Thoughts for the Class of 2012
Each year a faculty member is asked to write a statement for the
incoming class about the value of a liberal arts education here at
Butler. This year's essay, "The Liberal Arts Matter," was written
by Dr. Brian Giesler, Assistant Professor, Psychology.
The Liberal Arts Matter
If you don't think the liberal arts matter, I guarantee that you
will by the time you've finished reading this essay. Admittedly,
few things in life are truly guaranteed, but your investment here
is small, just a few minutes of reading time. In return, I promise
not to beat around the bush. In the span of a few paragraphs, I
will not only define the liberal arts but convince you of their
importance. That's a bold claim - not only is it free of caveats
and qualifiers but you'll note I promised to get to the point as
quickly as possible (something for which we academics generally are
not known). So, what do you think? To entice you further, I'm going
to stop writing about me and start writing about you.
Because of your hard work and intellectual prowess, you have
been admitted to Butler University, a thriving, multi-faceted,
liberal arts community. "OK," you may be thinking, "multi-faceted
and thriving. That part sounds good, but what about the rest of it?
The phrase 'liberal arts' does little for me - in fact, I'm worried
that being a member of this so-called community means having to
take a bunch of pointless courses unrelated to my major that won't
help me on the job market or into the law, medical, or grad school
of my choice. So, why should I care about the liberal arts?" Fair
enough, and yes, I can see you nervously eyeing the bruised state
of the economy right now. But before answering why, let's address
the what. What are the liberal arts?
A good place to start would be with what the liberal arts are
not. The term liberal arts is something of a misnomer, conjuring up
images of left-leaning, ivory tower academics who putter around
with decaying books devoted to philosophy, Greek literature, and
the like - those classic but esoteric topics that scholars seem to
revere (for some reason) but that hold little relevance for the
real world. This perspective, while popular, is wrong.
One way it's wrong is that it's too narrow. The liberal arts
embrace not just the classics, but a wide range of disciplines that
span the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences. At
Butler (and most institutions of higher learning), the liberal arts
do indeed encompass subjects like philosophy and literature, but
also biology, mathematics, anthropology, physics, psychology,
journalism, sociology, computer science, modern languages, history,
communication studies, political science, religion, chemistry and
so many others. These disciplines are all alive and well, as are
their practitioners and scholars. (And we certainly don't 'putter
around' - we occasionally amble, but more typically stride about,
especially if we've just made a pit stop at the Starbucks in
Atherton Union.)
But it's still a mistake to conceive of the liberal arts merely
as a collection of disciplines, no matter how broad or inclusive.
What might prove more illuminating is contrasting a liberal arts
education with the kind provided by a professional college. As you
may know, Butler has several outstanding professional schools
(e.g., the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences) that are
distinct from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the part of
Butler to which you've been admitted. Professional schools
emphasize acquiring specialized technical knowledge, skills and
ways of thinking that allow their students to immediately enter
specific professions. By contrast, a liberal arts education is much
broader in scope. Students of the liberal arts are exposed to a
greater array of disciplines and perspectives, although it's also
true they acquire specific knowledge and skills in their major. A
consequence of this approach is that our students often (though not
always) need an advanced degree if they wish to pursue a career
based on their undergraduate focus. For example, psychology majors
who wish to become clinical psychologists (i.e., mental health
counselors) must earn at least a masters degree before they can see
patients.
"OK," you may now be thinking, "a liberal arts education
provides breadth, but I fail to see why that's such a good thing.
In fact, it kind of seems like a disadvantage. You appear to be
telling me that after investing a lot of time, effort and money
into my undergraduate studies, I'll have to invest even more and go
to graduate school." Not necessarily. If the idea of seeking an
advanced degree troubles you, you should know that many of our
students forego further schooling. Of this group, the vast majority
are gainfully employed within a year after graduating Butler. You
might be wondering how this could be. For example, if someone were
to end up with 'just' a bachelor's degree in philosophy, for what
sort of job would that person possibly be qualified? Scanning the
want ads reveals few entry level philosophy positions. Yet, our
graduates, including our philosophy majors, experience little
difficulty securing not just good jobs, but good careers. Many
employers clearly want what a liberal arts education confers. But
why? What makes a liberal arts education valuable?
The answer is straightforward: The primary value of a liberal
arts education is that it teaches you how to think.
That's it - that's as direct as I can be. The overarching goal
of a liberal arts education is not to teach you about a particular
subject or to think in a particular way, but to think well, in
general. (By the way, I'm not implying that you're not a good
thinker now, but if all goes well, you'll be dramatically better by
the time you graduate). However, becoming a good thinker doesn't
occur automatically or quickly. Mastering your intellect will
require commitment, time and hard work. Fortunately, you'll get
lots of practice doing exactly that during your undergraduate
career - think of it as sending your brain to the gym for four
years. Taking coursework in Butler's College of Liberal Arts and
Sciences means that you will constantly be exposed to new ideas and
perspectives that will frequently push you out of your comfort
zone. You will be challenged not just to read texts and memorize
facts but to interpret, discuss, imagine, critique, analyze, and
synthesize using both qualitative and quantitative methodologies.
You will be asked to draw conclusions and defend them; to generate
new insights and solutions. As you progress, you will be required
to think in increasingly creative and complex terms, sometimes on
topics that you never knew existed and may never again encounter
after you've left our campus. This is because a liberal arts
education is not just intended to transmit specific information and
skills, but to help you discover, develop and harness your own
intellectual talents and abilities. That is the premise and the
pay-off of a liberal arts education.
