LIBERAL ARTS EDUCATION 1

Running head: LIBERAL ARTS EDUCATON

The Value of a Liberal Arts Education and the Skills Gap

Mckenna Embley
University of Utah

Abstract

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In this paper I have researched and developed my own opinions about the value of a liberal arts
education and examine further questions about the skills gap in college. I started my research on
the University of Utahs library data base and looked through scholarly journals on there for
articles and books about liberal art education debates. From there I found positive, negative and
neutral arguments towards the value of a liberal arts degree and also opinions on what could be
done in order to restore some significance in the degree. After this research I had questions about
what struggles liberal art degree students were facing after they graduated. After some research
in that area I decided to look more into the skills gap that came with the degree. Data I found
clearly showed the decline of success of liberal art graduates and their professions, but most of
the scholars still saw value in the teachings. In conclusion, a liberal arts education may not be the
most successful degree to have and there is a skills gap between going to school and finding a
profession, but the liberal arts teaches students valuable learning skills, such as critical thinking,
that benefits students in their education and professions.
Keywords: Liberal arts, skills gap, curriculum

Higher education in America has been around since the late 1600s, around the time of the

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American colonies and the Salem Witch Trials. The focus of higher education has typically been
to further knowledge beyond the standards of a basic education offered to the public, and to also
train for specific jobs in the workforce. The arts and sciences were very celebrated subjects,
along with new fields to explore such as medicine and law. Todays universities are held to even
higher standards than in the past and there are many debates about how to invent a proper
university and what components should go into making it. Elements such as curriculum, gender
and apprenticeship style programs are just a few of the specific topics debated. Specifically,
scholars currently debate what roles these elements should play in a university setting.
One ongoing debate in curriculum at institutions of higher education is the worth of the
liberal arts in the university curriculum. As technology and business continue to grow, the focus
of our nations economy has been to provide jobs in those areas of study, and less on the liberal
arts. Classes such as history, English and philosophy are losing students to business and
engineering schools. Kate Wintrol (2014) mentions some history of the subject in her article
titled The Intrinsic Value of the Liberal Arts: Ciceros Example, suggesting the liberal arts can
be traced back to ancient Rome where the phrase liberal arts is derived from the Latin artes
liberales and originally referred to the skills needed to be an effective, informed, and voting
citizen in ancient Rome (p. 129).
Looking at what liberal arts means now you get a different definition. In their article
titled What Really Matters in College: How Students View and Value Liberal Education Debra
Humphreys and Abigail Davenport (2005), along with the Association for American Colleges
and Universities, conducted group studies with high school and college students to understand
their attitudes about and perceptions of liberal education, as well as the degree to which they
recognize the value to their own futures of a liberal education and its key outcomes

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(Introduction section, para. 4). They asked students how familiar they were with the term liberal
education, but within the groups they could not get a solid or accurate definition of the term.
Humphreys and Davenport then gave the students their definition of liberal education. They
stated a liberal education is a philosophy of education that empowers individuals, liberates the
mind from ignorance, and cultivates social responsibility [it] compromises a curriculum that
includes general education that provides students broad exposure to multiple disciplines and
more in-depth study in at least one field or area of concentration (Liberal education section,
para. 5). Comparing the two definitions, one may see how the liberal arts subject has been
interpreted differently over thousands of years. With the liberal arts, the main arguments are
about what the worth of a liberal arts education is and what can people do with a liberal arts
degree.
From reading and research I have found there to be a strong arguments regarding the
value of a liberal arts education. There are students and scholars, such as Mary Godwyn, that are
against the liberal arts and argue it is useless in todays economy and statistics do show that the
subject is struggling for support. Victor E. Farrall, Andrew Hacker and Claudia Dreifus and
Stanford J. Ungar argue in favor of liberal arts and present the reasons to why those classes are
valuable tend to be teachers involved in the liberal arts or former students that have a liberal arts
degree. Those that fall in between either side of the argument, such as Virginia Myers Kelly,
debate the liberal arts can be useful, but need to be integrated with other subjects in order to have
any value in higher education.
Within the last decade or so the number of students graduating with a business, science
and engineering degrees have sky-rocketed. In their article Does Your Major Matter (2012) on
Forbes.com, Glenn Altschuler and David Skorton write how they are known by their readers as

