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2. You Don’t Have to Give Up What You Love: Liberal Arts at Work
- University Press of New England
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25 As a museum professional, I perceived in the past that colleges had an almost guaranteed customer base because of the great demand for a college degree by employers. In contrast, it seemed that informal educational institutions, such as museums, were increasingly challenged for visitors’ time and money by amusement parks, beach vacations, and gas prices. That perspective has changed significantly. With the recent downturn and continuing economic strain on families, many Americans have been asking themselves about the value of a college education, particularly in the liberal arts. Parents and students wonder whether a degree will help secure a job for a new graduate. Despite President Barack Obama’s call for increased college graduation and the demand by foreign students for a degree in the United States, educational leadership is not helping to make the case for the four-year college. In February 2012, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan made the pronouncement that he found more and more graduates of four-year universities going to community colleges “to get that technical training to get a real job.” This assertion seems to argue against a four-year degree. Given rising tuition, the level of debt that students and their parents currently shoulder, and uncertainty about finding work commensurate with one’s education, it is understandable that the cost of earning a degree might seem too high and the returns too uncertain. Colleges and the“RealWorld” One of the most detrimental tropes of the academic world that supports the idea that the liberal arts do not translate into meaningful paid work is that college is not the “real world.” Each year at elaborate graduation ceremonies cross the country, students already nostalgically recall their four years at school as they stand on the brink of entering the next phase of their lives: financial independence and self-sufficiency. Yet, what they Regina Faden 2You Don’t Have to Give UpWhatYou Love: Liberal Arts atWork 26 P R E S E R V A T I O N E D U C A T I O N have heard from many faculty and staff is that where they have been and the liberal arts degree they will pay off over the next five, ten, or fifteen years have no relationship to where they are going—the “real world.” What this trope denies is that students are already in the real world. They have competed with other candidates, often from around the world, to secure their place at college. Their choices have been supported or constrained by family finances. They spend four years among highly skilled professionals , faculty and staff, who are already successful in the very competitive field of academia. Students have chosen majors, completed numerous assignments, worked in groups and independently, managed their time, and communicated with peers and professionals in order to arrive at graduation with all required credits and paperwork filed. Perhaps it would be easier for liberal arts colleges to talk about preparing for a “life’s work” rather than job preparation. Today, people will make many changes in their career path; the concept of one engaging in a field that realizes one’s potential, supported in the broad understanding of the world shaped by the liberal arts, might be a more palatable way to think about life after graduation. Admittedly, identifying a career path for an English or history major is not always straightforward. An accounting or computer science major, for example, can identify the type of work for which he or she will be qualified after completing college. The same might be said for a nursing or engineering student. Their programs help students understand what their skills are and how they can be marketed in the private sector. Potential employment usually pays well and, therefore, the return on their investment of tens of thousands of dollars and four or five years of work seems tangible. The problem might be that there is a mismatch between colleges and employers because “higher education and industry speak different languages .” Jon Marcus, a higher education correspondent for the Boston Globe, explains: “Surveys of company executives find that what they really want in their employees is creative thinking, innovation, and an ability to write and speak well—all products not of technical training, higher education leaders say, but of the liberal arts.” This sounds wonderful, but positions remain unfilled and employers frustrated. “While many businesses understand the value of hiring liberal arts graduates . . . many hire business...