Liberal Arts Degree

[Stevenpfo]

I've been reading through another thread or two on here and this kind of degree keeps getting negative treatment. Why? What is so bad about it?

This thread isn't about why one deserves more funding than another. But why some consider this kind of degree to be bad or for lazy people? Please don't reference certain posters. In the context of this thread I could care less about them.

I'm asking because i'm pursuing an arts degree myself. Albeit for multiple reasons. It's free, so I get to take what I enjoy. The only things available to learn part-time (evenings) here are arts degrees and I won't have to upgrade anything (I would have to waste a year doing so) to take these courses.

Is it such a bad thing for people to pursue higher education in an area that they enjoy so long as they don't expect to make a ton of money upon graduation? Although there is nothing wrong with expecting more than a high school graduate depending on the locals wants and needs of the local economy.

 

[Arwon]

What is involved in a liberal arts degree?

 

[Merkinball]

There's nothing inherently bad about it. If you want a liberal arts degree, go get one.

But don't moan about how unfair the world is when society has no need for such a useless piece of paper.

 

[.Shane.]

Stevenpfo, its depends what you want out of education and what you're looking for in terms of personal goals.

What are you goals? What do you want to do with your education?

 

[Stevenpfo]

What is involved in a liberal arts degree?

Off the top of my head from my school:

Anthropology
Political Science
English
Sociology
Psychology
Philosophy
History
Classics
...

 

[kramerfan86]

Its a degree which isnt particularly useful in business and industry is why it gets so much flak. Engineering, Science, and business degrees are much more desired and useful. Liberal arts tends to be only useful for education, and in some cases only useful for educating other people going for the same degree.

 

[Stevenpfo]

Stevenpfo, its depends what you want out of education and what you're looking for in terms of personal goals.

What are you goals? What do you want to do with your education?

Just speaking for myself here.

I have multiple goals and ways of reaching them. In 5-6 years I plan on have a BA in Sociology and a college degree in Management Studies. Hopefully i'll also be able to attend the apprenticeship program at work (they have only opened 5 spots, boo) and in 3 years become a Heavy Duty Mechanic.

Those are my education goals. My overall goal is to work in management. But in an industry setting. I don't want to spend all of my time in the office. Although I realize I will probably spend a large percentage of it there.

Those are my current goals for where I work generally. I also want all of those so that I have 2-3 things to fall back on. Job security and all that.

 

[Mise]

I think that all degrees have value, just that some are more obvious than others. There's lots of useful skills that you learn on a degree, and not just the actual exam material. For example, just knowing how to go about researching stuff is useful. Organising projects and stuff can be useful. But I think the most important thing that anyone should take from a university education is critical thinking. As much as you can learn "on the job", problems will always look a lot different to a graduate than a non-graduate.

BTW, what the hell is a "Liberal Arts Degree"?

EDIT: Jesus christ that was a lot of posts. I'd call it an X-post but that doesn't seem to cover it...

Anyway...

Anthropology
Political Science
English
Sociology
Psychology
Philosophy
History
Classics
...

Does that mean you do all those things as part of a Liberal Arts Degree, or are they examples of Liberal Arts degrees?

 

[CurtSibling]

Learning English, History and the Classics is laudable...Fine artsty-fartsy degrees are ambigious though!

Animation or commercial artworks degrees are more useful for actually getting a job or going freelance.

Speaking as a tutor and illustrator, I can say most art-school people I have met are lacking in draftsmanship skills,
overtly pretentious and destined for working in Subway! Unless daddy bails them out or they manage to suck up
taxpayer's money through grants...Also, these folk tend to be communists. Yes, such people do annoy me!

...

 

[Stevenpfo]

Its a degree which isnt particularly useful in business and industry is why it gets so much flak. Engineering, Science, and business degrees are much more desired and useful. Liberal arts tends to be only useful for education, and in some cases only useful for educated other people going for the same degree.

The thing that I found odd is that my Management Studies teach presented us with a study that was done that showed people with Arts degrees moved up faster and further in a business management setting than say someone with a business degree.

