A failed case for the "liberal arts"

The president of Kenyon tries to make a case for a liberal arts education as the underpinning of STEM. His problem is that the jobs are in STEM and that his liberal arts majors often don't have the knowledge, skills or aptitude for meaningful employment. And there is no evidence that the liberal arts either promotes critical thinking or that it has a monopoly on that educational need -- even if they can do it. There is better evidence of late that the liberal arts narrow rather than broaden interests, and that they introduce an entitled, anti-career and social justice bias in the place of personal responsibility for themselves and others, i.e., dependence others rather than independence and accountability for one's own actions, career, choices, and life.

Here is a sample of his argument before the court of public opinion, much of which can be categorized as assumptions and rhetoric rather than evidence.

Excellent communication and writing skills as well as interpersonal skills that are acquired through the course of a liberal arts education are essential for effective leadership when cultivating teams capable of executing on the theoretical. And this type of thinking is developed through learning in a liberal arts curriculum.

Moreover, the innovation economy requires problem solvers who can think critically while engaging with peers and mentors in a collaborative environment. Gone are the days of a lone scientist in the lab sequestered from the outside world. Work in any type of research or technical field is now done in a collaborative environment in which skills of listening and relating to someone or looking at a problem from multiple viewpoints are intrinsic to the process. This is also part of the foundation of a liberal arts education. The same skills used in a lab group discussing a set of observations during an experiment are also cultivated around a seminar table where you work as a group debating ideas back and forth about the meaning of a text.

As I noted in my response to his original post:

Smart, focused, hardworking, conscientiousness students tend to succeed in a ‘career’ independent of their major or the college they attended. Colleges provide an opportunity to learn and to think; not every major or department does a good job of satisfying that determination and not every student has that determination. Many colleges today fail to deliver a challenging and meaningful education and many are exchanging a focus on education with a woke emphasis on DIE. They’ve lost their way.

And as I added in a response to a comment and agreement from Jeff Cunningham:

The liberal part of liberal arts was meant to be wide-ranging, in multiple disciplines. This hasn't been the case for years and it is why a liberal arts graduate knows everything but can do nothing of practical use. We should get back to requirements (first two years) that assure a graduate has aptitude to write iambic pentameter and read a financial statement.

And as Jeff promptly and smartly responded:

Nothing says woke is broke like picking a fight with people who bake muffins for a living and losing. Gibson Bakery

Five years ago I made the case for a Jesuit business education is the "new" liberating art, where students learned philosophy and theology, basic elements of a traditional liberal arts general education requirement, i.e., no gender studies courses, and useful career and life skills that provide the graduate with a basis for taking personal responsibility and for creating wealth.

Liberating art of Jesuit business education 2016.doc

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The entire "woke" and DIE pedagogy is basically a doubling down by outdated and out-thought liberal arts college presidents and other virtue-signaling administrations to placate this new radicalism. Instead of taking mover the presidents office, these woke progressives have taken over the curriculum. Those college presidents will pay a large price for sacrificing they basic reusability to the tiny, loud, woke mob, akin to what Churchill said to Chamberlain when he returned from his pact signing surrender to Hitler in Munich.

You were given the choice between war and dishonour. You chose dishonour and you will have war.