/">with full-time tenured positions</a> fell by 26 per cent and the number of those with part-time instructional appointments grew by 70 per cent. Precarious employment, a systemic problem from which no sector is immune, must be addressed by enlightened social and economic policy.</p>
<p>Notwithstanding the undulations of the international economy, science and technology are considered leaders in the innovation wars now under way in advanced economies, and universities train the soldiers for the innovation frontlines. </p>
<h2>High-tech jobs not at the top</h2>
<p>Yet high-tech employment by no means leads these nations’ occupational sectors, constituting <a href="http://brookfieldinstitute.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/The-State-of-Canadas-Tech-Sector-2016-V2.pdf">just 5.6 per cent of the labour force in Canada</a> and <a href="http://www.us.jll.com/united-states/en-us/Research/US-Tech-Employment-Trends-2016-JLL.pdf">5.9 per cent</a> in the United States. </p>
<p>Leaders of educational institutions, concerned about the employability of graduates, should therefore avoid over-investing in these areas and instead sustain academic and curricular diversity, including the liberal arts, which engage students in crucial questions about the human condition.</p>
<p>Among those questions are those pondering the future of work itself.</p>
<p>As physicist Stephen Hawking points out, artificial intelligence and robotics are likely to render huge portions of the world’s population unemployable.</p>
<p>“I believe that society needs to confront this question before it is upon us: if machines are capable of doing almost any work humans can do, what will humans do?” he said <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/12155808/Robots-will-take-over-most-jobs-within-30-years-experts-warn.html">in an interview</a> last year.</p>
<p>This is a profound challenge requiring the deep thinking of real people in all academic disciplines.</p>
<p>China, especially, should cultivate broad scholarship in its universities, which are not known for fostering academic freedom, critical thinking and intellectual autonomy. Their institutions’ high rankings in the STEM areas will seem rather hollow in the absence of these core university values.</p>
<p><em>This piece originally appeared on YaleGlobalOnline (http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/are-stem-fields-over-prioritized-higher-education)</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/86526/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Axelrod does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>If leaders of educational institutions are concerned about the employability of graduates, they should avoid over-investing in STEM subjects and stop snubbing liberal arts.Paul Axelrod, Professor Emeritus, Education and History, York University, CanadaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/744202017-03-29T01:45:01Z2017-03-29T01:45:01ZDoes it pay to get a double major in college?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/162999/original/image-20170328-3824-171jic.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Whether you have two majors or one, graduation is a celebration.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/education-graduation-people-concept-silhouettes-many-451321816">Syda Productions/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Students are bombarded with an array of competing opportunities during college, all with the promise that each will lead to a better job or higher earnings upon entering the “real world.”</p>
<p>One such option is the double major, in which a student earns two bachelor degrees at once, sometimes in entirely different disciplines. But will doing so lead to a higher-paying job? Is it worth the “lost” time that could have been spent in other activities such as internships or student government?</p>
<p>In college, I earned several degrees, which led to a broader education that I believe enriched the quality and creativity of my thinking and improved my career prospects. As an economist-in-training, however, I wanted hard data to back up my anecdotal experience. </p>
<p>To do this, I crunched some numbers from the Census Bureau on over two million full-time workers and analyzed them to see if there’s a connection between earning multiple degrees and financial gain in the years following graduation.</p>
<h2>Double-majoring on the decline?</h2>
<p>While double majors have been a <a href="http://www.humanitiescommission.org/_pdf/hss_report.pdf">popular way to balance</a> a deep study of the humanities with traditional degrees in the sciences, basic tabulations suggest that the percent of workers with a double major has been roughly constant, or even decreasing, over the past six years depending on how one restricts the sample.</p>
<p>For example, looking at all individuals between ages 20 and 29, only 12.5 percent of the population had a double major in 2015, which is down from 14.2 percent in 2009, according to my calculations from the <a href="https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/about/how-the-acs-works.html">American Community Survey (ACS) Census</a> data. At the same time, the percent of workers within the same age range with any kind of college degree grew from roughly 23 to 36 percent. </p>
<p>On the one hand, double-majoring can help students avoid becoming overly specialized, <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ999086">exposing them to new ways of thinking</a> and communicating with others outside their primary area. On the other, it creates a trade-off with other educational opportunities.</p>
<p>In 2013, the National Commission on Higher Education Attainment went so far as to <a href="http://www.acenet.edu/news-room/Documents/An-Open-Letter-to-College-and-University-Leaders.pdf">urge universities</a> to “narrow student choice” to promote degree completion – perhaps by restricting or even banning the completion of double majors.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163004/original/image-20170328-3772-c3y010.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163004/original/image-20170328-3772-c3y010.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163004/original/image-20170328-3772-c3y010.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163004/original/image-20170328-3772-c3y010.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163004/original/image-20170328-3772-c3y010.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163004/original/image-20170328-3772-c3y010.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163004/original/image-20170328-3772-c3y010.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">While the number of college graduates in the workforce is growing, the number of double majors is shrinking.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/two-young-caucasian-teenager-doing-homework-524995729?src=eCrn33aa2-p3H6vDR8X9yg-1-83">Francesco Corticchia/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What existing research says</h2>
<p>Previous research on whether a double major pays off has shown mixed results. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09645290802469931?journalCode=cede20">A 2011 paper</a> found that a double major, on average, yields a 3.2 percent earnings premium over a peer with only one degree. The paper noted that the premium ranged from nothing at liberal arts colleges to almost 4 percent at “research and comprehensive” universities. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-benefit-cost-analysis/article/div-classtitlethe-private-and-social-benefits-of-double-majorsdiv/CD1696DBF93DEFE3C2D3A759D6F0895B">more recent study</a>, published in 2016, concluded that liberal arts students who tacked on a second degree in either business or a science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) field earned somewhat more than their single-major peers. But the authors noted that there was no premium when compared with a single STEM or business degree. </p>
