Workforce Development and the Liberal Arts: Are they Incompatible?

In recent posts, I’ve addressed how higher education is shifting and how colleges and universities must prioritize career competencies and workforce development. It is true. Most students attending college today need to see a clear connection between their coursework and their career goals.

I cannot help but consider this within the context of my own experience – my own privilege. I attended Oglethorpe University as a traditional undergraduate student. My parents paid for my college, and they would not let me work my freshman year – insisting that I focus on my studies. That first year, I took Dr. Brad Stone’s Introduction to Sociology course. I vividly remember him walking into class and introducing himself with, “The purpose of education is education, and education for any other purpose serves no purpose at all.”

I was mesmerized. He introduced me to thinkers like Alasdair MacIntyre and notions of pursuing knowledge for its own sake as a virtuous act. This thinking was reinforced throughout the university curriculum with its robust core. I loved taking history courses, and I took every course in social sciences that I could. While my parents would not let me change my major to sociology (“You need to be able to get a job”), the liberal arts nature of the university gave me the space to grow in my thinking.

Ultimately, I completed my degree in education and then returned for my master’s. As an equivalent to a thesis, I ultimately wrote a paper on the liberal arts as part of my master’s degree using the work of Sir John of Salisbury and The Metalogican. Here is what I learned:

• The liberal arts free the mind. Those who have a strong foundation in the liberal arts are less likely to be manipulated because they have developed strong habits of thought.

• Strong foundations of grammar, logic, and rhetoric help us to communicate effectively, and this allows us to be effective and productive members of our community.

• Because we can think (see #1) and communicate (see #2), we are well positioned to work together to make conditions within our communities better for others.

• In addition to protecting us from bias and manipulation, the liberal arts help remove false disciplinary boundaries and help us to see that, as Dewey notes, that the world does not come to us “pigeon-holed.” Everything is connected.

• Pursuing anything for its own sake – perhaps not for four years and for tens of thousands of dollars but as part of our educational experience – is virtuous. It engages our imagination and awakens us to possibility and hope.

I realize my college experience was one of privilege. I also know that I was a far better elementary and middle school teacher because I had a liberal arts education. I know my students had a better experience because of what I learned at Oglethorpe – from amazing teachers like Dr. Brad Stone and Professor Leo Bilancio.

As we reimagine our work in colleges and universities, it is essential that in addition to addressing workforce needs, we also work to ensure everyone has access to the liberating and civic value of the liberal arts. They are an essential part of our just and democratic society.