What is the value of a liberal arts education?

The value of a liberal arts education cannot be measured merely in dollars and cents. However, in our tough economy, where the 18-24 year old cohort has zero career building opportunities, and the 45-65 year old cohort won't leave the workplace, the 25-45 year olds are barely hanging onto anything that they can get. And, outside of academia, that Womens' Studies major or PhD in Queer Theory will only get you hired at Starbucks. Now, there's nothing wrong with that, but the fact of the matter is, very few parents, administrators, politicians, bankers or others are having genuine discussions about what a liberal arts degree will mean for job prospects with the people who are going into debt to get the degree. This is criminal at a national scale. So, while I agree that a liberal arts education is beneficial, I think that we have to define the material, spiritual, intellectual, philosophical and social benefits more accurately.

I think all the answerers so far have brought up excellent points. A liberal arts education can help you develop communication and analytical skills that will last you your entire life. You can take classes to learn different programming languages or get an MBA to develop your business sense, but the things a liberal education offers are versatile and enduringly valuable in an ever-changing world.What hasn't been mentioned yet in this conversation is that this statement is, in fact, verifiable. Studies have shown that a liberal arts education does not only improve your life in terms of those intangible traits, but can also raise your earning power.A salary website called Payscale has done http://www.payscale.com/college-salary-report/bachelors on how the salaries of different colleges' graduates play out over time. In its 2015-16 ranking of US schools factoring in alumni's early and midcareer salaries, liberal arts colleges did fairly well, winning 4 spots in the top 12. That's not including students who received a liberal arts education at other types of institutions as well, of course.Another http://www.aacu.org/leap/presidentstrust/compact/2013SurveySummary by the Association of American Colleges & Universities showed that employers view a liberal arts education very positively. Here are just a couple excerpts from the summary of the results:"Nearly all those [employers] surveyed (93 percent) say that 'a demonstrated capacity to think critically, communicate clearly, and solve complex problems is more important than [a candidate’s] undergraduate major.'"When read a description of a 21st-century liberal education*, a large majority of employers recognize its importance; 74 percent would recommend this kind of education to a young person they know as the best way to prepare for success in today’s global economy."I realize salary and employability are far from the best measures of someone's quality of life, but this data is a solid way to refute those people who say that a liberal arts education is worthless or outdated. Obviously, it's not. From a long-term standpoint, a liberal arts education can bring you skills that will help you succeed in the workplace as well as in various other arenas of life.Additional Sources: http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2014/09/15/the-liberal-arts-colleges-whose-graduates-earn-the-most/, http://blogs.wsj.com/atwork/2014/01/22/liberal-arts-salaries-are-a-marathon-not-a-sprint/

If you've got strong critical thinking skills and like working with people, you can probably put a liberal-arts degree to good use at all kinds of top-tier corporate employers. They need smart people in sales, marketing, business development, strategy, etc. Combing through job listings for the likes of Uber, Facebook, Airbnb, etc., I'm struck by how much these ostensibly tech-centered companies actually do the majority of their hiring in non-technical fields. As I explain in this Forbes http://www.forbes.com/sites/georgeanders/2015/07/29/liberal-arts-degree-tech/"The more that audacious coders dream of changing the world, the more they need to fill their companies with social alchemists who can connect with customers–and make progress seem pleasant." The full piece includes some examples of English majors, sociology majors, etc. who have parlayed their supposedly non-commercial degrees into quite nice careers. Link is here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/georgeanders/2015/07/29/liberal-arts-degree-tech/

Today, I saw a couple of Japanese school kids in the train, reading an English book. The kids were of about 10-12 years of age. I, for once, was happy that kids were reading an English book on a Saturday evening. Could it be an English novel? On closer look, it occurred to me that book was about programming (something which looked like python). As happy as I was to see kids learning to code at such a young age, it made me put my thinking cap on and ponder. Why is the education so narrowed down to teaching young children to code, so much that they ‘read code’ in a train on a Saturday evening?I understand the basic motivation behind shifting the education paradigm towards the teaching of specific, technical skills. I get the reason for the myriad number of new initiatives from companies, universities or governments to nudge children towards STEM courses (science, technology, engineering and math). But it doesn’t make sense to me that this comes at the cost of humanities. A liberal education, we are told, is irrelevant, and technical training is the new path forward. We are made to believe that it is the only way to ensure that children can thrive in an age defined by technology and shaped by cutthroat competition. But that can, and will be counter-productive. A broad general education helps foster critical thinking and creativity. Yes, science and technology are crucial components of education, but so are language and philosophy. Steve Jobs was as much an artist as an engineer. Mark Zuckerberg’s major at Harvard was Psychology. Today, we live in a world of economic dynamism, innovation and entrepreneurship thanks to exactly the kind of education we are now told to forego.But is that all there is to it?! I don't think so. At a fundamental level, I feel that there is something unsettling in nudging (sometimes forcing) children to focus on some specific things in their formative years. Today, we live in a world where our ideas of a ‘successful life’ are not our own. The hugely powerful outside forces define what we want and how we view ourselves. Perhaps, the root cause of this is our education system. I wish for an education system which provides the right platform and environment for the children to explore the world, develop empathy, discover their likes and dislikes on their own, and form their own opinions. Then, these children might evolve and grow into adulthood with their own sense of belief, moral-system and inner-compass. This way, in future, our world will be filled with people who own their ideas. So what I want to argue for is not that we should give up on instilling the spirit of success in our children, but we ought to make sure that these ideas of ‘success’ are their own, that they are truly the authors of their own ambitions. That is the world I dream about..