<p>Both of these papers, however, are based on relatively small cross-sections of individuals, which makes them less representative and limits their statistical power. In addition, they focus on single years – 2003 and 2010, respectively – which means the results may be affected by any transient economic conditions that occurred that year. </p>
<h2>What my research showed</h2>
<p>In my own analysis, I examined data on over two million full-time workers aged 20 to 65 over a six-year period (2009-2015) using Census Bureau data. The bureau provides the largest source of publicly available information on individuals and households, helping to ensure that the analysis is both representative and detailed. The data set included information on each individual’s earnings, occupation, undergraduate degrees and a wide range of other demographic data. </p>
<p>My results showed that liberal arts students who take on a second degree in a STEM field earned, on average, 9.5 percent more than their liberal arts peers with only one major, after controlling for individual demographic factors, such as age, years of schooling, marital status, gender, family size and race. Students who combined a liberal arts degree with a business major earned 7.9 percent more.</p>
<iframe src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/vwsHO/2/" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" oallowfullscreen="oallowfullscreen" msallowfullscreen="msallowfullscreen" width="100%" height="500"></iframe>
<p>You might be thinking that this isn’t really a surprise. Of course STEM majors will earn more than their liberal arts counterparts. While my analysis already controls for the fact that STEM and business majors generally earn more than their counterparts, I wanted to dig a little deeper. So I restricted the sample to compare STEM-liberal arts double majors with those with a single STEM degree. Although the premium shrinks, engineers and scientists who take on an extra liberal arts degree earned 3.6 percent more, on average.</p>
<p>I also wanted to see if the premium exists when comparing people in similar occupations. For example, consider two journalism school grads, one with a single degree, the other with a second in engineering. Naturally the one who becomes a <a href="https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/journalist-salary-SRCH_KO0,10.htm">working journalist</a>, which generally pays poorly, will earn less than his classmate who decided journalism wasn’t for her and got a job at <a href="https://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Google-Salaries-E9079.htm">Google</a>.</p>
<p>So, controlling for occupation, I found that the returns to double-majoring in liberal arts and STEM were 5.2 percent, and 3.4 percent with a business degree. In other words, even when we look within narrow occupational categories, those who double-majored across fields tended to earn more than those with a single degree.</p>
<iframe src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/l5hL9/4/" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" oallowfullscreen="oallowfullscreen" msallowfullscreen="msallowfullscreen" width="100%" height="600"></iframe>
<h2>So should I double major?</h2>
<p>So for those of you about to head to college, should you go for a double major? Or should you advise it to your kids? </p>
<p>As with anything, it depends. I tried to make my analysis as robust as possible, but it’s still not entirely clear whether the connection between the double degrees and higher earnings is causal. However, my results do suggest it’s more than mere correlation.</p>
<p>Furthermore, an association with higher earnings doesn’t mean the double major is right for everyone, particularly since the premium varies based on an individual’s own career path and preferences. Every college student needs to weigh the pros and cons of every potential opportunity, from picking up a second degree to joining student government. </p>
<p>My research suggests, however, that students who are eager to expose themselves to more frames of thinking and disciplinary knowledge may well be investing in the very foundation that prepares them for a successful and innovative career.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/74420/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christos A. Makridis does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Double-majoring is thought to broaden your horizons and give you more career options. A new look at seven years of U.S. census data tells us that there may be a financial benefit as well.Christos A. Makridis, Ph.D. Candidate in Labor and Public Economics, Stanford UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/556032016-04-26T10:44:48Z2016-04-26T10:44:48ZWhy the Renaissance man – and woman – is making a comeback<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/120167/original/image-20160426-1352-jigt64.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">hidesy/Shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As anyone who has visited the London Science Museum’s <a href="http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/visitmuseum/plan_your_visit/exhibitions/leonardo">current exhibition</a> will know, Leonardo da Vinci is famed as an artist, mathematician, inventor, writer … the list goes on. He was a figure who did not see disciplines as a chequerboard of independent black and white tiles, but a vibrant palette of colour ready to be combined harmoniously and gracefully. Today, the polymath may seem like a relic of the past. But with an emerging drive towards interdisciplinarity in research and across the tech and creative sectors, the Renaissance man – and woman – is making a comeback.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/120187/original/image-20160426-1339-nkcvvi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/120187/original/image-20160426-1339-nkcvvi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/120187/original/image-20160426-1339-nkcvvi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=822&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120187/original/image-20160426-1339-nkcvvi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=822&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120187/original/image-20160426-1339-nkcvvi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=822&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120187/original/image-20160426-1339-nkcvvi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1033&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120187/original/image-20160426-1339-nkcvvi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1033&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120187/original/image-20160426-1339-nkcvvi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1033&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Not just an artist: Leonardo’s studies of the foetus in the womb.</span>
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<p>Often cited as the archetypal “Renaissance man”, Leonardo came from an era in which the well-rounded individual, prolific and curious of mind, was highly valued. A comprehensive education was the marker of a gentleman. Universities were seats of broad learning, tasked with preparing future apprentices by encouraging them to interrogate and question many aspects of science, philosophy, theology and the arts.</p>
