Liberal Arts Degree Advantages

Education in America is important; due to rising costs, he claims many think liberal-arts degrees are too expensive for the average family to afford. Ungar suggests that a liberal-arts degree prepares people for adapting in their respective career field. Career specific majors are not offering students the broad range of qualities one needs for job opportunities. While he acknowledges the stronger start of students with prior experience in college, it is those students with little experience that end up with the most original ideas, making them valuable to an employer.

Michael Fromm, CEO of electrical Manufacturing, says in an article on CNBC, “I find people that have a liberal arts background have a broader view of the world and will go farther in business.” Practical skills create people trained to do one thing one way and not allowing for deviance. Kelley Holland, on an article “The Case for a liberal arts education,” says, “Graduates that are right out of college, by their peak earning years, from age 56 to 60, people with liberal arts degrees earn an average of $66,185, about $2,000 more than their peers with professional or pre-professional degrees.” Critical thinkers are perfectly capable of performing practical skills, and in fact, since they have been taught to think for themselves, will now be

“The New Liberal Arts” by Sanford J. Ungar is an essay that talks about the benefits and misconeptions of receiving a liberal arts with Ungar on the benefits of students receiving a liberal arts education, but way the current education system is a liberal arts education isn’t the best financial choice to receive is a degree. education. Ungar was the president of a liberal arts education and the essay uses Ungars knowledge of liberal arts education to counteract arguments against students receiving a liberal arts education. I agree

In his essay, The New Liberal Arts, Sanford Ungar addresses common misperceptions related to a liberal arts education. He speaks to their usefulness, the employment opportunities after graduation, their value despite the cost of tuition, and other misconceptions. His overall message is, despite the recent emphasis on science, technology, engineering, and math degrees, as well as technical or vocational training, liberal arts degrees are still important and are a valid option to consider when deciding on your educational future. While his essay could easily apply to anyone with these misperceptions, it appears to be targeted directly towards students in high school or early college who are trying to decided on the direction of their education

In the article “We ignore the liberal arts at our peril” which was written by Alan Wildeman and appeared in The Globe and Mail on September 07, 2015, Wildeman claims that liberal arts degrees are valuable investments for people of the twenty-first century. Wildeman backs up his argument by providing facts from a study that lasted thirteen years in which the annual earnings of graduates from 1998 were tracked. Over the thirteen years, the earnings of the liberals arts graduates rose to $80,000 - the same earnings as a math or science graduate. This proves that liberal arts degrees pay as well as a math or science degree. Wildeman also uses information from the Ontario university systems which tracks graduate performances. Two years after graduating from an Ontario university, ninety-two percent of liberal arts graduates were employed.

According to The Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), a study found that “at peak earnings ages (56-60 years) workers who majored as undergraduates in the humanities or social sciences earn annually on average about $2000 more than those who majored as undergraduates in professional or pre-professional fields.” This study which was conducted also found that the unemployment rate for recent liberal arts graduates showed a declining unemployment rate of only 5.2 percent. Not only does the estimated 9.6 million individuals hold a bachelor’s degree in the humanities or social sciences field, nearly 4 million of these individuals also attain a graduate or professional degree. These graduates with advanced degrees usually

For decades, students have been told that college is the next step after high school graduation. Society reiterates this by glorifying individuals that have completed a degree and looking down upon those who do not have one. The problem is that many students have not acquired the necessary tools nor have the motivation to be successful while pursuing post-high school education. Some argue that college provides the foundation of liberal studies that will improve career opportunities. Charles Murray disagrees in his essay, "Are Too Many People Going to College." He states, "Most people should be getting the basics of a liberal education. But for most students, the place to provide those basics are elementary and middle school." (Graff, 238) This raises the question, is a four-year education the best option for all students. College provides many benefits that would be difficult to find elsewhere, such as, writing skills or cultural growth, but college is not meant for everyone. A college education does not guarantee a prosperous career, instead, gaining work experience or completing a trade school is a more intelligent option for the majority of potential students.