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avid fans of the humanities and performing arts, but recognize that kids coming out of high
school want more with their college degree than a liberal arts education: the engineering,
computer science, and software engineering with the minimum starting median salary of the
three degrees at $53,800 (Altshuler & Skorton, 2012). A liberal arts degree is ranked number 5
on their 10 Worst College Majors list and has an unemployment rate for graduates of 9.2%,
and a median earning of $30,000 a year (Altshuler & Skorton, 2012). Just from looking at the
statistics anyone can see that it is true that the liberal arts are dying and becoming less popular,
but it does not mean they are not still valuable.
One possible solution author Virginia Myers Kelly (2006) recognized the value of the
liberal arts in her article Searching for Success in Higher Education and discussed how to
integrate it into current curriculum. Kelly recognized the liberal arts are useful and may help
students with their degrees, but it may not be as effective and valuable on its own. Virginia
Myers Kelly interviewed and surveyed students and professors at colleges in America in her
article. They suggest liberal arts education be more apart of community colleges, rather than
four-year universities (Kelly, 2006, p.12). She reasons this because students may be earning
more technical degrees, but they constantly will be thrust into situations where theyll need an
ability to learn and to learn quickly, which is what the liberal arts teaches (Kelly, 2006, p.12).
Mary Godwyn (2009) also recognized the benefits of being educated in the liberal arts,
but had a different suggestion for what to do with them. Rather than cancel the subject from all
curriculum in institutes of higher education, Godwyn suggests integrating with subjects like
business and entrepreneurship education (Godwyn, 2009). She says entrepreneurship education
is now part of many liberal arts institutions, and that is a good thing. However, liberal arts and
entrepreneurship faculty members themselves must articulate and interpret the objectives and

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outcomes of course offerings (Godwyn, 2009). Godwyn recognizes that this will be difficult to
integrate and make sure that teachers are on the same page with one another. Her suggestion is
that teachers can do that by doing what we do best: critically examining the process to ensure
that courses are consistent with the values and goals of liberal arts education (Godwyn, 2009).
Mary Godwyn is just one of many that see the value of a liberal arts education, but also see that
there is a higher interest in courses like science and business.
As a student who is in the process of going to school for liberal arts degree I can see the
challenges that will come with finding a job, but I also see the benefits as well. I agree that there
is a shortage or slim pickings of jobs to go along with my degree, but I agree with Mary
Godwyn. When combined with other areas of studies that may seem more relevant in todays
economy a liberal arts degree can be very beneficial. The degrees create a diverse learning
environment and bring together subjects that may support and assist each other. Personally, I
would be happy with my liberal arts degree and would not want to combine with anything else,
and this is where the skills gap comes into the debate. I look at the business and science
programs at my school and I notice the many opportunities that those students may have to go
and explore in their field in order to get them started on their career path while they are at school.
Being a liberal arts major I dont see as many opportunities to go study at a museum or go and do
research on site like a business student may have the opportunity to go visit Google campus or
intern for a prestigious cooperate business.
A liberal arts education in colleges and universities has been a part of curriculum for
centuries and is an enduring subject in todays schools. One area it seems comes up short in
compared to other majors has to do with the skills gap its graduates face after they are done with
school. Programs are being put into place for other popular majors at universities to put its