<p>The typical contemporary university is rather different. Targeted learning dominates today, particularly in the UK. Students are forced to specialise earlier and earlier – to be a doctor before you’re 30, you’ll need to know that you want to practice medicine by the time you’re 16. Undergraduate students are trying desperately to align themselves with what seems like a universal drive towards hyper-specialism. A <a href="http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/highereducation/documents/2015/patternsandtrends2015.pdf">2015 report</a> by Universities UK, revealed a boom in higher education entrants pursuing specialised subject areas such as business and administration studies, engineering and the biological sciences. In the same year, combined award degree enrolment saw a sharp decline of 54%. </p>
<p>This is perhaps to be expected. Incoming students are simply responding to a professional world that is extremely competitive, and so see hyperspecialism as a way of distinguishing themselves from the crowd. But monomath ubiquity has its pitfalls. </p>
<p>Within the sciences, experts quickly get out of touch with content beyond their immediate area and become siloed. Within the arts, those who gravitate towards a single practice such as creative writing, acting or photography often sidestep the benefits that multidisciplinarity lends to creativity. Super focused, one-track graduates run the risk of slipping off the career ladder should they wish or need to transition between fields in years to come.</p>
<h2>The contemporary polymath</h2>
<p>Individuals who set out to be proficient at many things are rare. Practitioners who cross the arts/sciences chasm seem few and far between. But this is unlikely to be true for much longer when we consider that some of the fastest growing and most influential fields of research – such as <a href="http://www.futureearth.org/themes/global-sustainable-development">global sustainability</a> or <a href="http://www.bioplanet.com/what-is-bioinformatics/">bioinformatics</a> – straddle, distort and even disregard traditional discipline boundaries. Take “<a href="http://lexicon.ft.com/Term?term=serious-games">serious games</a>”, a category of game design that attempts to solve real world problems. With applications in education, psychology, the military, archiving and healthcare, it is easy to appreciate the value of a serious games developer who can operate fluidly across multiple subject areas. </p>
<p>For new economies to emerge, and breakthroughs to be made, we need multi-specialised lateral thinkers who can connect the dots in unexpected ways. We need contemporary Leonardos. We need 21st century polymaths.</p>
<p>Tech companies such as Google understand this, and look for ways to expose their employees to methods of thinking that fall outside their immediate experience. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/atgoogletalks">Talks at Google</a> was launched precisely for this reason. The programme invites fantasy writers, top chefs, fringe comedians, and popular musicians into Google HQ to talk about their art. </p>
<p>Last year saw Micheal Moore critiquing US international strategy in “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcxKooNIPo4">Where to Invade Next</a>”, cast members of the West End’s The Illusionist <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFRfsbAk7pE">revealing insights</a> into the world of magic, and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CW8HK90ic4">Magnus Nilsson</a> sharing the nuances of Nordic food culture. Talks at Google serves as a forum for internal enrichment, with an expectation that encountering the myriad ways in which the minds of its presenters are wired will jolt its employees into thinking outside of the box.</p>
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<p>This sort of cross-pollination isn’t limited to the tech giants either. It’s a big deal in research. Major UK and EU funding bodies such as <a href="https://www.gov.uk/horizon-2020">Horizon 2020</a> and the <a href="http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/">Arts and Humanities Research Council</a> prioritise interdisciplinary collaboration, looking favourably on bids that cut across fields of study. Some of this year’s “hot themes” that bring together scientists, designers, artists and technologists collide virtual reality with heritage, smart device app development with healthcare, and big data with climatology. The success of such research relies on open minded, inquisitive people who know enough about one another’s disciplines to find meaningful points of synergy.</p>
<p>Our universities should strive to nurture this type of individual. One that rejects the frankly artificial confines that currently exist. One that has the ability to identify novel resonances between disciplines that others just don’t see. </p>
<p>Polymathism in the 21st century is no longer about “mastering” multiple fields of study, nor is it about being a generalist. It’s about acquiring a set of critical attributes that allow one to excel across subject areas as opportunities occur, and to negotiate interdisciplinary collaboration with a critical eye, and an informed outlook.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/55603/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lee Scott does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In future, we’ll all need to be a little more like Leonardo da Vinci.Lee Scott, Subject Leader in Creative Computing, Bath Spa UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/537792016-03-10T11:11:43Z2016-03-10T11:11:43ZDo polygamous marriages among liberal arts disciplines produce better scientists?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/114537/original/image-20160309-13737-zmjxl6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Is a fact-bound science curriculum enough to become a good scientist?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/illinoisspringfield/12910800013/in/photolist-kETe3e-4TPNzD-9YjzDw-9YgK3R-ebGSib-bWeFpc-hH87L2-9YjABu-brk8QS-9YgHUZ-9YgHqM-9YjCDj-9YjCKf-9YgJJp-9YgJBZ-9YjC2A-9YjB8m-9YgGvV-bow5EU-9YjBLw-9YjA8G-9YgG7i-9yCsGe-9YgHC6-btKgUd-a1vRyQ-9YgGEk-9YgFXH-9YgFrM-a1vTTm-9YgH8Z-8sB37b-a1ce8B-a1vTML-9YgF8M-8sxZk4-9qfULH-a1ckkp-fmFDVG-edPaVx-dkg7Ka-a9uhY4-a1vTp9-oQLcUt-a1vR2q-hH9dRp-bBqZ7K-rjoD8G-7T2LdU-8sxXWR">Illinois Springfield</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>At a time when <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/22/business/a-rising-call-to-promote-stem-education-and-cut-liberal-arts-funding.html?emc=eta1">states are proposing</a> to cut funding to nudge students away from the humanities toward “more job-friendly” STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) subjects, I want to make a confession: I am the love child of an affair between academic worlds. My career in science is a case study of the significance of the social sciences and humanities in science education.</p>
<p>And why is this important?</p>
<p>A liberal arts education exposed me to new and intriguing ideas and people, and made subtle yet significant contributions to my understanding of what science is, how it’s done and how advancements are made.</p>
<p>As a freshman biology major, I had eureka moments in two nonscience courses that affected my learning of how to think, and what to think about – all of which has made me a better scientist and science educator.</p>
<h2>Social evolution, taught by social scientists</h2>
<p>The Vietnam War was ever-present during my freshman year. The politics of the Nixon administration were passionately debated on campus, leading to antiwar demonstrations and disruption of class schedules. </p>
