Is a liberal arts degree really "useless"?

Question

I've heard people say that they'll get some kind of a liberal arts degree in college and then not be able to find a job because there is such a demand for technical degrees. Is it true?

Answer 1

A good liberal arts education (and not all liberal arts educations are good ones) is definitely not useless.

Douglas Bush (not of that Bush family!) once described the humanities as "a vision of human experience achieved by a great spirit and bodied forth by a great artist." The study of great spirits and great artists, a good balance of the humanities and history and the natural and social sciences, will never be useless, no matter what choice one makes for one's life work.

A liberal arts education, of course, does not directly prepare one for a high-paying job, either a vocation or profession, but neither does it prevent one achieving precisely that. It depends on how good one is at one's studies and how one applies them. A good liberal arts education will make anyone better at what they do no matter what they choose, and will prepare them to live a more satisfying, engaging life--outside the world of work.

Here are some of the options open to college graduates with liberal arts educations:

(1) Pursue an advanced professional degree, such as law, medicine, business (MBA), journalism, theology, or public school teaching. All of these options were open to me (except probably medicine, for I had enrolled in relatively few science classes). Most of them, however, would have required at least a year or two of advanced, professional education.

(2) Go directly into the business world, especially sales, management, and arts-related or science-related businesses. I know many liberal arts majors who have made $$$ in such areas as real estate, publishing, wholesale and retail marketing, public relations, travel agencies and tourism, property management, and--oh, yes-- government.

(3) Acquire an advanced degree in one's area of interest (usually with a fellowship or assistantship) and enter college/university teaching and/or research. One should, however, think of this as a professional degree and consider its cost, the effort involved, the competition, and the job prospects. For example, there is now a huge need for college/university professors of mathematics, the sciences, and communication arts, but an overabundance of people with degrees in, say, psychology, sociology, and--regrettably--literature and the arts.

(4) Consider a career in writing and/or editing in a liberal arts field. I do not mean novelists, poets, or dramatists, but writers of informational prose. If one is good at it and willing to take the risk, the need is expanding. One should find topics that people are interested in reading about, ones where there are not a plethora of books, and then go for it! Just have a good agent.

Answer 2

You should definately go to college for an education, not for job training. People with liberal arts degrees can become teachers. I think what people mean when they such a thing is this: CPA's make more money than people with a liberal arts degree. That is a true statement; however, it doesn't mean they're useless. Good luck, whatever you decide.

Answer 3

Most people that get a liberal arts degree get it because they are going for there teaching credentials or they are not sure what they want to do. I personally don't feel that it is useless because most places have entry level positions and just want you to have some type of degree. You can even apply to medical school with a liberal arts degree. I feel in todays world a degree is a degree it doesn't much matter what you have it in unless you want to do something supper specialized and the people that want that usually know it and focus on that for there degree.

Answer 4

Combine a liberal arts degree (with qualitative brain) with an economics or business minor (quantitative brain)....that way, your creative ideas can be "proven" with facts and your fact-based metrics.

I am liberal arts major with economics masters- have been director at two fortune 500 companies, and on several non-profits and worked in the private sector. In my view, Liberal Arts gives you a rich and varied life IF you use it to understand the history of science, sociology, and what motivates people to change behavior. That requires some mathematical ability.

I think what people need to stop saying is that there is "one" solution for the graduate of tomorrow. Chances are that you'll be terrible at science if you hate it, which means you won't be employable anyway. Likewise, a scientist that studies Shakespeare may find it a puzzle not worth deceiphering. It takes all kinds. But I do believe mathematical ability is essential to all grownups, whether for work or home management. Don't shirk math under the guise you're liberal arts.

The greats of liberal arts - Socrates, Plato, et al....had a fundamental grounding in science, astronomy, physics, and the natural world. Keep this in mind as you pick your course of study.

Answer 5

While technical is in more demand, a degree of any type shows your potential employers that you have the follow through that it takes to finish. Many, many people begin their college years and never finish up w/ a degree.

Answer 6

It really depends on what you want to do. If you want to go into general "business" then all you really need is a degree, because you will have to work your way up to anything that makes any cash.

But if you want to start out of college making a decent salary, and you think you can hack it, I would really get a degree that has a specific application.

Answer 7

You should listen to the advantages of being an English Major on Prairie Home Companion.

GK: This portion of our show is brought to you by the Professional Organization of English Majors. When it comes to romance, there is nothing so effective as the English language, when it's used by a trained English major. People in the technical fields are at a disadvantage.

TR: Let me just input this thought---- if you think of the heart as a matrix…

GK: If you spend all day doing finance, probably you're going to have a hard time expressing feelings……

TR: I look at this as a win-win situation ---- we take an option on the future and there's no downside for at least 18 months---

GK: Whereas an English major has Shakespeare to draw on, Keats, Shelley, Yeats----…

SS: It's Valentine's Day. Did you forget?

GK: I thought about Valentine's Day when I was alone, when there was nobody, and now that my life is commingled with yours----

SS: I love that word "commingled".

GK: I feel that flowers, chocolate, are so trivial ---- what I want to give you are the embroidered cloths of heaven, enwrought with golden and silver light, the blue and the dim and the dark cloths of night and light and the half-light.

SS: Hold me.

GK: I want to spread them under your feet. Because I am poor, I have only my dreams.

SS: Let me take you upstairs-----

GK: I have to be at work at Burger King in an hour.

SS: Then let me take you to dinner.

GK: Great. A message from the Professional Organization of English majors.

Answer 8

Education of any subject is always valuable and should be regarded as such.

Answer 9

My degree may be worthless but the liberal arts education was worth every penny...

Answer 10

Some. But you can go further in your education and rececive higher degree that way you'd be more attracted to any major companies you want to work for. On the other hand, teachers and professors are in demand right now.

Here's a goofy thought that just popped up in my head. Since our current government is rule by conservatives, may be one do not want to shoot for liberal arts which is quite attractive to the Liberals. But a conservative arts would be quite attractive to conservatives. But since a conservative just give you ****, may be you should stick to Liberals instead of the Flip-Flops Conservative that are selfish. Sounds good, yes?