"An education worthy of a free person."

Here's what Warwick UniversityThe origins of liberal education
A common myth

‘Liberal Arts’ programmes only focus on the 'arts' (that is, a collection of subjects associated with the humanities).

This isn't the case! ‘Liberal Arts’ derives from the classical and medieval collection of subjects known as artes liberalis: "the knowledge worthy of a free person". The idea is that freedom only exists when you can recognise alternatives (and choose between them). This free society relies on the conscious choice of its people to take part in particular structures.
The heart of liberal education

What knowledge and skills do you need to be a critically-engaged citizen? The simple answer is critical thinking. Most liberal education programmes aim to develop critical thinking skills. Students will analyse and criticise a range of concepts and materials, developing the ability to approach new ideas with confidence. Graduates from these programmes often seek roles where they can make new interventions. They might be working in technology, politics, charity, academia, or a traditional profession.
Liberal education from past to present
Liberal education is not new

Liberal education is one of the oldest forms of education. It was the primary educational structure at the great medieval universities across Europe. Traditionally, there are seven subjects that made up the liberal arts:

The trivium of humanities (grammar, logic, and rhetoric); and
The ‘scientific’ quadrivium (astronomy/astrology, music, geometry, and arithmetic).

Together, these seven 'artes' contributed to the overarching art, philosophy.

In the 19th century, European universities shifted to a more focused approach. Degrees recognised achievement in specific subjects such as medicine and law. They became training grounds for limited numbers of professions.
This image refers to philosophy (center) and the seven classical liberal arts (periphery).

Dnalor_01/Wikimedia Commons/CC-BY-SA 3.0
A renewed interest in liberal education

Over recent years, there has been a renewed interest in the benefits of this educational philosophy. Employers recognise that graduates with broad skills and flexible approaches can be more valuable than specialists. Many institutions are responding to employability concerns. Programmes began to appear in the Netherlands, Germany, Lithuania, the UK, throughout Europe, and beyond. China and India have seen an increase in domestic liberal education programmes. More students have been going abroad to study liberal arts. Warwick is working with colleagues across the UK and Europe to define a new, ‘European’ approach to liberal education. Together with the diverse US offerings, liberal education programmes now offer opportunities to students with a range of goals, skills, and backgrounds., in the UK, has to say:

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Anonymous wrote:Successful book and magazine editor. The salary wasn't high, but it came with a lot of perks that made the $$ more such as free travel; free tickets to theater, gallery shows, etc; parties; swag (think clothing, jewelry, beauty products). Plus it was unbelievably fulfilling and worthwhile. There's a lot more to jobs than just the straight up salary. Also, you don't have to do the same thing forever. Things lead to other things. Factor that in to the liberal arts education.

That's all very well and good, but none of it pays the mortgage or puts the kids through college.

Everyone has a big mortgage in McLean and comes out of college aged 55.

Nobody does a fun or low paying job in their 20’s when they have few attachments and then parlays that into later success to get a house and a 529, it must start DAY ONE.

NO FUN EVER ONLY MATH!!!!!!!

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Anonymous wrote:I know a number of librarians making $150,000 a year approximately. But this is requires an advanced degree in library science/information science.

so, again, you need an advanced degree to get a good paying job if you major in some liberal arts in undergrad.

If you plan to into a real profession, you can’t get into it without grad school. And you wont get into grad school from a two year trade school or school of secretarial science unless your some kind of diamond in the rough and you have a sponsor.

I think the vision here is you get a STEM degree (NO LIBERAL ARTS) and somehow go your entire career without any further education or training, you just code for $300k a year forever at Google.

Every serious engineer I’ve ever met has at a minimum a Masters (many have two, or a PhD), any top corporate manager has an MBA, government officials are SMEs with subject area Masters or have a MPA/MPP, what is the high prestige/high pay career where a BS in Computer Science is the terminal degree?

I guess “startup founder” but you don’t even need a BA for that, and 99.9% of those aren’t the next Facebook or Google, so what exactly is the plan here?

NOPE, I don't think you are familiar with the field.
You don't need a Mater's degree to move up to Lead engineer, Project manager, Systems architecture, CIO, Director, Vice President, etc.
It's a nice to have thing but not necessary.
I got my Master's paid by my company.
It was a part of benefit.