<p>Academic life became a semichaotic admixture of protest, coursework and reflective discussion. </p>
<p>Classes were sometimes canceled due to bomb threats (Calculus 101 met at every other scheduled time for a few weeks in 1970) or served as an impromptu forum for political discourse. One lecture in a genetics class, for example, became a presentation on antipersonnel weapons (designed specifically for bodily injury) used by the U.S. against the North Vietnamese.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/114532/original/image-20160309-13730-ckvotb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/114532/original/image-20160309-13730-ckvotb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/114532/original/image-20160309-13730-ckvotb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/114532/original/image-20160309-13730-ckvotb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/114532/original/image-20160309-13730-ckvotb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/114532/original/image-20160309-13730-ckvotb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/114532/original/image-20160309-13730-ckvotb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Liberal arts teach future scientists how to think critically.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/61992100@N03/6037211848/in/photolist-9CaJbV-9D2S3T-9EUn5G-a9u4yR-9D2Rm4-9CaHAt-acrs2z-9CdBid-9CqcCU-9EUpB7-aaeT4g-9CduQ7-9CaGiz-9CaGaV-a9wNBq-a7HMmT-a5ScWS-9D39iV-9CmLzR-9EUkb9-9EUuau-acuhKs-9Cqidf-a9M53v-acrsd4-9D5L3h-9Cnid8-9EUvZ3-9Co3BG-9CpFNC-a9u3XK-a3XfeY-abTdfw-9Cm5Hc-9Ckdop-abThBm-9zu6fx-9Cqb9s-9Juy8J-9CduE9-9Cp1Hd-9CdAt3-a9wQ61-a5kc1Z-9Cm24t-9CaFM6-9Caz2X-9CdDdN-9Cka48-a5fZkv">Anthro136k Who Owns the Past</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I was enrolled at this time in an introductory anthropology class to satisfy the social science requirement of the liberal arts degree. </p>
<p>In a lecture that followed the showing of Robert Gardner’s classic documentary film “<a href="http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2013/10/an-ancient-tribe-and-change/">Dead Birds</a>,” an account of battles among Dani tribes in the New Guinea highlands, the professor attempted to explain the origin of human warfare in light of combat in <a href="http://www.mqup.ca/rethinking-social-evolution-products-9780773531109.php">small-scale societies</a> and its relevance to the antiwar movement.</p>
<p>He liberally (and uncritically, as I would later learn) applied evolutionary thinking to attempt to provide a deep functional analysis of human conflict. As I was a member of the counterculture and holder of a 2S deferment (which postponed my eligibility for military service while a student) – so, a potential draftee to fight in the South Asian war – my ears perked up.</p>
<p>Derived from a theory developed by the population ecologist <a href="http://garfield.library.upenn.edu/classics1980/A1980JV27800001.pdf">V.C. Wynne-Edwards</a> in the early 1960s that ascribed a role for social behavior in the regulation of animal group size, my anthro prof proposed that war evolved to control the size of human populations. </p>
<p>He said people go to war for an ecological purpose – to prevent overpopulation and extinction. Fewer people equal less strain on limited resources, so we need to downsize if our species is to continue. </p>
<p>In a nutshell, war evolved so that we don’t go extinct.</p>
<p>The problem with this idea, the prof said, is that wars don’t kill enough people to significantly reduce population size, implying that it could work if more died in conflict.</p>
<p>Even to my naive ears, the argument didn’t sound logical.</p>
<p>This was my first encounter with an evolutionary model called <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/72/1/143.full.pdf">group selection</a>. The model could be (and has been) discredited with <a href="http://press.princeton.edu/titles/558.html">Darwinian reasoning</a>. After all, why should individuals give up their potential to reproduce for the benefit of our species as a whole? </p>
<p>A “cheater” in this social system (in this case, someone who does not altruistically volunteer to lay down his life in war to reduce population size) who survived to reproduce, would pass on genes – perhaps for diplomacy and pacifism – rather than self-sacrifice in battle.</p>
<p>It wasn’t in my biology classes, however, that I learned to think critically about how natural selection works, nor was I exposed to this line of evolutionary thought. </p>
<p>That brief discussion in Anthro 101 left a lasting impression, exposing me to an evolutionary argument that resonates today, as an evolutionary biologist who routinely teaches current paradigms of the origin of altruism. </p>
<h2>Innovation in music and science</h2>
<p>In the same year, my humanities requirement was met by a pair of music history classes that began with medieval chant and concluded with 20th-century composition.</p>
<p>Here I first heard the music of <a href="http://www.charlesives.org/">Charles Ives</a>, the American composer who in the early 1900s experimented with polytonality (simultaneously writing in more than one key), dissonance and unusual spatial arrangements of orchestra members during live performances, all before modernism took hold.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/114527/original/image-20160309-13704-1xuiv68.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/114527/original/image-20160309-13704-1xuiv68.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/114527/original/image-20160309-13704-1xuiv68.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/114527/original/image-20160309-13704-1xuiv68.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/114527/original/image-20160309-13704-1xuiv68.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/114527/original/image-20160309-13704-1xuiv68.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/114527/original/image-20160309-13704-1xuiv68.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Music can teach how to push new ideas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/djvenus/4711307600/in/photolist-8bjFBo-dLAAzQ-5ryxrY-9kXMv9-dWutb1-8Fskd1-acT3X4-pCnK53-dLv4xP-dLAADm-8uExxS-bU7Pe2-8uBa5F-8uEunw-8uEk4s-dLAACj-qZBag-b2TAcK-9kXMvj-qzA5Um-4Wkyg4-oSdree-7V3f15-9GKxNn-8uEWcY-81Z2xJ-8uBaSv-fDZ8Zb-7XEZj7-exLvxf-bU7XX2-dLv4xr-7fZJNZ-31SvGT-qU96LS-9irHBo-8uEkow-acT2UH-bhvvgX-8uFcPE-8uEwN9-8uBfHz-dVAW84-cXVg8G-8s8U5v-8uBsZp-dVAkbw-oLkw84-8gvS5-oXZeys">Venus Kitastojgawasic</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I heard works of Ives that motivated me to purchase his “Piano Sonata No. 2, Concord, Mass., 1840-1860,” and later, the score.</p>
<p>The movements, named for the American novelists, poets and thinkers Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, the Alcotts and Henry David Thoreau, are in some measures indicated by Ives to be played “as fast as you can,” and for certain notes to be heard “as a distant echo on Walden.” </p>
<p>The unusual way Ives indicated dynamics, execution and his poetic sensitivity was an extraordinary contrast to the structure of baroque and classical music. It was a remarkably illuminating example of innovation in expression. </p>
<p>Hearing the sonata and reading Ives’ interpretive notes was a transformative experience.</p>
<p>The music of Ives had nothing directly to do with science, but taught me it’s possible to introduce new ideas, push the envelope and be ahead of your time. Once again, I didn’t learn this in a science curriculum that emphasized facts over imagination rather than elegance in experimental design, and creativity and its genesis.</p>
