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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My SLAC didn't/doesn't offer it, either . . . I don't think that many do. It's not part of a classic curriculum that focuses on theory and critical thinking skills, versus practical and technical skills (that most graduates from elite schools will pick up on the job).[/quote]

I have a liberal arts undergrad degree (Phi Beta Kappa) and an MBA.  I believe that business programs can offer classes that stretch exactly the same skills as liberal arts classes.  Whenever smart people are completing graded work, they are honing their critical thinking skills.  The business world's focus on being succinct matches better with how our computerized digital culture actually works today.

Finance classes are just a form of math class.  There are definitely theoretical aspects of advanced Finance.  Operations Management is very similar.

Accounting has theoretical and research applications as well.  It evolves in response to other social phenomena and uses interpretive skills like law does.  Law is arguably an older discipline with a tighter connection to the liberal arts.

Business Communications and Marketing have a lot in common with the skills developed in English Writing classes and other classes that focus on rhetoric, argumentation, etc.

International Business classes can be like "Area Studies" classes.  Focusing on how to recognize the impact of economic and cultural differences, etc.

Organizational Behavior ties to psychology and sociology.

If you are in a business school with intellectual peers, you will be developing similar intellectual skills as a liberal arts major.  I think it's true that you will likely be reading less and will not be spending a lot of time with great masterworks of cultural production.  However, the modern university originally started out as education for ecclesiastical types.  And for the elite, for whom a liberal arts education is a form of conspicuous leisure.  These goals are less relevant today.  Which is why liberal arts (humanities) majors are in decline.  Kids want jobs.  Majoring in business conveys that clearly.  It's good branding and marketing strategy, lol.

I could have been a business major but I wanted to take a lot more esoteric classes that interested me.  I haven't really used any of the knowledge gained from those classes, although I am considered knowledgeable about a wider range of subjects than a lot of my peers.  This kind of background is mainly used to signal affluence (one of the original goals of a university education).[/quote]

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