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graduates on the path to a successful career after life as a student. Opportunities such as
internships at prestigious companies, traveling to conventions and in class career training are just
some examples of programs that are in place to get students careers started while they are still in
school. Liberal arts education programs dont seem to be as proactive into creating the same
types of opportunities unless you are at a liberal arts school.
A reason to why students struggle after they graduate is because they are clueless about
what skills are needed in order to pursue a job in our economys job market. David DeLong
(2014), author of the article titled How Liberal Arts Colleges Can Stop Fueling the Skills
Gap, suggests schools should reinvent their traditional career services function so it provides
leading edge tools and tutoring to prepare students for the real world (DeLong, 2014). He
then suggests that tools such as updated networking techniques, ready access to helpful alumni,
education about technologies like applicant tracking systems, and intensive coaching for Skype
and in-person interviews must become standard offerings to make liberal arts students more
competitive would be useful in the development of ending the skills gap (DeLong, 2014).
Having these resources available to students and graduates may help to lessen the problem with
the skills gap and equipping students with the skills needed to go get the jobs suited for them and
that will support them.
Students looking into or wanting a liberal arts education degree may want to look into
saving themselves some time and going straight to a liberal arts school where the focus is on
their degree. There are institutions of higher education that primarily teach the liberal arts for
those that are interested in any of the subjects involved. With the focus of college students not
being so much on the liberal arts, these schools are suffering. In His book, Liberal Arts at the
Brink, author Victor E. Ferrall (2011) argues to support his opinion and recognize that liberal arts

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colleges and liberal arts education is dying. He uses personal stories and statistics to support his
observation that liberal arts colleges are either being made into more vocational schools or
closing their doors in order to adjust to rising tuition costs. In order to keep attracting students to
liberal arts colleges, schools are forced to lower tuition and spend more on operating expenses.
Ferrall makes a solid argument in favor of the benefits of a liberal arts education. He encourages
colleges to come together to promote the benefits of a liberal arts education in order to continue
the unique education it offers and not conform to the vocational education that a majority of
universities offer.
Andrew Hacker and Claudia Dreifus (2010) mention liberal arts in their article titled Are
Colleges Worth the Price of Admission, as they discuss how colleges are taking on too many
roles for themselves, not doing any of them well, and not equally investing their money
throughout their school (Hacker & Dreifus, 2010). Colleges dont have the ability to lower cost
and fund products to boost productivity in the liberal arts. It is argued that those classes and
subjects allow students to explore and expand their imagination without consequences. The
liberal arts education students may receive will in turn be like shorthand for a developing a more
complex way of thinking.
Just from what Ive read about the skills gap in the liberal arts I have found that schools
are really making an effort to give their students equal opportunities throughout their many
majors to get a head start and develop their career before they graduate.

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References
Altshuler, G., & Skorton, D. (2012, October 29). Does your major matter. Retrieved from:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/collegeprose/2012/10/29/does-your-major-matter/
DeLong, D. (2014, February 4) How liberal arts colleges can stop fueling the "skills gap".
Harvard Business Review.
Farrell, V. E. (2011). Liberal Arts at the Brink. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Godwyn, M. (2009, January). Can the Liberal Arts and Entrepreneurship Work Together?
American Association of University Professors. Retrieved from:
http://www.aaup.org/article/can-liberal-arts-and-entrepreneurship-worktogether#.VDG_f_ldWSo
Hacker, A., & Dreifus, C. (2010, July 11). Are Colleges Worth the Price of Admission?
Retrieved September 20, 2014, from The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Humphreys, D., & Davenport, A. (2005, Summer/Fall). What really matters in college: how
students view and value liberal education. Liberal Education.
J.Ungar, S. (2010). The New Liberal Arts. In G. Graff, C. Birkenstein, & R. Durst, They Say/I
Say 2nd Edition With Readings (pp. 190-196). New York : W. W. Norton & Company.
Kelly, V. M. (2006). Searching for Successs in Higer Education. American Academic, 5-21.
Wintrol, K. (2014). The Intrinsic Value of the Liberal Arts: Cicero's Example. Journal of the
National Collegiate Honors Council, 129-134.

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