<p>Intellectual challenge and scholarship appeared to be more evident in anthropology (whether or not correct) and music. Provocative thinking seemed to lie outside of undergraduate biology. What was obvious to me in music was not-so-obviously missing then in my formal science training. </p>
<p>The excitement of science as a way of thinking was ignored in lectures and texts that suffered from dry rot.</p>
<h2>A unified and rich intellectual harvest</h2>
<p>Of late, both scientists and corporate leaders have been <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/02/18/we-dont-need-more-stem-majors-we-need-more-stem-majors-with-liberal-arts-training/">advocating</a> greater emphasis on liberal arts training in STEM fields. But there is no consensus on how such an integration affects the development of scientific thinking and scientists.</p>
<p>In overly <a href="http://thefederalist.com/2015/06/02/the-liberal-arts-are-dead-long-live-stem/">simplistic and inaccurate dichotomies</a>, the liberal arts, as Dartmouth College Professor of History <a href="Dartmouth%20College%20Professor%20of%20History%20Cecilia%20Gaposchkin">Cecilia Gaposchkin</a> says, “have been needlessly, indeed recklessly, portrayed as the villain and STEM fields (falsely) portrayed as the <a href="https://theconversation.com/here-are-some-more-reasons-why-liberal-arts-matter-49638">very opposite</a> of the liberal arts”. </p>
<p>But the liberal arts – of which natural science is one – are united by the same creative pulse of the human spirit. The stereotypical view that knowledge of the humanities poetically reflects beauty but lacks real-world application and that science is powerful and economically practical – while deprecating the essence of our humanity – should be laid to rest.</p>
<p>Intellectual hybridization in science traditionally operates within disciplines to bridge conceptually separate areas of inquiry such as genetics and behavior or physiology and ecology, or between adjacent disciplines like biology, chemistry and physics. </p>
<p>As my experience shows, broader disciplinary cross-fertilization can also have a deep impact.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/53779/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>James F.A. Traniello does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A scientist explains how a liberal arts education made ‘subtle yet significant contributions’ to his understanding of what science is, how it’s done, and how advancements are made.James F.A. Traniello, Professor of Biology, Boston UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/496382015-11-05T11:11:11Z2015-11-05T11:11:11ZHere are some more reasons why liberal arts matter<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/100758/original/image-20151104-29082-w67djv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What constitutes liberal arts?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/ucentralarkansas/15344848005/in/photolist-pnYmGV-p6u71q-pnWMxN-oEEvfT-oekYB2-kLeyL2-owmTqV-dveBH2-5XdueK-owfKu6-zbGepm-ztBaER-a7US9d-gjQY2P-zrfmD9-vedWUa-vedQTn-azGqUh-azGrv1-azDLtr-azGrcf-azDLGT-azGr3E-azGqLj-azGrzd-9PJBvQ-ovpTMx-bhySYn-bhySyv-deLp81-ddJVFF-5SN7Zo-efBgZ5-efvw9x-efvwb2-efvwai-dnrQxK-4hLRBK-s42PJr-vedUL2-vbRY7A-uWAMxW-veu9Fn-uWHLJt-uWJ4MM-uWA3ed-vbRYnW-vbUPCq-vdDNt5-veaTPi">University of Central Arkansas</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Lately, in the <a href="http://news.sciencemag.org/2010/09/obama-advisers-call-greater-emphasis-stem-education">heated call</a> for greater STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) education at every level, the traditional liberal arts have been needlessly, indeed recklessly, <a href="http://thefederalist.com/2015/06/02/the-liberal-arts-are-dead-long-live-stem/">portrayed</a> as the villain. And STEM fields have been (falsely) portrayed as the very opposite of the liberal arts. </p>
<p>The detractors of the liberal arts (who usually mean, by liberal arts, “humanities”) tend to argue that STEM-based education trains for careers while non-STEM training does not; they are often suspicious of the liberal political agenda of some disciplines. And they deem the content of a liberal arts education to be no longer relevant. The author of a recent article simply titled, “<a href="http://thefederalist.com/2015/06/02/the-liberal-arts-are-dead-long-live-stem/">The Liberal Arts are Dead; Long Live STEM</a> conveyed this sentiment when he said, "Science is better for society than the arts.” </p>
<p>I see this misunderstanding even at my own institution, as a humanist who oversees pre-major advising and thus engages with students and faculty (and parents) from all over the university. The idea that STEM is something separate and different than the liberal arts is damaging to both the sciences and their sister disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. </p>
<p>Pro-STEM attitudes assume that the liberal arts are quaint, impractical, often elitist, and always self-indulgent, while STEM fields are practical, technical, and represent at once “the future” and “proper earning potential.” </p>
<h2>STEM is part of liberal arts</h2>
<p>First, let’s be clear: This is a false and misleading dichotomy. STEM disciplines are a part of the liberal arts. Math and science <em>are</em> liberal arts.</p>
<p>In the ancient and medieval world, when the liberal arts as we know them began to take shape, they comprised <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/title/seven-liberal-arts-in-the-middle-ages/oclc/9557474&referer=brief_results">grammar, logic, rhetoric, music, arithmetic, geometry and astronomy</a> (the last three we would count as STEM disciplines today; and music, dealing mostly with numerical relationships through sound, was really more akin to what we would today call physics). </p>
<p>Advocates of STEM are missing the point. The value of a liberal arts education is not in the <em>content</em> that is taught, but rather in the mode of teaching and in the intellectual skills that are gained by <a href="http://cae.org/images/uploads/pdf/Majors_Matter_Differential_Performance_on_a_Test_of_General_College_Outcomes.pdf">learning how to think systematically</a> and rigorously. </p>
<p>These <a href="http://cae.org/images/uploads/pdf/Majors_Matter_Differential_Performance_on_a_Test_of_General_College_Outcomes.pdf">intellectual skills</a> include how to assess assumptions; develop strategies from problem solving; test ideas against evidence; use reason to grapple with information to come to new conclusions; and develop courses of action to pursue those conclusions. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/100759/original/image-20151104-29054-3izjr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/100759/original/image-20151104-29054-3izjr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100759/original/image-20151104-29054-3izjr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100759/original/image-20151104-29054-3izjr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100759/original/image-20151104-29054-3izjr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100759/original/image-20151104-29054-3izjr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100759/original/image-20151104-29054-3izjr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Isn’t STEM part of liberal arts?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/brookhavenlab/7852456616/in/photolist-cXTTM3-egWMp9-jDyoUU-jDxxx5-jDynyC-8NUUAR-jDvomK-nEovGx-rxzshz-hxX8dX-ny9deQ-dYPgWE-fgE1w5-jDwfLR-dYPoWU-5okgm9-jbQLZq-dYPnbC-dYPjP5-dYHBvg-ffPBPT-dYHEh8-dYHBD6-dYHzV4-dYHzK2-dYPh3U-akiADg-pb3pS4-2yGPmF-djRJrz-q5G2vq-q4WybS-pPGsT3-q6SayD-bH9c2r-dkRwhy-2kht8N-akiAut-q7aPJd-akmjs3-qBcQ2L-vFRzPo-8Evc1-dN4ZLt-dNayNC-dNayzd-jBg9ur-qRukRY-qTGNQh-qBk6RZ">Brookhaven National Laboratory</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Yes, some disciplines might prepare for certain types of problem solving (how do I get a computer to integrate information from two different consumer data platforms in the most elegant fashion?) more strongly than others (what do I recommend to investors based upon my French-language research of markets in Madagascar?). </p>