I work extensively with major civil engineering firms and even junior entry level people have Masters- sometimes it’s Planning/Architecture rather than STEM, but it’s Degree City over there for sure.

“My Masters was paid for my my firm” yeah they don’t drop that kind of coin for no reason they want you to have it for some reason. You may not NEED it but they sure want you to have it.

Anonymous wrote:Successful book and magazine editor. The salary wasn't high, but it came with a lot of perks that made the $$ more such as free travel; free tickets to theater, gallery shows, etc; parties; swag (think clothing, jewelry, beauty products). Plus it was unbelievably fulfilling and worthwhile. There's a lot more to jobs than just the straight up salary. Also, you don't have to do the same thing forever. Things lead to other things. Factor that in to the liberal arts education.

That's all very well and good, but none of it pays the mortgage or puts the kids through college.

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Anonymous wrote:I can only say about my DS and DD, both graduated from Ivies with liberal arts degrees and they are not making a lot of money.  One is still living at home with us four years after graduation.  The other one is living with a roommate because she can't afford to have a place of her own.  You can take it FWIW.

Thanks for your honesty.

I think now a days, a general liberal arts degree is way less marketable than even 10 years ago. A lot of people on this forum went to college 10+ years ago, and the landscape of the job market has changed since then.

There's a reason why so many colleges are getting rid of English and other liberal arts majors.

I'm the ex-microsoft person. I think this can be true, but I think we do a disservice by not educating people about how various big firms work these days whereas we spend too much time talking about college admissions. It's the old "think more about the marriage than the wedding" advice.

I've mentored maybe 200 teens and young adults. It's amazing to me how many have granular knowledge about colleges: can weigh various aspects of admissions, understand where you can or cannot switch disciplines once you've arrived, can parse the COA numbers by adjusting what their personal travel costs will be vs published. They have DCUM-level knowledge on some of this. But for jobs .. they just take anything. Or they self-select out - "I don't have those skills". I got an email yesterday from a woman who graduated with a humanities degree three years ago (English, I think? Maybe philosophy?). She had a vision of the kind of job she wanted, but didn't see how she could get there. We discussed various options - building skills at this less desirable company, getting certification, etc. I pushed an idea of taking a different job at a One Specific Big Giant company with lots of opportunity. I had to explain it to her in college admissions speak - this place will let you in as an English major and allow you to switch to Business. Some places won't, this one will. So instead of getting an entry level job in her area at Okay company, she could get a totally different job at Big Giant company. She was dubious, but did it (she got an event planning role) and three years later, this week, she's pivoting into the area she wants at the company she wants. Naturally, a couple years in she shifted what her dream job was very slightly. Even then, she said "it's like I'm changing my major". It's still all college speak!. Also, she's been making pretty good money the entire time.

idk.. but a lot of the algorithm used by recruiters look for specific majors.

In any case, per the OP, most jobs for liberal arts majors with just an undergrad don't make much.

1. An liberal arts major just fine for event planning first job

2. Algorithm has work arounds, ie typing in white.

Job pays squat. Why get a degree for that little pay? You're better off going to trade school. It's especially not worth it if you took out loans.

sorry, I was replying to someone about a specific person I know. she's 25, making over 120k with a legit stock package, starting a new position now in an area away from events and in an area she's focused on.

Anonymous wrote:I went to investment banking (along with a chunk of classmates)

I assume you went to an Ivy? But what are the prospects for a non-elite school liberal arts grad?

Anonymous wrote:I graduated 20 years ago from a solid liberal arts college. History and English majors went into consulting or investment banking, or to law school, and major was not an issue at all. Some eventually went on to grad school unless they moved up in their banks, PE firms, etc., without an MBA. Probably different from a school that isn't as prestigious.

key words in bolded.

I graduated 20 years ago from a solid liberal arts college. History and English majors went into consulting or investment banking, or to law school, and major was not an issue at all. Some eventually went on to grad school unless they moved up in their banks, PE firms, etc., without an MBA. Probably different from a school that isn't as prestigious.