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This isn't the first time I've seen this, and it probably won't be the last, but as a student who had received his Associates in the liberal arts a couple years back, and now working on his bachelors in journalism... the liberal arts and sciences have become so much more than they used to be. Sure, you still have the art majors, the painters, musicians, philosophers, day dream believers, and English majors (the kind of studies even I don't see how one could make a career of), but now.. you also have the sciences thrown in with these guys. Your historians, your chemists, physicists, mathematicians... the kind of people who built the atomic bomb! You have your engineers, your economists, your geologists, your climatologists, your computing technicians, the people who built the tech that got us to the Moon. Frankly, I believe the liberal arts, unless you become a physicist or economist, are vastly under appreciated and under funded. Far too many people going for mundane business degrees because that's what they feel they must do, rather than pushing their potential, pushing their minds, and doing what they want to do. The "easy" route is almost always never the right one.
My argument in favor of liberal arts for those so inclined is that it can be very practical to have a broad base of knowledge of history, of different disciplines, different philosophies, etc. I've worked in finance my entire career and have used most of the things I learned obtaining my liberal arts degree in my career.
History has allowed me to recognize patterns today that echo the past; psychology has given me an edge in the psychology of markets and understanding other people; philosophy taught me to think down to core premises and how to build arguments; English literature taught me both better writing skills and how universal and timeless the human the condition is; and sociology taught me to recognize group patterns and how, for example, different markets in different countries can reflect different cultures. I could go on and get more specific.
While I mainly traded and managed money and teams of traders and money managers, I also wrote extensively as - surprisingly - decent writing skills are hard to find and much needed in finance. In writing about markets, I would draw on all those disciplines I learned about in college which, IMHO, gave my writing more power and verve. I was asked to write speeches for the President of one company, the Treasurer of another and several senior executives based on my market commentary pieces. These were "outside my job description" assignments, but helped my career and made it infinitely more interesting.
Having a broad base of knowledge - with an understanding of how to leverage it - can be an incredibly practical resource, which is why I am so surprised Liberal Arts is thought of, by many, as impractical. Yes, it might not lead to an immediate "glamor" job out of school, but most careers take time to develop, twist and turn along the way and only get going later on - for that, a broad base of knowledge, how to think, how to analyze facts, how to translate specifics into broad concepts and vice versa is incredibly powerful.
Some people know exactly what they want to do at a young age and some careers require years of very in-depth study to acquire the specific knowledge necessary to succeed. Some people also prefer a more vocational type of career which requires specific technical training. A liberal arts education isn't for everyone, but for those that it fits, properly leveraged it can both enhance one's career and enrich one's life. I am amazed that it is a point of view that even requires defending - but clearly it does.
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