Liberal Arts

My best friend from high school, Rick Ward, professor and Associate  Dean at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, recently commented on the difficulty of recruiting students to a liberal arts education.  As a liberal arts graduate, I have spent some time reflecting on this issue.  There is no question that liberal arts has taken a pounding lately.  For example, Friedman in his book The World is Flat calls for a national commitment to science and engineering.   There is tremendous pressure toward "career" degrees.  Every where you look, you find the question, Can Liberal Arts be saved?

But if you take time to look at the reality of today's market place, you find a need for the broad education and skills that a liberal arts education can provide.  Consider a recent article in eSchool News by Dennis Carter "College web design courses fail with bosses" In this difficult economc climate, a study of web design employers finds they are looking for "broadly educated, open-minded, and self-motivated individuals" with a "general awareness of the web, social networking and culture, strong spoken and written language skills, [and] enthusiasm and commitment to life-long learning."  Doesn't this describe a liberal arts education?  

The skills needed to survive in this rapidly changing world are flexibility, life long learning, and self-motivation.  What better place to recieve them than a liberal arts college.  The problem, as my friend Rick states, is selling this to the college bound student.