Too many opinion pieces on the Internet scream their headlines without any room for an opposing viewpoint. There is a vicious debate on liberal arts, and in many facets: they’re useful or they’re obsolete. They’re worth the huge investment or they’re a complete waste of your money, get it together, kids, college is expensive!!!! You’re either for the liberal arts or you’re for STEM – and you had best believe that there is tension between these groups of students.

When inundated with this type of rhetoric it is important to consider the multiple aspects of the issue. The value of a liberal arts degree today is not something black or white; it is as complex as the subjects it covers, and should be viewed as such.

A liberal arts education trains students to problem solve in a variety of contexts. Being exposed to a variety of subjects ensures students will develop a variety of useful skills. Written and verbal communication, critical thinking, foreign language, and people skills are just a few of the strengths of the liberal arts student. When pitted against technical skills in the false dichotomy of “liberal arts vs. STEM” (hint: they are in fact overlapping; the “liberal arts” is short for “liberal arts and sciences,” encompassing everything from anthropology to computer science) some of these skills can spur anxiety in undergraduates; they feel the skill set offered by a liberal arts degree does not match the value of practical skills. The National Association of Colleges and Employers assembled a list of the most desirable skills for prospective employees, and of the ten in total, a majority included those trained in a liberal arts education. The ability to work in a team, ability to solve real-life problems, communicate verbally with people inside and outside of an organization, plan and prioritize work, analyze quantitative data, and the ability to synthesize written reports are all examples of advantageous – not useless – liberal arts skills (Adams).

Another plus of liberal arts study is its role in society. We frequently see liberal arts described as inferior to technical fields due to its lack of “practicality” – but the liberal arts are integral to many of society’s workings. Without philosophy and criminology, what would our laws look like? Ethics and morals are cornerstones of the justice system, and it is through liberal arts that we learn to apply them. Studying history is important for understanding the present and the future as well as the past; by examining our society’s actions through the years we are better informed to make pivotal decisions now. It allows us to evaluate our achievements as a species and learn from our mistakes. Without theatre, fine arts, design, film, communications, English, and the like, the very fabric of our culture would be dissolved – we would have no newspapers or publications, no New York Times bestsellers, no movies or plays or shows.

It is, of course, obvious that graduates with a liberal arts degree will not enter the workforce with the same salary of an engineering graduate. According to TIME, the average salary of a 2016 engineering graduate topped off at $64,891 – not bad for being directly out of college. Business starts at an encouraging $52,236. “Humanities” is further down the list, but not as far as one might expect at $46,065 yearly (Poppick). The promise of job security is more than enough to guide students along a STEM track given the possibility of a six-figure salary not far down the line. The disparity in entry-level earnings as well as a less defined path for a liberal arts major can intimidate many students given the rising cost of college tuition. However, there is a fair amount of risk with every major – even petroleum engineers, for example, must contend with the ebb and flow of the oil cycle, and architects face a very competitive job market despite the intensity of their training. Though finding a job after graduation may not be as simple as it is for more technical majors, there is a myriad of opportunities for those willing to apply themselves for the extra challenge.

While liberal arts majors are by no means obsolete, the times are constantly changing. Information is disseminated at a rapidly increasing rate. We are more connected with others around the globe than ever due to our immersion in the Digital Age. If people with liberal arts degrees are to succeed they are expected to keep up with the technology surrounding them. It is for this reason that some have urged liberal arts students to learn supplemental technical skills, such as coding. A liberal arts degree will have better job value the more it combines these areas with the core humanities, but if we continue this trend, at what point does this stop? Technology is influencing the way we access and produce information; does this mean it is slowly eating away at our communication skills, or instead working to build our volume of knowledge? As the liberal arts begin to adapt to our digitized world, we must consider to what degree they can change without losing their inherent significance.

Adams, Susan. “The 10 Skills Employers Most Want In 2015 Graduates.” Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 18 Feb. 2015. Web. 12 Mar. 2017.

Poppick, Susie. “Here’s What the Average Grad Makes Right Out of College.” Time. Time, 22 Apr. 2015. Web. 12 Mar. 2017.

Today´s educational climate is wrought with issues. From painful tuition costs to sexual assaults on campus, there is a myriad of problems to be addressed. It would appear that one of these ailments is the slow fadeout of the liberal arts.

