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Learning for Life There are many reasons adults decide to go back to school. One of the most important is for personal growth. But probably the most common reasons are job-related. It's easy to understand why career issues take precedence. Having to juggle daily financial, family and job pressures makes us eminently practical. No doubt this is why business programs are so popular with adults (according to the NCES, nearly 1/3 of all adults with bachelor's degrees majored in business). Or why paralegal, accounting, and computer technology programs are widely available. But we also tend to be somewhat impatient and single-minded in the pursuit of job skills, sometimes at the expense of our general education. In a world of decreasing job stability and increasing economic fluctuations, we need to be prepared for one thing above all: change. All too often promising careers get derailed. Jobs change, companies change, technology changes. Opportunities arise or disappear. The job you have today may not have existed ten years ago, and it may no longer exist five years from now! To equip yourself to handle change, you need the broadest education possible – a traditional liberal arts program. What are "liberal arts" studies? Liberal arts studies are the foundation of the university - the natural sciences, humanities, social sciences. Liberal arts courses are those often tossed aside as those courses you "have" to take to get your degree – the biology, history, philosophy, arts, yes, even mathematics requirements. Why are they so important? The liberal arts develop the whole person. They exercise the mind, not just the memory. These are the courses that broaden your mind by leading you beyond your own experience. They strengthen and discipline your mind, encouraging independent thought and precision. They also develop flexibility of mind to help you reach your creative potential. While the liberal arts may seem theoretical, they have abundant practical application. With a strong liberal arts background, students are prepared for any job. They will perform better because they have learned how to think and how to learn. They have learned how to solve problems, deal with people and communicate. And they will be able to dream, and to lead and inspire their colleagues and organizations. These habits and skills also provide the basis for all future learning. That's why they are the prerequisite of many professional degree programs, such as law, journalism, and teaching. Even medicine requires a strong grounding in the liberal arts. So go ahead and take that job-focused program. Just make sure to balance it with a healthy dose of liberal arts courses. And instead of asking what you can do with your degree, why not ask what you can learn in this program? 8/7/01 TOP |
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