Follow your college dreams

[MadHound]

Over the past few months I've seen post after post where people are valuing one type of college degree over another. For some, an engineering degree is better than an English degree because you are generally paid better as an engineer.

This sort of judgment is being handed down in real life as well. Across the country individual universities and colleges are paring back on their liberal arts programs, while in Florida, the entire state, led by Governor Scott, is looking to cut back on liberal arts degrees. In fact, it seems as though conservatives in general don't like the liberal arts, perhaps because of the word "liberal" in liberal arts.

But the fact of the matter is we need the liberal arts, much like we need all degrees and professions. For example, who do you think writes all those shows that engineers, IT folk, et. al. love? Yeah, that's right, English majors. Who lays the basis for business ethics, legal ethics, etc.? Oh, yeah, those darned Philosophy majors. I could go on and on, but the point I'm looking to make here is that we need people who have degrees in the liberal arts just as much as we need engineers and IT folks.

Furthermore, not everybody is cut out to be in Science or Math, just as not everybody is not cut out to be a History major. Damning somebody for not being talented in your particular field is just as disingenuous as me damning an engineer who doesn't know history. We're all different, and we all have different talents. Just because somebody graduated from a liberal arts college doesn't mean they are any worse, or better, than somebody who graduated with a Science degree.

Also, just because somebody has a degree in the Humanities doesn't mean that they had an easier row to hoe than somebody with an IT degree. Each major has classes that are meant to separate out those who should get that particular degree from those who don't. One of my degrees is in History, and for my History major, the cut out class was Historiography. As my adviser put it, it's boot camp for history majors. You not only learn how to properly write a History paper(including the minutia of Turabians), but you also learned how to think like a historian, how to judge matters, weigh facts, come to a conclusion that takes into account not only what happened, but why it happened.

It was four months of hell, indeed, and there were some in the class who simply couldn't hack it, just as what happens with other majors. The point is, no degree comes easy. Everybody has to jump through hoops, do their due diligence, and make copious sacrifices of blood, sweat and tears. To demean a particular degree as somehow being "easy" simply shows your own ignorance.

So please, stop with this nonsense of valuating college degrees. Liberal arts, sciences, they are all necessary to have a well rounded society. If you remove the liberal arts from education, then we all will suffer.

[pnwmom]

1. Good post. n/t