In college it seems like there is always ongoing tension between those studying Liberal Arts and those studying Business.
The business students look at the Liberal Arts majors and think “What in the Hell are they going to do when they graduate? How will they support themselves? Maybe they will just disappear to the shores of Walden Pond…”
Excuse me if I’m wrong, I was always on the business students side, but those studying Liberal Arts look at the business students and think “All their work is so easy! I’m not in school to get a training, I’m here to get an education!”
To be fair, everyone seems to respect the Science and Engineering majors.
In college I was a member of the University Honors Program, which essentially meant that I (and 30-ish other students) took different core curriculum than the rest of the students. And then we would have to write a thesis in order to graduate with an undergrad degree (something the rest of the University didn’t have to do). I was also a business student (after spending 3 semesters in Film School) and I graduated with a degree in Finance and Entrepreneurship.
With that said, I absolutely hated the Honors program. I hated it so much that I went in to the director of the program to ask out of it, he said I could, but that I would have to retake all of the basic University core. I wasn’t about to take any extra classes, so out of laziness I stayed in.
I stayed in through Faust, Dante, Sophocles, Plato, Aristotle, Friedman, Darwin, Dawkins, Antigone, and the list goes on…and on… and on. I hated every minute of it. I was writing 20 page papers while my other friends were writing 2 paragraph summaries. As a result of my being discouraged and feeling stuck I was one of 3 or 4 underacheivers in the whole group, I was also the first to realize that like a Harvard student, you can’t fail out. B- was the lowest grade I could be given which was to the detriment of my GPA.
Looking back on my years in college I have to say that I am thankful for the training I received in my business classes, but I am more thankful for the education I received through the Liberal Arts focused honors program. Because of the Honors program I am more diversified. I am able to hold high level conversations with my elders, drop jokes that only a handful of people in the room get, and I’m better at working with people who think differently than I do (or is it that they think along the norm and I think differently?). Also, because of my film classes I am able to better relate to movies other generations grew up with, the classics that I’d be willing to bet most of Gen-Y hasn’t seen.
One of the best things we can do to improve our lives and our business relationships is to diversify and further educate ourselves outside of what we normally find interesting. Through continuing education and diversifying our lives we become more interesting people and we are able to speak and network with more interesting people. You’ll be shocked to know how much diversifying your knowledge will help you network and relate to other people.
I hated every minute of my liberal arts education in the honors program, I was surrounded by people who I knew wouldn’t make any money, but I am extremely thankful that I finished the program, and most of my friends from the program are on their way to making good money.
Take a class at a community college, pick up an old classic that you read in High School and have since forgotten, watch Casablanca or Gone With The Wind. My next step is to learn more about my worst subjects in school: Biology. Diversify your life.
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2 Comments at "Diversify Your Life"
I couldn’t agree more; I had a similar experience as you in school. I majored in Computer Science and Psychology — with grand dreams of going into artificial intelligence — but I did it at a small liberal arts school that just happened to have a top-notch CS professor heading the program. Differently than you, though, I surprised myself by loving my honors and liberal arts classes, and I “lowered” Psychology to a minor so that I could also take more education and English classes.
That experience has paid off for me many times over both professionally and personally. I work in an IT department of 6000 and not to toot my own horn, but I achieved a leadership position in about six years. I mention it because most of the people in similar positions under the age of 40 also have liberal arts degrees. I find that they are typically more open minded, their diverse knowledge is very helpful for finding creative solutions, and can communicate and work with different types of people effectively as you mention.
I’m not shortchanging those that specialize in a specific field and become experts. That is absolutely important also. But in today’s ever-changing job market, diversification will do nothing but help the younger generations in and entering the workforce.
I started out on that path and hated my classes so much I quit after a year and started over at another college. I suppose I could look at it as wasting a year, but I prefer to look at it as a different kind of learning experience (an expensive one) – but on the flipside, I have friends who finished 4-5 years and then decided they hated what they’re doing… yikes.
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