But, as they say, that's not all. Consider the following
passage, the first sentence of our college's official core values
statement: "The liberal arts' basic and historic purpose is at once
to teach us to think for ourselves, to act wisely and well in the
world, to undertake occupations useful to ourselves and others." I
really like that sentence. Not only does it eloquently capture the
essence of the liberal arts but it also emphasizes that learning to
think is only part of our tradition. The other, often overlooked
part is learning to act on your thinking, to allow your rationality
and creativity to inform your words and deeds. This requires
learning to engage with others - to be receptive to others'
viewpoints, but also to be able to express your own thoughts and
ideas through speech, writing and other media. This also requires
contributing to the world around you in constructive ways. The
liberal arts tradition is sometimes equated with navel-gazing, but
nothing could be further from the truth. As you continue to hone
your abilities, you'll begin to appreciate what they can do, and
you'll want to take them out for a spin. Go far enough and you may
find you've written a New York Times best seller, developed a
revolutionary web application, published a groundbreaking
scientific paper, or founded a Fortune 500 company. Butler is
particularly attuned to this aspect of the liberal arts and offers
a multitude of internship, research and service learning
opportunities that will allow you to continue developing your
intellect while putting it to work in meaningful ways.
So, have I convinced you yet? If you're wavering, bear in mind
that it's not just me who thinks the liberal arts matter. The same
skills and talents I described above, the ability and willingness
to acquire and analyze complex information, to think critically and
creatively, to take different perspectives and communicate
effectively with others - those skills that are the lynchpins of a
liberal arts education are exactly the skills that, in survey after
survey, employers say they value and look for when making hiring
decisions. Although some professions will always require
specialized training and technical knowledge, in a rapidly changing
world where whole technologies can become obsolete overnight,
individuals who can adapt to new demands and embrace complexity
will always have opportunities.
Throughout the proceeding paragraphs, I've argued that the
primary value of a liberal arts education is because it teaches you
how to think. A liberal arts education is certainly not the only
way to achieve this end, but it's probably one of the most
efficient. Good thinking, in turn, is highly practical. It will
help you realize your career and vocational aspirations, regardless
of whether you plan to enter the workforce directly after college,
attend graduate school or do something else entirely.
(Incidentally, if your goal is to be admitted into a prestigious
law program, you should know that philosophy majors, who in many
ways epitomize the liberal arts tradition, consistently outscore
all others on law school entrance exams). But there's a bigger
picture: becoming a better thinker will make you a better person.
By that I mean not just better for you but better for us.
For you, thinking well will enable you to more readily attain
your goals and live your life in accordance with your values, which
I would argue is important in its own right but is also a key
determinant of well-being. Perhaps just as importantly, a liberal
arts education will put you in a better position to identify the
goals and values you should adopt in the first place. Instead of
having to rely on the authority of others, you will have the
know-how to acquire the information and experiences you need to
make your own decisions. Will you value family? Faith? Wealth?
Love? Fame? How will you label the points on your moral compass?
Toward which destinations will you direct your life, if any? A
liberal arts education will help you to identify the alternatives
and to weigh the merits and drawbacks of each.
But what about us? Above, I suggested that being a better
thinker benefits not just you, but us (all of us). I'm sure you've
noticed the truly monumental problems confronting us, both as a
nation and as a global community. Right now we are in desperate
need of a generation of good thinkers. A liberal arts education is
no panacea, but it provides an efficient way to train people to
evaluate information in a critical manner, to embrace complexity
and to approach problems from new perspectives, attributes that
will be essential to forge solutions to the numerous ecological,
political, social, and economic problems we are currently facing.
"To act wisely and well in the world" is perhaps the most important
part of the liberal arts tradition, one that I hope you will take
to heart during your time here with us.
OK, that's it. Have I convinced you that the liberal arts
matter? If so, thank you for your attention. I truly appreciate the
time you've invested in reading these words. If not, I sincerely
apologize for failing to live up to my earlier guarantee, but as of
now, we're just not going to see eye-to-eye on this. Perhaps you
object to specific claims I've made. Maybe you reject my entire
premise and are even now formulating counter arguments. Please, by
all means, do so. Send me your protests and complaints. As a member
of the liberal arts community, I am beholden to consider them if
they are well reasoned and expressed. But if you've come this far,
if you have read and reflected on my words, your actions mark you
as part of that self-same community. The value of membership may
not be clear to you just now, but if you think carefully about why
you disagree, if you can articulate your reasons, if you can engage
me in an attempt to convince me of the merits of your position,
perhaps, just perhaps, someday, you will.
Regardless of where you stand on the value of the liberal arts,
I'd like to close this essay by welcoming you to Butler generally
and to our college in particular. This really is a thriving and
multi-faceted community and a wonderful place in which to spend
your undergraduate career. Whether you believe it or not, if you
work hard, if you commit to your education, if you take advantage
of the many opportunities afforded by our faculty, students and
administration, you will emerge with a powerful and finely honed
intellect, one that will allow you to pursue any goal and realize
any ambition. You will have become a better thinker, and in so
doing, a better person. I guarantee it.
R. Brian Giesler, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Psychology
Butler University
July 2008