<p>And some areas of knowledge might be more useful than others in certain industries.</p>
<p>But in all cases, the point of the liberal arts approach is to learn <em>how</em> to think, not simply <em>what</em> to know – especially since information itself is now so easily acquired through Google and the smartphone. If anything, content is too abundant for any single individual to master. What is much more important is knowing what on Earth to do with the glut of information available in most situations. </p>
<p>And here is where the liberal arts training comes in.</p>
<p>A liberal arts education (STEM-based or otherwise) is not just about learning content, but about knowing how to sort through ambiguity; work with inexact or incomplete information, evaluate contexts and advance a conclusion or course of action. </p>
<p>In other words, it is not about learning the prescription to achieve a textbook result. It is about having the intellectual capacity to attack those issues for which there is yet no metaphorical text or answer.</p>
<h2>Is liberal arts the choice of the elite?</h2>
<p>Now, let us take up the elephant in the room. Many people would argue an engineering degree balanced with some English courses might be a nice idea. </p>
<p>But for a student to major in English or studio art is sheer craziness. What does one do with a studio art degree except become a starving artist? What does one do with an English degree except wait tables? </p>
<p>Those who make such arguments usually conflate “liberal arts” with “humanities,” those disciplines that do not have an obvious “end career goal” or a “remuneration outcome” at the other side of the college degree. </p>
<p>When detractors hear educators like me say that “the liberal arts” are valuable, they understand us to mean that they fulfill something in the core of our souls. That is, that the humanities are personally and intellectually valuable, but not remuneratively so. </p>
<p>They hear us acknowledge that the humanities are decidedly not practical, and are thus are the purview of the elite and privileged who can afford to indulge in them. But, of course, the idea that the only remunerative professions out there are in science and technology is silly.</p>
<p>Whole industries do in fact exist that are not based on STEM premises: media, consulting, fashion, finance, publishing, education, government and other forms of public service are just a few. </p>
<p>And even those reputedly “tech” industries that STEM advocates see as our future (IT, health, energy) <a href="http://fortune.com/2015/06/24/tech-jobs-without-stem-degrees/">require all sorts</a> of nontechnical employees to get their companies to work. </p>
<p>Further, basic communication, speaking and writing skills are absolute must-haves of anyone who is going to climb the ladder in any <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/georgeanders/2015/07/29/liberal-arts-degree-tech/">high-tech industry</a>. </p>
<h2>What defines success</h2>
<p>That said, the so-called “practical” major (and I reject the designation) might have a more obvious, path to the entry level job of a solid career. This is only because the major has an apparently known professional pathway.</p>
<p>But that does not guarantee success in that field. </p>
<p>In fact, those other disciplines that detractors of the liberal arts (read: humanities) assume are dead ends could well be <a href="http://www.liberalartspower.org/lowdown/who/Pages/default.aspx">fantastic springboards</a> to amazing professional lives. </p>
<p>They are not a guarantee of one – and <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/03/the-myth-of-the-science-and-engineering-shortage/284359/">neither is a STEM degree</a>. But they give those students who have committed seriously to the study of excelling within their college discipline (be it classics, anthropology, or theoretical physics) the capacity and the ability to achieve one. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/100761/original/image-20151104-29073-1m7ib9j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/100761/original/image-20151104-29073-1m7ib9j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100761/original/image-20151104-29073-1m7ib9j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100761/original/image-20151104-29073-1m7ib9j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100761/original/image-20151104-29073-1m7ib9j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100761/original/image-20151104-29073-1m7ib9j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100761/original/image-20151104-29073-1m7ib9j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Liberal education teaches students how to think critically.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/26254305@N08/15660921595/in/photolist-pRUjnz-5D9mGQ-uouWCA-ziGMt1-osBT2E-ovtLSg-3EPUWR-edVyhz-otrRsq-dxy7He-ob9vWm-rP3vW4-4XVUDZ-dAodiu-vDrEG1-oZi4ZH-qEiLMm-rRDcFh-p1bJZX-oTC9kS-qAtVYZ-rRBsXd-4u8xQJ-eWq9XX-68ifcj-yasdBj-Ed22H-geY5bk-eBzbLM-bmRgDS-fZkC5-6cVsp3-hi3g1a-yckWZ3-8ooWry-5yb9sf-6i7qAL-yff7M-4QDJLd-9fmNFW-asyqj7-53FP23-sjJJCB-6znTf9-8UEWUz-22UAA8-yAHSDU-e4Caw7-aciix3-5zyXgV">roanokecollege</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some people talk about this as critical thinking; some as the ability to think outside of the box; some as “transferability” – the ability to carry critical intellectual skills from one challenge or industry to another.</p>
<p>In my view, done right, liberal education makes one smarter and more able to be successful and innovative on the path one embarks on. And although we can all point to exceptions (would that Bill Gates had graduated from college!), for the most part, it is those who know how to think nimbly, creatively and responsibly that end up building extraordinary careers.</p>
<h2>Why we need a liberal arts education</h2>
<p>Let us return to my earlier point about STEM disciplines. </p>
<p>We should not only accept that they are part of a liberal arts education, but we must understand that teaching them within a liberal arts framework makes the financial investment of learning them of greater value.</p>
<p><a href="http://engineering.dartmouth.edu/people/faculty/peter-robbie/">Peter Robbie</a>, an engineering professor at Dartmouth College who teaches human centered design, explains why liberal education is so critical to engineering training. He said in an email to me that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>creative design process of engineering provides the means for complex, multidisciplinary problem-solving. We need to educate leaders who can solve the ‘wicked problems’ facing society (like obesity, climate change, and inequality). These are multifactorial problems that can’t be solved within a single domain but will need liberally-educated, expansive thinkers who are comfortable in many fields. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>As we know, an engineer who has basic cultural competency skills (honed, for instance, through cultural studies) will be an attractive asset for an American engineering firm trying to branch out in China. </p>
<p>Likewise, a doctor who knows how to listen to patients will be a better primary care doctor than one who only knows the memorizable facts from medical school.
