November 28, 2003

Something I saw in my

Something I saw in my local paper this morning: Some educators lament trend away from liberal arts.

Key Quotes:

College of Charleston president Lee Higdon is a soft-spoken man, but he gets passionate when he launches into his defense of a traditional liberal arts education.

And he swears it’s not just because he leads the state’s largest liberal arts college.

Riiiiight.

A “liberal arts” curriculum generally fits into several broad categories, the social sciences (sociology, anthropology), the humanities (English, philosophy, classics), the natural sciences (biology, geology) and the arts.

Data from the National Center for Education Statistics show a decrease in those areas. Compared to 1970, degrees earned in English and literature, for example, have dropped by about 13,000; and degrees in foreign languages are down by 6,000.

Well, duh! What are you going to do with an English and Literature degree? Besides become an English Literature teacher and perpetuate useless knowledge. (See my earlier post about poetry, Friday, Oct 24) People need skills that will get them jobs. Or as my Dad put it, "People need to eat."

That's why I'm a business management major, not an English major. (Only a few more weeks of literature to go!)

Posted by Blog Jones at November 28, 2003 01:28 PM
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