Would you let your child study liberal arts?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Per Encyclopedia Britannica (emphasis mine):

Liberal arts, college or university curriculum aimed at imparting general knowledge and developing general intellectual capacities in contrast to a professional, vocational, or technical curriculum. In the medieval European university the seven liberal arts were grammar, rhetoric, and logic (the trivium) and geometry, arithmetic, music, and astronomy (the quadrivium). In modern colleges and universities the liberal arts include the study of literature, languages, philosophy, history, mathematics, and science as the basis of a general, or liberal, education. Sometimes the liberal-arts curriculum is described as comprehending study of three main branches of knowledge: the humanities (literature, language, philosophy, the fine arts, and history), the physical and biological sciences and mathematics, and the social sciences.

So helpful PP. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

I have a BA in Studio Art and a JD from a top tier law school. I am in a position to full pay wherever my children want to go to school. If my parents had dictated my undergraduate degree I probably would not have one now.

I will not pay any amount for any school if it is not a good value and my child is not engaged, but if my child is passionate and learning and will get a BA I will not criticize the subject, I will be happy to help them get a good start in life.

[Anonymous]

Need to get that ROI…

SMH

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a university professor. Luckily my kids get free tuition at my university so if they want to study "whatever" then that's their fallback. I would not pay for liberal arts or hard sciences. I would pay for most engineering fields, accounting, finance, and that's about it. They would also need to get admitted to a school ranked at least 20 spots higher if I'm going to pay private school level tuitions. There just is not that much difference in quality or outcomes between schools ranked 20 and 40, or between 50 and 100 for that matter.

Where do you teach?

[Anonymous]

“Let”? It’s the only thing I WILL pay for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What “you” want is totally irrelevant. It’s not “your” decision.

Quite right.

[Anonymous]

5 pages of people swallowing the most obvious troll bait.

[Anonymous]

Of course. History major - now biglaw partner

[Anonymous]

Yes. "Liberal arts" = mathematics, English, history, etc...
not these bs majors and career-centric majors that will be dated in 5 years.

[Anonymous]

English major here. Then graduated magna cum laude from a T10 law school. Worked in Big Law then went in house years ago. With options I bring in $500k+ per year. Your caviar dreams can come true even with a pedestrian liberal arts degree, OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:5 pages of people swallowing the most obvious troll bait.

And people saying it's great bc you can then go to law school and get hired by Big Law.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:5 pages of people swallowing the most obvious troll bait.

And people saying it's great bc you can then go to law school and get hired by Big Law.

Freedom for my son to choose a major is important because my son is wonderful, the future is uncertain, and learning for the sake of learning can be a great joy.

Even if flood, fire, famine, war or pestilence destroys everything, at least my son will still have the memory of learning what he wanted to learn, and maybe he’ll have enough stored knowledge and nimbleness of thought to figure out how to face whatever it is he’ll have to face.

And he can go through life knowing he at least tried to be fully human, not just a serf who thinks what the boss needs for him to think.

[Anonymous]

Liberal arts teach you what you need to be successfully so many different situations.

Engineering, accounting, finance, and other field-specific majors teach you how to solve problems in specific areas.


I have a degree in the former. My husband has a degree in the later. It's amazing how much of what I consider a whole education he is missing. He was prepared for a certain job, but doesn't have the familiarity with literature, art, history, and philosophy that I thought was normal because all of my SLAC friends recognize those references. And he sucks at Jeopardy. lol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:5 pages of people swallowing the most obvious troll bait.

And people saying it's great bc you can then go to law school and get hired by Big Law.

Freedom for my son to choose a major is important because my son is wonderful, the future is uncertain, and learning for the sake of learning can be a great joy.

Even if flood, fire, famine, war or pestilence destroys everything, at least my son will still have the memory of learning what he wanted to learn, and maybe he’ll have enough stored knowledge and nimbleness of thought to figure out how to face whatever it is he’ll have to face.

And he can go through life knowing he at least tried to be fully human, not just a serf who thinks what the boss needs for him to think.

While in Big Law?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Liberal arts teach you what you need to be successfully so many different situations.

Engineering, accounting, finance, and other field-specific majors teach you how to solve problems in specific areas.


I have a degree in the former. My husband has a degree in the later. It's amazing how much of what I consider a whole education he is missing. He was prepared for a certain job, but doesn't have the familiarity with literature, art, history, and philosophy that I thought was normal because all of my SLAC friends recognize those references. And he sucks at Jeopardy. lol

Interest, my engineer spouse has a heavy interest in politics and government and reads way more than I do.