Is the Four-Year, Liberal-Arts Education Model Dead?

Is the classic, four-year, liberal arts education a dying model? This is the question being asked in education circles. The reasoning used to be that a liberal arts degree was the ticket to middle class life writes Rob Reuteman in a CNBN special report. http://www.cnbc.com/id/41626661 He goes on to quote a professor of economics that “Now we graduate more people from college than we have jobs for," he explains. "A college diploma doesn’t really cut it anymore as a sure path to success. Nowadays you need a masters degree or an M.B.A. One-quarter of fast-food restaurant managers have college diplomas.”

Perhaps you have heard this before, but a college education today is about the equivalent of a high school education 40 years ago. So why would you expect today's liberal arts curriculum to meet the challenges of employment today? It does not add up.

The same article presents another view. “Skeptics now treat the study of liberal arts and humanities as luxuries that are not especially germane to preparing students to compete with peers from other nations in a global economy rocked by recession,” Undersecretary of Education Martha J. Kanter said in a 2010 speech. “The implication of all this is that liberal arts colleges provide a boutique, if charmingly antiquated, education for the 21st century."

Again I'd argue that our young people are not being educated and thus prepared for the intensely competitive job market nearly as well as they used to be with a LA college degree. Much of the degradation of our education system has its roots in trying to gift everyone college. During my teaching assistantship days at Michigan, I saw freshman who could not write a complete sentence. While laudable, not everyone is college material until they demonstrate sufficient proficiency. Lowering entry standards, passing people through the system because of whatever mandate is not the way to go. All of us who supported equality of opportunity by lowering standards and tolerated these changes are to blame. The unfortunate thing is that we don't pay the consequences of these well-intentioned, but short sighted aims. It is the generation of college students over the past few decades that pay the heavy price.

I agree, it is being touted as a panacea, which it is not.

Over the past 30 years, more or less, while most of the remainder of the world prepared its children for productive careers in science, medicine and engineering...we "screwed the pooch". We focused on finance and law (now loser occupations), football, social fulff, booze and dope. The educational system in the name of "political correctness" gave us what we asked for - a shell game. Universities became businesses and not institutions of higher learning. To recover if we ever can, we must refocus on substance in education, high standards and flush the fluff out of the system. I am not optimistic........stupid teachers with tennure are now teaching slop to our children........blind leading blinder.

How do I really feel - a BA is worthless (but at $100,000) and the products are living in mommies back room working at the local burger joints. BUT not dead.....unfortunately.

RD - excellent topic. Care for your own - Id - both are engineers and now we focus on grandkids - PARENTS do make all the difference. Low standards unfortunately are not pervasive......but we engineers are making a lot of $$$$$$. Uhhhhhh MBA I like my well done please - snap to it.

Say what you will, education begins at home. THere is where the foundation is laid for later in life. All is not lost indeed, but a changes are a must. Moving liberal arts schools to include more vocational training is not really addressing the fundamental issue of low admission and graduation standards. Including vocational training at a 4 yr college is an admission that going to a community college is actually better and less of a waste of time because those graduates at least graduate with a skill that can be applied. It was my thought that colleges help you to think and expand your mind. But, that is not going to happen if the brain goes unchallenged.

A liberal arts degree is worthless except to a person who does not need to make a living. The most valuable degree is a science degree. "Science" includes engineering, medicine, math related disciplines, etc.

The reason that the BA is worth so much less is because they are so common. The reason that they are so common is because it does not take much intelligence to get one.

(Sure there are the few exception that can be given anecdotally.)

RIGHT, precisely on Major. I give you 10 gold stars. BA is a waste of time and $$$$$ - but the parents keep on keepin on. This is a parental failure. A solid craft skill (welding, mechanics, carpenter,)......are far more valuable.

There is nothing wrong with skilled crafts. Let's face it. Not everyone is college material, nor is everyone a skilled welder or mechanic, etc. There are many similar skills that do not require the same mental aptitude as that of a mathematician, scientist, medical doctor, etc. But parental perception is that skilled labor is not glorious and thus beneath their Johnny and Jane. Thus the push for college, not to mention the whole educational minority mandate all of which have done little to maintain quality college education.

We all know that computer science is going to be a strong job market for decades to come. Even in this field, not everyone requires 4 years of college to profit. A wise parent will recognize this and appropriately guide their children in the right direction.

My comparison was of a BA degree to a BS degree. And advanced degrees of both areas.