Benefits of a Liberal Arts Degree Essay

The student who decides to pursue a innocent blanket(a) humanistic discipline education in University often faces a discouraging reaction from family and friends. Everyone seems to realize a B. A. in Philosophy who is flipping burgers at Wendys, or an M. A. in English who is clerking at Wal-Mart. Students who choose liberal humanities hear the identical remarks over and over What good is a degree in gallant History, or Chinese literature, or Classics? Study something practical and get a real project In fact, however, no degree provides an automatic job ticket, since the market for employment is constantly in flux. The liberal arts nominate education, not training, and thus prepare students for a wide range of possibilities in both work and life. By developing their minds through a liberal arts education, students benefit themselves, their eventual careers, and the nicety at large . For anyone arouse in personal and intellectual growth, the liberal arts offer numberless benefits.Studies in such fields as English and Philosophy get in a student to the great writers and thinkers whose ideas have shaped our culture. By on the job(p) through the dialogues of Plato, students see logic in action by poring over the plays of Shakespeare, the poetry of Wordsworth, or the novels of Dickens, they realize the power of language. Without knowledge of the great writers and thinkers of the past, throng operate in a vacuum, unable to see beyond their contiguous world. How can they gauge the validity of ideas if they know nothing except the invest moment?In a media-driven culture of instant celebrity, students need to cognize truths that have endured over hundreds and even thousands of years. These truths expand their thinking beyond their warm limitations, and they discover new insights into their own minds. The benefits of a liberal arts education, however, go beyond personal growth into longer-term career skills. Every liberal arts course from Art History to Womens Studies requires proficiency in edition and writing.Graduates with Arts degrees find their communication skills in demand by employers pursuit throng who can read, write, and speak well. As Francis Bacon observed nearly cd years ago, Reading maketh a full man conference a ready man, and writing an exact man(106). No courses develop these skills more than fully than do those in the liberal arts. In addition, the liberal arts foster analytical thought the ability to break an argument into its separate and assess its validity.Clear analysis is fundamental to the practical worlds of tradeand commerce. Finally, the liberal arts assist originality, as students learn to think in inventive ways. The student who gives an inventive presentation or develops a fresh intuition will enhance the workplace with that creativity. Its no surprise that legal philosophy schools actively seek liberal arts graduates for its programs, or that jobs in the well-bred service, human resour ces, and upper management are typically staffed by pot with Arts degrees. The only surprise is that anyone still scoffs at the notion that a general B. A. is a useful degree.As significant as its preserve may be on personal and career growth, the real revalue of a liberal arts education is found in its benefits to the culture as a whole. The liberal arts retain and transmit the record of civilization itself. Without a commitment to preserving that history, our culture runs the risk of forgetting or distorting its past. free-handed arts students serve as guardians of intellectual thought for the next generation. Writers, journalists, film-makers, and politicians the people shaping the thoughts and actions of the succeeding(a) are drawn from the ranks of liberal arts majors.For example, the manufacturer of the Harry Potter series, J. K. Rowling, has an undergraduate degree in Classics, and Liberal attracter Michael Ignatieff earned degrees in History. Moreover, the liberal a rts tend to be interdisciplinary in nature. Knowledge in one area illuminates another, so that quite of creating a society of narrow specialists, liberal arts studies actually encourage a culture of educated, open-minded people. Such individuals have both the cognitive content and the training to address practical problems in society.Leading reformers of the 20th century, including Nelson Mandela (Nelson) and Martin Luther King, junior (Martin), profited from their liberal arts studies. A degree in the liberal arts is not a dead-end route that culminates in a life-time of serving fries or stocking shelves. Rather, it is a doorway that opens to paths heading in every direction. Students who expand their minds through liberal arts benefit themselves, their future career choices, and the wider culture.