A liberal arts degree is much more than a piece of paper representing a waste of time and money, as some may believe. Instead, a liberal arts degree is a piece of paper representing true utilization of what further education should really be. Often times, people get caught up in the question of where they're going, but while it's important to strive for success, they forget to strive for quality. This applies to college students in the sense that, when choosing a major, practicality is often prioritized over passion.

Liberal Arts Education is one way for you to grow exponentially. For example. Attending a Liberal Arts Education will help in the developments in critical inquiry resulting in “continuing learning, for making decisions in one’s life, and for making a difference in the world,” as stated in the article by Michael Roth. (Source B) After graduation from a liberal education, it will help to “address problems and potential in our lives with passion, commitment and a sense of possibility” for years to come. Liberal education opt for your own freedom to construct on individual research and carry on your experience to your community.

Today many argue that changing the Liberal Arts is essential to creating a better society. Mulcahy argues the Liberal Arts should look to empower students (pp. 478 Mulcahy). It should try to give students the confidence to lead, the skills to organize, knowledge to fix problems, or change their world. Some colleges have this as part of their goals within their liberal education programs. This is vastly different from the traditional Liberal Arts education that is still prevalent today. Where traditional Liberal Arts educations taught to inform and give students the skills to work in society, the new version also looks to set students up with the ability to change their society. The newer version of a liberal education creates students who are

Many may say that students should spend their money on an education that will train them to do a specified job. However, it makes a lot more sense to spend your money on an education that will train you for a multitude of jobs as oppose to a specific job. Receiving a liberal arts degree has the potential to train students for many jobs in many different positions, this way they will not be restricted by knowledge to only have a single job. Students may able to apply their wide range of skills to a large number of careers and positions since, a liberal arts degree allows for more flexibility. Others may also say that America is heading towards a future that may call for students in more technical or mathematical degrees, therefore making a liberal arts degree useless.

There are many benefits to getting a Liberal Arts degree in today’s economic market. It is a message to your employer that you are willing to take on new information, and learn more then what is necessary to succeed. It shows initiative and the ability to expand your horizons beyond yourself. In a Liberal Arts education there is more purpose then just learning the career field of choice. It is a program that teaches critical thinking and self-thought. It teaches the student how to learn and teach themselves, to achieve more than just memorization of facts.

In the article, “Why we undervalue a liberal arts education”, written by Adam Chapnick posted March 6, 2013 explains people to understand the importance of liberal arts degrees. He wants people to how the importance is the same as STEM degrees. Most people believe STEM degrees are not successful life choices. He believes people don’t know what they learned so they need to teach liberal arts better and different so the people who graduate actually know what they learned. This article is not a credible source it is just his claims. Adam Chapnick’s article “Why we undervalue a liberal arts education,” needs more facts and reasons to back up his claims because his article is not factual mostly opinionated and to be credible facts must back up

The value in John’s essay is “going to be a more reflective and engaged individual, and an active, responsible contributor to my community capable of succeeding in leadership position.” (Nicholas Jones) John provides a good evidence to argue Liberal art degree is not useless, “There’s god evidence that Liberal Arts majors tend to earn high salaries by mid career.” (Nicholas Jones) from 2012 study from Georgetown University. People nowadays in their mindset, only appear one sentence which is “if a degree doesn't make a person good money, a Liberal Arts degree is pretty useless.” (Nicholas Jones) Many pieces of evidences prove that although Liberal Art is useless, just like for the new employee, and “starting salary between people with Liberal Arts degrees and Health or Business degrees is about $13000 per year.” (Nicholas Jones) Sooner or later, the salary will grow in the mid-career. Sometimes, think about if people know computer pays well, others are not majoring in Computer Science,

I think liberal arts is the study of life and thought. It’s unlike any major in the way that the material isn’t just facts you memorize for a test and later on forget. Instead, they’re skills or ways of thinking that prepare you for various fields of study and everyday life. It helps you learn about a lot of areas on a smaller scale.