A liberal arts education can help you decide how to use your technical knowledge--usually for the betterment of one's community or society. And what exactly does "better" entail? A liberal arts education can also help you define this. And usually this definition would itself be multifaceted, dependent on context, and motivated by an appreciation of fields outside one's expertise. A liberal arts education helps prevent the production of scholars with no regard for reality, scientists with no regard for ethics, or moralists with no regard for reason. In my opinion, the liberal arts keep humanity from destroying itself. They help us see ourselves as how we really are (and were) and move forward from that. This http://www.topuniversities.com/blog/what-liberal-arts-education discusses what a liberal education's goal has been since earlier times: "to produce a person who was virtuous and ethical, knowledgeable in many fields and highly articulate." The article also says that a liberal arts education long ago sought to produce people who were "free and active in civic life." I think this still applies today.

I came across an interesting ranking method for evaluating a university or college written by http://qz.com/498534/these-25-schools-are-responsible-for-the-greatest-advances-in-science/#Professor, Michigan State University and http://qz.com/498534/these-25-schools-are-responsible-for-the-greatest-advances-in-science/#Researcher, Duke University, which reads in part... Schools that are responsible for the greatest advances in science. Few individuals will be remembered in history for discovering a new law of nature, revolutionizing a new technology or captivating the world with their ideas. But perhaps these contributions say more about the impact of a university or college than test scores and future earnings. Which universities and colleges  are most likely to produce individuals with lasting effect on our world?The http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges emphasize subjective reputation, student retention, selectivity, graduation rate, faculty and financial resources and alumni giving. Recently, other rankings have proliferated, including some based on objective long-term metrics such as individual earning potential. Yet, we know of no evaluations of colleges based on lasting contributions to society. Of course, such contributions are difficult to judge. In the analysis below, we focus primarily on STEM (science, technology, engineering and medicine/mathematics) contributions, which are arguably the least subjective to evaluate, and increasingly more valued in today’s workforce. Our goal is to create a ranking among US colleges. The list includes the per capita membership in the following: NAS, National Academy of Science, NAE, Engineering or IOM, Medicine membership. The National Academies originated in an Act of Congress, signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863. Lifetime membership is conferred through a rigorous election process and is considered one of the highest honors a researcher can receive.* Liberal Arts Colleges.Rank NAS, NAE, or IOM membership per capita 1 California Institute of Technology2 Massachusetts Institute of Technology 3 Harvard University 4 Swarthmore College * 5 Princeton University 6 Amherst College * 7 Yale University 8 University of Chicago 9 Stanford University 10 Haverford College *11 Oberlin College * 12 Reed College *13 Columbia University 14 Cooper Union 15 Rice University 16 Johns Hopkins University 17 Dartmouth College 18 CUNY – City College of New York 19 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 20 Cornell University To say whether outstanding achievement should be attributed to the personal traits of the individual which unlocked the door to admission, the education and experiences obtained at the school, or benefits from alumni networks and reputation is       questionable. These are questions worthy of continued investigation.  The list simple identifies schools that excel at producing impact, and this method introduces a new way of thinking about and evaluating what makes a college or university great.

I'm going to answer this from a college perspective: Liberal Arts education require core classes in unrelated subjects. One of the benefits is that by taking a variety of subjects you will gain skills that might not be easily acquired by studying a single subject. Learning how to think in different ways can help to solve problems, and some skills are universal. Public speaking, writing, research, analysis, and critical thinking (all skills learned in a liberal arts curriculum) can all be useful in a variety of different jobs. You may have to write up a report for a boss. Maybe you will be required to make a public anouncement. You might end up switching careers and end up needing those research skills that you honed in classes unrelated to your major. The truth is that you don't know where you will be fifteen years from, and having a variety of skill sets and ways of thinking to draw from is not necessarily a bad thing. Sure, it might not seem useful now, but life doesn't always go as planned.

As someone who knows a little something about educational philosophy and theory--its pretty much the the following 7 reasons: Democracy (good decisions by citizens & better understanding of issues) Empathy Multi-perspective/multi-dimensional approach to problem analysis and solution Critical thinking Communication Character and Ethics & Leadership Emotional Intelligence (Dealing with Conflict and Human Psychology and Emotional Issues) Impact: most all of these is critical for career success & long term economic growth. And human resources are specifically looking for those skills: http://www.naceweb.org/s10022013/job-outlook-skills-quality.aspx http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2014/11/12/the-10-skills-employers-most-want-in-2015-graduates/ Short Case for Liberal Arts from Berkeley: http://ls.berkeley.edu/about-college/liberal-arts-education

Liberal arts with a focus is the way to go if I were to do my college all over again…. Broader learning and wider view of just about evverything. Getting into professional schools (such as biz, engineering, pre law, pre med….etc) early on could blinidside many.