Google any phrase involving liberal arts and you´ll likely be greeted with a skepticism. The prompt ¨are liberal arts¨ yields the suggestion ¨are liberal arts bad,¨ as well as ¨are liberal arts worth it?¨ Attention-grabbing headlines like ¨Why Liberal Arts is Dying¨ are popular, able to be digested in three minutes, and subsequently shared. So what exactly is happening?

The liberal arts were once a staple of American education. ¨Nearly all of the colleges and universities founded in the 18th and 19th centuries in America adopted an expanded classical liberal-arts curriculum,¨ teaching students to think analytically, practice use of rhetoric to communicate ideas, to contextualize issues in time and place, and to solve complex problems (Shinn).

Times have changed. As a much higher proportion of the population has begun to attend university, and the demand for well-paying jobs grows, the liberal arts have been more eschewed. This is especially true for universities with fields of study in addition to the liberal arts, such as STEM subjects. ¨Where a separate business or engineering faculty exists, for example, tensions arise over everything from salary differentials among faculty members to the sense of what is valued and stressed in presenting the college to the ‘outside world.’ The sense of shared values and high morale that a good, small college usually 6 has is often lacking on campuses that have added professional programs¨ (Breneman). This is a worrisome trend, as it perpetuates the misconception that liberal arts and professional training are mutually exclusive to one another.

Many see the liberal arts as having no application in the workforce, and thus as an impractical choice due to the massive investment that is college tuition. However, the trend toward professional programs has not necessarily yielded the most satisfying results, nor results that are indicative of productivity or engagement; a Gallup survey on the connection between college experience and quality of life and work after graduation highlights these disparities. ¨On the first measure, researchers found that only 39% of college graduates are engaged at work¨ and in the second portion of the survey ¨using five distinct gauges of well-being, they found that only 11% of graduates are thriving in all five areas while around 17% are not thriving in any of the areas¨ (Logan and Curry). Despite the United States´ growing trend toward STEM and professional programs it does not appear that there has been a significant increase in career satisfaction. While the reasons for the lessened focus on liberal arts are numerous, it is important to remember then the reasons they are still important.

A liberal arts degree does maintain a standard of professionalism and skill, and contrary to popular belief can actually be quite attractive to employers. According to TIME, the value of a liberal arts degree can be underscored in the words of several CEOs. Whether it´s Starbucks or YouTube or the Walt Disney Company, liberal arts backgrounds have been an integral part of the company leaders´ successes. Degrees in subjects such as art history, classics, and even medieval history have helped to ¨prepare [the CEOs] for life,¨ in the words of the former Hewlett-Packard CEO (Linshi).

However, not all of us will become billionaires. The idea of looking for a job after graduation strikes fear into the hearts of most college students, particularly those pursuing liberal arts degrees (source: am one of said students, along with many of my peers). But the situation may not be as dire as we think – in fact, the job market for college graduates is the best it´s been since before the Great Recession and bachelor´s and associate´s degrees alike are equally attractive to employers.
This doesn´t just apply to the predictable fields, though. It is not just our engineers and business majors that are on the fast track to a career. According to a survey conducted by the Association of American Colleges and Universities, a staggering 93% of industry leaders indicated that a prospective employee with a college degree ¨should have a demonstrated capacity to think critically, communicate clearly, and solve complex problems,¨ with more than 90% of business leaders placing emphasis on ¨the importance of college graduates demonstrating ethical judgment and integrity, intercultural skills, and the capacity for continued new learning¨ (Shinn). That is to say, liberal arts degrees are not as obsolete as we´ve been led to think.

Works Cited
Breneman, David W. “Are We Losing Our Liberal Arts Colleges?” AAHE Bulletin 43.2 (1990): n. pag. Institute of Education Sciences. Institute of Education Sciences. Web. 28 Jan. 2017.

Linshi, Jack. “10 CEOs Who Prove Your Liberal Arts Degree Isn’t Worthless.” Time. Time, 23 July 2015. Web. 30 Jan. 2017.

Logan, Jerry, and Janel Curry. “Christian Higher Education.” A Liberal Arts Education: Global Trends and Challenges: Christian Higher Education: Vol 14, No 1-2. N.p., 13 Dec. 2014. Web. 30 Jan. 2017.

Shinn, Larry D. “Liberal Education vs. Professional Education: The False Choice.” AGB. N.p., Jan.-Feb. 2014. Web. 30 Jan. 2017.