 

[Stevenpfo]

BTW, what the hell is a "Liberal Arts Degree"?

Bachelor's Degree. I dunno, everyone kept calling it that in another thread.

 

[QuoVadisNation]

I'm a double liberal arts major, I'm also choosing a vocation next semester which has nothing to do with my four years in undergraduate college.

In my experience, a liberal degree is bad because, by itself..

it doesn't teach any pracitical skills or knowledge
it doesn't get you a job, or even an internship
it doesn't get you any money
after four years, you're "total knowledge" in the subject doesn't make you better off than four years ago.
Very, very little respect from regular people
Your total knowledge gained within your four years can be (and probably is) summed up in a wikipedia page.

A liberal arts degree is perceived as something for lazy people because..

A liberal arts degree isn't really all that challenging
A liberal arts degree is something lazy or shiftless people generally take.

Funny fact, many lawyers are composed of liberal arts majors who realized the uselessness of Foucault and Finnis.

 

[Stevenpfo]

Learning English, History and the Classics is laudable...Fine artsty-fartsy degrees are ambigious though!
...

I almost took the English until I read through the course listing and died a little inside. I wanted to take history but work would not let me because it was not work related.

 

[kramerfan86]

The thing that I found odd is that my Management Studies teach presented us with a study that was done that showed people with Arts degrees moved up faster and further in a business management setting than say someone with a business degree.

The liberal arts classes I was required to have involved A LOT of bullcrapping to get a good grade. So I imagine by the time you do an entire major you are pretty good at the skill of bullcrapping, and since business management is mainly bullcrapping, you are prepared for that job.

 

[Stevenpfo]

it doesn't teach any practical skills or knowledge
it doesn't get you a job, or even an internship
it doesn't get you any money

Sociology and psychology would not have transferable skills required for a management position?

The company I work for (General Dynamics) requires a Bachelors degree in anything to be promoted past a certain point. That is a long way off for myself but it would be a big jump in money and it would open a lot of jobs up within the organization.

 

[jessiecat]

The thing that I found odd is that my Management Studies teach presented us with a study that was done that showed people with Arts degrees moved up faster and further in a business management setting than say someone with a business degree.

As I've already posted, the main advantage of any degree course is that it
helps you direct your thinking and researching in a logical and constructive
way. It doesn't matter what you study, it's the process that is stimulating
and rewarding. I'm sure that study was right. It might also help explain
why so many Engineering graduates are functionally illiterate. Sometimes,
in any job, it helps to compose and write English well.

 

[nihilistic]

The liberal arts classes I was required to have involved A LOT of bullcrapping to get a good grade. So I imagine by the time you do an entire major you are pretty good at the skill of bullcrapping, and since business management is mainly bullcrapping, you are prepared for that job.

Exactly. There are Shakespeares and Shakespeare experts, but essentially everybody in those liberal arts departments are of the latter. Also, losers who majored in their native language don't get to complain about getting McJobs.

 

[Godwynn]

Thank Allah I'm a business major.

 

[downtown]

Slamming liberal arts degrees is popular on CFC because we have a lot of computer science, physics, engineering etc. students who like to stroke their egos. How could researching and writing papers possibly be as intelligent as doing long math problems? Clearly, only dumb people do the liberal arts!

I'm almost finished with my Political Science degree, and I haven't had any problem at all with prospective employment. I've completed internships with state and local governments, and I'm about start one with the federal government. We have several international insurance companies, along with other huge companies, that hire people with liberal arts degrees all the time.

If you want to go into Law, Business, or any type of Administration, there is nothing wrong with a liberal arts degree. These degrees are supposed to one's analysis and critical thinking skills, not to mention researching and writing, which are certainly transferable to business, administration, and industry.

If you get a Liberal Arts degree though, you prob. will have to go to graduate school.

 

[Stevenpfo]

Thank Allah I'm a business major.

Nice. I already make 10k more a year than an arts major.