Should the ivy-covered halls of learning focus more on the liberal arts -- and less on making a living?
According to Margaret Heffernan, a writer with the magazine “Fast Company” 22 percent – a majority – of American undergraduates will major in business studies. Heffernan bemoans this as a meaning that “a large swath of the population…believes(s) the most important thing for them to do is learn how to earn money.”
I’m of two minds about Heffernan’s depression. Yes, as a liberal arts major, I would like to see the liberal arts get more respect. I believe my skills and talents have been honed by my liberal arts education, and I can only wish for others’ lives to be similarly enriched. But I recognize that, however much the works of D.H. Lawrence or Beethoven mean to me, there is an inherent beauty and value in the writings and accomplishments of economists and business masterminds as well. And I find Heffernan’s assertion that people who major in business “tell me they want to consume, never what they want to contribute,” to be flawed. Is business not central to any society, even a non-capitalist one (which America most certainly isn’t)? Is creating a business, employing people, offering a service to the community, not a contribution just as worthy of those of Kant or Camus?
I also know, from my own experience working in academia, that there is a trend in America for kids that might not historically go to college to go these days. As the shift toward college attendance has become more all-inclusive, today’s college experience is less about learning how to think and more about job preparation. Is it a shame that philosophy is not the cornerstone of academia? Yes. But it’s hard to argue that it’s not a good thing for more students to have the opportunity to explore higher education where -- whatever their major -- they might just decide to dabble in the liberal arts. And who knows where that will take them?
