In my previous post, I stated that the purpose of education is to train students to be better servants of Christ. It is to this end, I belief, that a true liberal arts education should propound us, especially at the university level. A liberal arts education offers a broad base of knowledge--spanning such topics as history, philosophy, mathematics, theology, the sciences, the classics, and even music and art. Essentially, the liberal arts education introduces its students to the world, both past and present. It is not, however, designed to make the student an expert in all areas of knowledge. Rather, it enables the student to acquire the advanced skills needed in order to think critically and independently, as well as to dig deeper into the work of previous generations.
Contrary to current thought, the purpose of pursuing and obtaining a liberal arts education is not to obtain a better, higher paying job. Rather, a liberal arts education equips you with a broad base of knowledge, a diversity of knowledge if you will, which enables you to tackle a set of diverse and complex situations; i.e., it enables you to tackle life.The prevailing spirit amongst most university students is that one ought to attend university "for the experience." This mentality coupled with the belief that the purpose of education is to help one get ahead in life, has led to our current predicament where education is nothing more than a mere commodity.
The statistic that 80% of college graduates will not enter the profession in which they majored should not signal defeat for us as educators. Rather, this statistic should not be surprising, given the real purpose behind a liberal arts education. I majored in mathematics, yet I am no mathematician. My undergraduate institution did not fail by my not having secured a vocation as a mathematician. Rather, my training in mathematics, as well as the training I received by taking classes in a host of other disciplines, has fueled my ability to excel in other, more important areas of life, regardless of whether I can still prove the fundamental theorem of calculus (or for the more visual, click here). This ability is what made my undergraduate training a success. This ability, by His grace, affords me the opportunity to become a better servant of Christ. This should be the aim of every learning institution.
Soli Deo Gloria
Contrary to current thought, the purpose of pursuing and obtaining a liberal arts education is not to obtain a better, higher paying job. Rather, a liberal arts education equips you with a broad base of knowledge, a diversity of knowledge if you will, which enables you to tackle a set of diverse and complex situations; i.e., it enables you to tackle life.The prevailing spirit amongst most university students is that one ought to attend university "for the experience." This mentality coupled with the belief that the purpose of education is to help one get ahead in life, has led to our current predicament where education is nothing more than a mere commodity.
The statistic that 80% of college graduates will not enter the profession in which they majored should not signal defeat for us as educators. Rather, this statistic should not be surprising, given the real purpose behind a liberal arts education. I majored in mathematics, yet I am no mathematician. My undergraduate institution did not fail by my not having secured a vocation as a mathematician. Rather, my training in mathematics, as well as the training I received by taking classes in a host of other disciplines, has fueled my ability to excel in other, more important areas of life, regardless of whether I can still prove the fundamental theorem of calculus (or for the more visual, click here). This ability is what made my undergraduate training a success. This ability, by His grace, affords me the opportunity to become a better servant of Christ. This should be the aim of every learning institution.
Soli Deo Gloria
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