I wrote this piece awhile back -- actually for a class -- but have been wanting to share it for awhile. I hope you enjoy my thoughts (not *quite* random ramblings) on the Liberal Education.
When I fly home for break, I know that more than likely I will have the conversation with
some kind-hearted-but-still-too-nosy fellow passenger about my life, my family and my
education. The mid-life lady who smiles when I tell her I how I have not seen my parents in months, but chuckles when I say I am studying English. The one who thinks the quip, “Would
you like fries with that?” is still funny, as if I had never heard it before. The one who does not
know about the newspaper clipping in my thesis binder headlining “Librarians in Short Supply,”
or a recent poll tacked onto many of my professors’ doors showing clearly how most humanities
majors make more annually than those who studied Business. The one who, despite her wellmeaning
intentions, fails to understand that my education is not about not working at
McDonald’s, or bringing home six figures a year. Not one to share my life story to the stranger
next to me on the plane, I will respond light-heartedly about my plans to “inspire young readers,
change the world, all that jazz,” and tell myself it is okay that she thinks I am kidding. A few
years ago, I was.
I ended up at a liberal arts college on accident. I wanted small; I wanted private.
Coincidentally, the colleges that fit those criteria were also liberal arts colleges. I majored in
English because I liked to read and people told me that I was a good writer. If I did not have
plans for marriage and a family by the time I graduated, I thought I might go to Graduate School,
since the only career goal I had ever really had was Librarianship. A few years later, my outlook
on nearly everything has changed. I believe everyone should attend a liberal arts college for at
least one year. I believe that Story is inherent to the human condition, and to study literature, to
think critically about poetry and prose, is to study human nature. I believe in the enduring power
of libraries and the essential role of librarians in today’s society. Most importantly, I believe I
will change the world.
In a society where many believe that “college is the new high school,” one may have
doubts. For the many that disparage the educational choices of students like me, one questions
the power of a Bachelor’s degree to guarantee one employment, much less equip one to change
the world. However, according to John Henry Newman, this is exactly the purpose of the
university. In his The Idea of a University, Newman credits “training good members of society”
as the “practical end” of a university education (134). By “this process of training, by which the
intellect…is disciplined for its own sake, for the perception of its own proper object, and for its
own highest culture,” are good members of society – ladies and gentlemen – created (115). The
liberal arts college provides a place for developing “the eye of the mind, of which the object is
truth, [and which] is the work of discipline and habit” (115). In an institution of higher education
where professors teach Philosophy hand-in-hand with Theology, where Economics meets down
the hall from Scripture, students learn from interdisciplinary curriculum and are encouraged to
seek truth through all that they study. They are constantly affirmed “that Knowledge is its own
reward” (136). With the development of intelligent, honorable, tactful and truth-seeking men and
women as its primary goal, the liberal arts education fails to have anything but a positive effect
on society and its members. However, while Newman clearly demonstrates the positive effects
of the liberal arts education, he recognizes it as an ideal and gives professional educations their
due. After all, the world survives because of those doctors, dentists, plumbers, contractors and
others with scientific and technical educations. We all help change the world.
One of my favorite bloggers – Christian author, speaker and mother of six – Ann
Voskamp, posits, “If you want to change the world, change one person’s world.” It need not
require a professional or technical education with immediate and tangible results. It may consist
simply in one friend saying to another over coffee, “I love you.” Both better society. Personally,
I hope to change the world through librarianship. The love of learning instilled in me at a young
age has grown exponentially in a liberal arts setting, leading me to desire Graduate School as a
non-negotiable piece of my future. I want to show children the myriad of opportunities at their
fingertips if they only open a book, to instill a love of knowledge for its own sake. I want to help
better society by working for its youngest members.
My liberal arts education has enabled me to recognize these desires and, in turn, articulate
them as my values. It has taught me to create plans to achieve my goals, to understand and
communicate with those around me, and to realize what truly makes me happy. It has led me to
value knowledge for its own sake and to hold excellence and virtue in the highest regard. It has
taught me that society depends on the development of the whole person and has reinforced the
belief that one must possess the ability to think critically about the people, situations and ideas
one inevitably encounters to keep from compromising one’s values and goals. Newman assures
us that “a University training is the great ordinary means to a great but ordinary end; it aims at
raising the intellectual tone of society, at cultivating the public mind, at purifying the national
taste…and refining the intercourse of private life” (134). The heart of the matter rests in that it
matters not specifically what I do, but that I do it excellently while seeking the truth. Whether I
become the head of marketing at a well-known company, the mom of children whose clothes do
not match but who love to discover, the editor of a big-name magazine, the librarian who quotes
Aristotle along with Dr. Seuss, or the most well-rounded food-service worker in town, I will still
help change the world. The lady next to me on the plane may scoff at my idealism and disdain
my willingness to pay the ever-increasing cost of liberal arts tuition, but I feel at ease. There is
no price too high for education, no expense too costly for changing the world.