This is one reason that medical schools have recently changed the requirements of application to encourage coursework in sociology and psychology. </p>
<p>It is the ability to use these skills honed by different types of thinking in various contexts that allows people to build beyond their particular ken. </p>
<p>And that is what a liberal arts education – science, technology, humanities and social sciences – trains. It prepares students for rich, creative, meaningful and, yes, remunerative, careers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/49638/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cecilia Gaposchkin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It is those who know how to think nimbly, creatively and responsibly that end up building extraordinary careers.Cecilia Gaposchkin, Associate Professor of History, Assistant Dean of Faculty for Pre-Major Advising, Dartmouth CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/479942015-10-29T10:09:52Z2015-10-29T10:09:52ZDo liberal arts students learn how to collaborate?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/99852/original/image-20151027-5007-rswfok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Dance is about creating work in a collaborative way.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Joseph Mehling</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Liberal arts colleges teach many valuable skills, but collaboration is not often among them.</p>
<p>This is curious, because virtually all human activities involve collective behavior. A conversation, or an article such as this, takes at least two to tango (or tangle, as the case may be). On a much larger scale, the electric companies that power my computer in New Hampshire, where I work, arise from immense cooperative activity. As UCLA anthropologist <a href="http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/anthro/faculty/fiske/relmodov.htm">Alan Fiske</a> argues, “The most striking characteristic of <em>Homo sapiens</em> is our sociality.”</p>
<p>It’s true that a liberal arts education strives to teach students “<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cecilia-gaposchkin/just-what-are-the-liberal_b_7829118.html">critical thinking</a>.” And rather than narrow technical competencies, students in the liberal arts develop “<a href="http://chronicle.com/article/If-Students-Are-Smart/230307">writing, researching, quantitative, and analytical skills</a>.” </p>
<p>However, in my view, our liberal arts curriculum doesn’t foster collaboration.</p>
<h2>Moving from individual accomplishment to group work</h2>
<p>At Dartmouth, I teach a number of small, interactive seminars in my Department of Film and Media Studies. In conversations with me and one another, students hone their thoughts and opinions. But beyond that, it’s all about personal accomplishment. </p>
<p>I grade each student individually. This, needless to say, is the nationwide standard. As a result, liberal arts undergrads too often end up thinking of themselves as solo agents, obsessing about grade point averages and pitting themselves against their classmates. </p>
<p>Instead, I believe, they should steal a page from Tina Fey’s advice on <a href="http://women2.com/2012/01/08/tina-feys-rules-for-improv-and-your-career/">improvisation</a>: listen; agree and add something; make positive statements; and learn that there are no mistakes, only opportunities. </p>
<p>They need to think of work as a “collaborative improvisation,” as a stage where they make up the scene on the spot. It is not for nothing that “improv” is being taught at <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2010/BUSINESS/02/18/improvisation.business.skills/">graduate business schools</a>.</p>
<p>My own learning on cooperation and communication deepened while directing <a href="http://www.pilobolusfilm.com">Still Moving: Pilobolus at Forty</a>, a documentary about the <a href="http://www.pilobolus.com">Pilobolus Dance Theatre</a>. </p>
<p>The Dartmouth-born troupe, established in the 1970s, has refined collaboration to a fine art. During its first decade, the company undertook an experiment in democratic artistic production. The six members improvised works together. There was no “decider.”</p>
<p>Such true collaboration is still looking for a toehold in the liberal arts curriculum.</p>
<h2>Scientific research has become more collaborative</h2>
<p>Meanwhile, scientific researchers have become increasingly <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v490/n7420/full/490335a.html">collaborative</a>. Scholars are teaming up across <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/boundary-conditions/">international boundaries</a>. The two-decade project to sequence the human genome involved researchers from more than <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Genome_Project">20 institutions in six nations</a>. </p>
<p>However, despite their own practices, as a rule, professors of science do not <em>teach</em> collaboration. At Dartmouth, the exception proves the rule: <a href="http://dartmouth.smartcatalogiq.com/en/2015/orc/Departments-Programs-Undergraduate/Psychological-and-Brain-Sciences/PSYC-Psychological-and-Brain-Sciences/PSYC-11">Laboratory in Psychological Science</a>, a course required for the psychology major, obliges students to “jointly design, conduct, analyse, and present their research projects” for group grades, as <a href="http://dartmouth.edu/faculty-directory/jay-g-hull">Psychology Professor Jay Hull</a> told me.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/99886/original/image-20151027-4963-1u1cs71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/99886/original/image-20151027-4963-1u1cs71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99886/original/image-20151027-4963-1u1cs71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99886/original/image-20151027-4963-1u1cs71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99886/original/image-20151027-4963-1u1cs71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99886/original/image-20151027-4963-1u1cs71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99886/original/image-20151027-4963-1u1cs71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Students collaborate in engineering design courses.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Douglas Fraser</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As elsewhere, such truly collaborative courses remain a tiny minority. The most renowned at Dartmouth may be <a href="http://dartmouthalumnimagazine.com/articles/nuts-and-bolts">Introduction to Engineering</a>, a course the Thayer School of Engineering has offered for more than 45 years. In this hands-on class, undergrads work in teams of four to design original inventions that address real-world problems. Projects are graded collectively. </p>
<p>Yet, very few undergraduate courses, I believe, demand such collaborative engagement.</p>
<h2>Theatrical performance and filmmaking teach collaboration</h2>
