New York Times Article

The Letter

To the Editor:

Re “The Imperiled Promise of College” (column, April 29):

While Frank Bruni is certainly right that college is too expensive and that we need more people to study science, math and engineering, I disagree with him about the lack of value of a humanities degree. Perhaps as a history professor at a liberal arts college, I am being defensive. But while a specific degree in communications or accounting may land you a well-paying job sooner, a liberal arts degree better equips students for the ever-changing job market they face.

Many of the jobs today are in fields that hadn’t been invented 10 years ago. Most workers today will change not just jobs but careers several times in their lives. What does one need to succeed, even flourish, in such a market? The ability to think creatively, read critically, construct effective arguments using persuasive evidence, write clearly, remain flexible and look at issues with an open mind. These are skills taught best in broad liberal arts settings — even in majors like philosophy or zoology.

One can still go on from a liberal arts base to become a teacher, a programmer or any other specialized professional, and probably be more effective thanks to those skills. And a liberal arts degree equips students with skills needed to be active world citizens, something important even for baristas.

So yes, let’s find ways to help more students gain access to higher education. But let’s not confuse first jobs with satisfying careers, or dumb down nursing, accounting or other fields by assuming that training, rather than education, is the best way to go.

CHERYL GREENBERG
Hartford, May 1, 2012

I found this article to be very interesting in the New York Times. The title of it is called "Studying the Humanities" and the author, Greenberg, thought it was very important that humanities and other arts remain on college campuses because they are just as needed as other degrees. I thought that was really cool because it reminded me of the article we read the first week of class about a writer that wondered about that as well. It is neat to see how some people have different opinions about humanities being still as important to the world as it once was. 

From reading this article, I agree with Greenberg. It seems as though a humanities or any other degree like that will help any graduate look for a job and be well prepared for it too just like any other degree because the job market is always changing. Like the writer said, it will also help them adjust to the changing market because you never know if you will need to change jobs once or several times in your lifetime. So, after reading this article, I believe that humanities degrees are still very important in today's world.