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December 08, 2011 6:02 PM
The Liberal Arts Are Very Practical
One popular fad in higher education policy has to do with making college more sensible and focusing on jobs, particularly the jobs of “the future.”
Well no, writes former Procter & Gamble chairman A.G. Lafley. As he explains:
Lots of self-help books, pundits and well-intentioned family, friends and advisors encourage college students to “major in something practical,” apparently assuming that the liberal arts don’t meet that standard. But as someone who spent many years assessing the skills and talents of management prospects for a wide range of disciplines and industries, I know that the candidates who were the most attractive manager prospects were those with a well-exercised mind, leadership potential, and the passion to make a difference. These success factors can be cultivated in many ways, but all are best developed by taking courses in the liberal arts and sciences.
Lafley, who ran the $138 billion multinational corporation from 2000 until last year, goes on to explain that businesses are looking for employees who can adapt to changes in the workplace and their jobs. “By studying art, science, the humanities, social science, and languages, the mind develops the mental dexterity that opens a person to new ideas,” he said. “[This] is the currency for success in a constantly changing environment.”
Lafley earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Hamilton College in 1969.
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Anonymous on December 08, 2011 6:47 PM:
i don't think many people are arguing that liberal arts are not good,
but concern is over how many students avoid taking math and sciences because they lack good education in those fields, so there are unbalance in numbers of graduates in certain majors.
i think colleges could offer more interdisciplinary majors incorporating liberal art and science and math. Learn history, you should statistics and economics. learn medicine,s you should learn public policies, etc...
Steve Job loved engineering and design but also liberal arts after all.
Darsan54 on December 10, 2011 11:51 AM:
The problem is convincing would-be employers you are intelligent enough to do a job most ADD chimps would breeze through. It often seems to break down to those who are aggressive, self-serving and generally dickish in their social skills.