<p>On the Dartmouth campus, the most collaborative curricular endeavor may be <a href="http://theater.dartmouth.edu/productions/mainstage">MainStage</a>, a production by the Department of Theater. </p>
<p>Four to six faculty members, numerous staffers and hundreds of undergrads annually bring intellectual and creative muscle to stage a professional play or musical. Individual students take pride in participating, in ways large and small, in something greater than the sum of its parts. </p>
<p>Similarly, the Department of Theater offers a course in Creativity and Collaboration, topics that its website tellingly notes are “<a href="http://dartmouth.smartcatalogiq.com/en/2015/orc/Departments-Programs-Undergraduate/Theater/THEA-Theater/THEA-10-08">rarely taught</a>.”</p>
<p>Anyone who watches the never-ending credits of a Hollywood movie knows filmmaking is an intensely collaborative activity. Inspired by the MainStage theater enterprise, I recently created a Group Documentary production course. Students, several staff members and I work together to make a professional documentary in a 10-week term. </p>
<p>The class gives students hands-on experiential learning in filmmaking, which includes constructing narrative and character, mastering the techniques and aesthetics of image and sound design, and making effective arguments through editing, all abilities culled from the liberal arts.</p>
<p>Fundamentally, however, Group Documentary is a course in collaboration. In an evaluation, one junior wrote:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>FILM39 is unlike any class I’ve taken. It’s a nice change from the atmosphere of an exam-based course. Instead of competing with one another for the highest score, FILM39 requires us to coordinate together to achieve the best possible final product.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In the past three years, students have directed documentaries about a <a href="https://vimeo.com/87765815">bear cub rescuer</a>, a <a href="https://vimeo.com/97435166">feminist comedian</a> and a <a href="https://vimeo.com/129558942">gay, African-American choir director</a>. But this is not to say that collaboration is easy.</p>
<p>Students have to find constructive ways to disagree; criticism alone doesn’t always move the project forward. Plus, some team members slack off and others do more than their share. It’s uncannily like the real world.</p>
<h2>Collaboration is missing inside the classroom</h2>
<p>Outside these rare exceptions, where, at liberal arts colleges, do undergraduates learn how to collaborate intensely? In my experience, only through “extracurricular” activities.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/99888/original/image-20151027-4991-jxzjwq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/99888/original/image-20151027-4991-jxzjwq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99888/original/image-20151027-4991-jxzjwq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99888/original/image-20151027-4991-jxzjwq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99888/original/image-20151027-4991-jxzjwq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99888/original/image-20151027-4991-jxzjwq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99888/original/image-20151027-4991-jxzjwq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Truly collaborative courses are few.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rob Strong</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These would include orchestra, singing groups and, especially, team sports. Such activities encourage students to develop interpersonal abilities, emotional intelligence, empathy, trust and working with others (whether they like each other or not) on behalf of a greater goal. “‘Sports teach workplace values like teamwork, shared commitment, decision-making under pressure, and leadership,’ says <a href="http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2006/07/10/the-workplace-favors-athletes-so-do-your-best-to-be-one/">Jennifer Crispen</a>, a professor at Sweet Briar College.</p>
<p>However, at liberal arts colleges, unfortunately, these activities remain "extra” instead of being “curricular.” We need to teach collaboration, because, as science writer <a href="http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/299687/where-good-ideas-come-from-by-steven-johnson/">Steven Johnson argues</a>, good ideas and major inventions come from connectivity, borrowing, collaborating and networking.</p>
<p>I attended Cornell as an undergrad, in part thanks to my soccer skills. I did graduate studies at Temple and the University of Iowa, important public institutions. Afterward, I taught at Vassar and Middlebury, well-regarded private colleges. </p>
<p>But little that I saw at these institutions over the past 35 years suggests they educate undergraduates - <em>inside the classroom</em> - to collaborate successfully on group projects. I’d love to be proven wrong about this, because, as psychologist Daniel Goleman concludes, “<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/12/education/edlife/how-to-be-emotionally-intelligent.html?_r=0">emotional intelligence</a>” makes for the most successful careers.</p>
<h2>Important to learn to play together</h2>
<p>My daughter’s public elementary school offers day-long team-building exercises, which required her to cooperate with, among others, “a bunch of rambunctious and unruly” kids (her words). But collaborating doesn’t stop after K-12 education; it should continue in college courses. </p>
<p>So, how can we encourage “team-building” through our curricula? In addition to teaching critical thinking, could we agree that collaboration, in the strong sense of the term, ought to play a greater role in the liberal arts curricula of our colleges and universities?</p>
<p>As Pilobolus cofounder Michael Tracy told me about studying in Hanover in the early 1970s:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I discovered that dance had all the physicality of sports, without the broken knees and the killer instinct. Dance was about creating imagery cooperatively. We were being physical, but it was not to destroy the other team, it was to create something together in a collaborative way.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>A liberal arts education still best provides the skills in thinking critically that our rapidly changing society demands. Ideally, it also instills in undergraduates a lifelong love of learning.</p>
<p>But in addition to critical thinking, liberal arts students need to learn how to act in the world, to improvise, to play together, to collaborate and, in the process, to make each other better.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/47994/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jeffrey Ruoff does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Liberal arts institutions teach students critical thinking skills. But rarely do they learn how to collaborate.Jeffrey Ruoff, Associate Professor, Department of Film and Media Studies, Dartmouth CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.