The great physicist Albert Einstein once said, “The value of education in a liberal arts college is not the learning of many facts, but the training of the mind to think something that cannot be learned from textbooks.” Einstein further conveys that liberal studying helps develop critical thinking and analytical skills with a touch of creativity. Liberal arts education helps set a common base for worldly knowledge; it strengthens awareness of the natural world. Rather than just knowing facts from the textbook, liberal arts education helps apply that to everyday life.
Coming to a university or college that is liberal arts makes people wonder why they have to take certain classes unrelated to their major or field of study. Perhaps a person is striving to become a doctor and is majoring in biology and also working on their Pre-Med courses. Instead of just taking biology and related courses, a liberal arts education requires taking History, English, Art, and other courses along with that.
But why? None of these courses are necessary in becoming a doctor, so why need them.
True, these courses may not be mandatory when it comes to getting one’s doctorate degree, but besides one’s professional life, they have their personal life as well. Take into account why History is important in a person’s life; no matter what profession a person is trying to get into, they are a citizen of the United States or of some country, and considering politics, it is important to make decisions to support either their future or their children’s future. In addition, our world is full of cultural diversity; so many people of different races are gathered in this one country of ours. Due to these people, so many changes have been occurring; the country is becoming more globally interactive and certain enterprises are outsourcing to different countries. For this, one must be able to mix in with the different cultures, know a few different languages here and there. The world is changing, and people must be able to keep up.
Therefore, no matter what profession one is getting into, history or any social studies is important in a person’s everyday life. Not only history, but liberal arts takes this into account of any course a person is taking; whether it relates to their major or not, the courses required are to help apply several skills into everyday life rather than profession alone. Furthermore, Liberal Arts enables a person to think, learn, and see the bigger picture. As said it expands knowledge and aids in applying the information to daily life, but it also broadens a person’s own mind allowing them to think for themselves. It will promote a person to build their own opinions, make their own decisions, acquire their own morals, and just be able to have their own perspective on the world instead of going along with what their parent’s believe; they will have acquired their own set of beliefs. Once a person develops their outlook on the world, the world becomes a more understandable place.
They have their own place in the world; it’s not as confusing as it once was, not knowing where to take the first steps. A liberal arts education, which ranges from basically anything to everything, from history to English to biology to human nature, etc, will provide all the tools necessary to understand the world; our confusion will be filled in with this very information. But how exactly does liberal arts play the role in learning all this information? A liberal arts college isn’t to memorize all the facts out of the book, it is also to understand the material inside and out; that is how one learns the material. Memorizing the material will be of no use in the future. Students memorize solely to pass the class with high grades, but understanding the information will live life long and help throughout.
As the years go on, professors will build on the previous old material and add on new material. Already knowing previous material will make it much easier to learn the new material. Liberal arts education serves a great deal in making our first steps into the mature world, rather than having someone’s hand to hold. Altogether, liberal arts education is valuable because it broadens knowledge and helps students in applying what they have learned to the real world where they can see the bigger, broader picture. When first coming into this world, children held their parents fingers, but now, growing older, the same children have to let go of those once held hands and become something of their own on their own, and a liberal arts education promotes just that.
