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The value of liberal arts

The early years of what has now developed into college or university education is linked to early church and religious studies in the West. The main focus of college learning was on logic, grammar, arithmetic, geometry and so on.

The early years of what has now developed into college or university education is linked to early church and religious studies in the West. The main focus of college learning was on logic, grammar, arithmetic, geometry and so on.

Not so long ago, in nearly all countries, college education was limited to only a few students, mostly from privileged backgrounds. You needed money to study, or even to get started. If not money, you needed, at the very least, a strong commitment to learning within the family or culture. The focus of college education in its early years was on developing character and learning rather than professional or technical skills.

In the 19th and, more rapidly, the 20th century, science and professional education such as engineering, medicine and technology became the main focus for most universities and colleges around the world. This reflected the need for this type of learning to fuel industrialisation and economic growth.

Thomas Jefferson, an early proponent of state-supported education in America, saw college education as the top of the education pyramid. His ideas became reality when his Bill for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge was passed.

Later in the mid- to late- 19th century, money in the form of land grants fuelled the growth of new colleges and universities in the US. This, in turn, led to more students being able to go to college.

THE RISE OF TECHNICAL EDUCATION

The modern research-university structure began to take shape in the early part of the last century. This structure led to a more formal operating edifice, including requiring completion of high school as a prerequisite for entry.

College attendance and degrees conferred in the technical and professional fields have rapidly increased since the early 20th century.

Colleges, then and now, are a creation of the society they serve. They also have an impact on the future of the particular culture or society.

In the industrial world, technical education has been in great demand. A report last year shows that US employment is almost twice as high among individuals who go for technical fields like science or engineering, compared with those who study in non-technical fields such as humanities, social sciences and liberal arts.

This has led many individuals, particularly pragmatic parents, to question the value of education that is not geared towards technical or professional competence.

Parents encourage their children to study hard and go for medical studies or law and, maybe, engineering. They tend to discourage their children from pursuing language, literature or similar fields.

The “old” goal of going for higher education to develop character and learning has been replaced by soaring interest in professional education that is geared towards technical skills. Parents worry that if their children do not become professionals, they would not have a job or career and the college education would be a waste.

NOW, THE KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY

Professional and technical programmes teach skills that are specific and immediately applicable, and are therefore deemed as valuable; whereas a liberal-arts education in language, literature or the arts is not valued as much. Thus, liberal arts “lose out” to technical programmes.

This emphasis on professional and technical facets of learning has worked for the industrial economy. But we are now in the world of the “knowledge economy”. Employers now look for workers who can learn continually, think critically, communicate well, solve complex problems and decide effectively.

We should bear in mind that in the months and years after their graduation, students tend to forget what they have studied so intensely, especially if they have little interest in the subjects and, more so, if they do not work in their fields of study.

Let us not forget that knowledge in technical and professional fields becomes outdated very fast.

But the mode of thinking developed during college stays, even if the information students learn in their course of study may be of little benefit.

UNEXPECTED INSIGHTS

What is not given its due is that the real learning value from college is subtle and complex. It includes the love of learning and developing a broader understanding of the world and its people.

It is the unexpected insights that come from exploring new topics and courses that can have profound implications and lead to incorporating a way of thinking, developing curiosity when students discover the joy of learning, and when learning becomes less a burden and more a pleasure.

An education that imparts curiosity, critical thinking and the skill of “how to learn” is the new requisite for a knowledge-based economy.

The “old” goals of education that includes rhetoric or communication, language, mathematics and logic — what we now call liberal education — are now valuable again, with or without technical and professional training.

Therefore, the question is not “How valuable is a degree?”. It is: “How does the college experience lead to the skills needed for the knowledge economy?”

The tangible value of education is realised when students leverage their understanding and insight to solve problems. The key is to develop and build academic experiences to create the core transferable skills for the knowledge economy.

In our graduate-entry medical school, these are the critical skills that we look for, beyond the technical competence to perform well in the school.

Therefore, even students who are studying in professional fields should take the time to explore other elements of college life — especially language and communication to build the core skills needed for the knowledge economy.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

K Ranga Krishnan is Dean of the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School Singapore. A clinician-scientist and psychiatrist, he chaired the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences at Duke University Medical Centre from 1998 to 2009.

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