What value is in liberal arts education?

[FBM]

I can now see the value in history education.

[FBM]

Too many easy soft subjects in education catering for dumbass folks who in earlier times would've been employed as work fodder in heavy industry - until it all got re-routed to the slave-worker continent of China and prisons of 'merica. Media studies is the worst but philosophy is people talking out of their arse too.

Do you use logic? Know anybody who does? Know any practical applications of it?

Logic can exist completely independently from philosophy

Can integral calculus exist completely independently from math as something other than math?

[Svartalf]

Let's face it, my liberal arts education (major in English lang and lit, minors in history and Norse language and history) has made me a more cultured man, and possibly a better one, but has been of precisely no, or maybe even negative use for my professional life, since I failed to get to PhD level, and never intended to become a secondary teacher in the first place, which is essentially the only job you can seek with such an education .

[Azathoth]

Too many easy soft subjects in education catering for dumbass folks who in earlier times would've been employed as work fodder in heavy industry - until it all got re-routed to the slave-worker continent of China and prisons of 'merica. Media studies is the worst but philosophy is people talking out of their arse too.

Do you use logic? Know anybody who does? Know any practical applications of it?

Logic can exist completely independently from philosophy

Can integral calculus exist completely independently from math as something other than math?

You aren't comparing like with like there. A better analogy would be to say that logic is to philosophy what mathematics is to physics.

[cronus]

Philosophy is not physics and not law and not engineering. It attempts the impossible to be a category of categories. It claims be all things to all, like a religion it is universalistic in scope whilst lacking any data on the universe, and hides it's inherent lack of remit or borders by stealing logic and combining that with verbal garbage.

[FBM]

ANYway, what is the value in liberal arts education in general, and how would we be different without it?

[cronus]

Without it genuine, successful 'arts, interests & crafts' movements might spring up under the right illumination?

[Tyrannical]

Too many people waste their time and money with a liberal arts degree. Now it isn't a waste in all cases, but it seems to be with many of them.
I'd suggest financial aid quotas based on academic major.

[Seth]

It's a great way to enlarge the dependent class...

[cronus]

It's a great way to enlarge the dependent class...

Tread the grassroots of freethought down and replace with a conformist mindset based on consumption and debt.

[Svartalf]

ANYway, what is the value in liberal arts education in general, and how would we be different without it?

The value of having a broader culture is hard to quantify, but it helps you get perspective.

[FBM]

Seems to me that most people who have posted so far are of the opinion that your education either helps you make or maintain things that help you make money or it's a waste of time.

[pErvinalia]

It's a great way to enlarge the dependent class...

Tread the grassroots of freethought down and replace with a conformist mindset based on consumption and debt.

Best comeback I've seen for a while!

[Seth]

It's a great way to enlarge the dependent class...

Tread the grassroots of freethought down and replace with a conformist mindset based on consumption and debt.

Free thought is good, but people have to know how to work for a living. We've plenty of ivory-tower academics and the world doesn't need another philosophy graduate. Or any more liberal/Progressive indoctrinated goose-stepping red-book waving useful idiots.

Arts are great, but if you're going to spend money on a higher education, spend it on the sciences, where it might actually do you and everyone else some good.

[Hermit]

I think it has made my life more interesting, but majoring in a liberal art (Philosophy) has certainly limited my employability. I ran across the idea that many universities are considering downsizing or even eliminating their liberal arts courses and majors in favor of things like business, law, science and technology programs because of the relative unemployability of liberal arts grads. Would we be better or at least just as well off if we just learned about literature, arts, philosophy, history, etc, informally? In our spare time?

Nothing has enhanced my perception of the world more than philosophy and history, in particular epistemology and early modern history respectively. I dropped out during my honours year, but that was no great deal. There was never an intention to base a career on those studies. And, yes, Sydney University's Faculty of Arts does not exist any more.

Earlier today I accidentally took a photo of my immediate work environment



after snapping a series of pics of what is apparently much more important than pondering how we know what we know, or how democratic nations came about.



And no, informal studies are unlikely to be as intellectually profitable and efficient as structured courses, lectures and tutorials conducted by people who have earnt their phds studying the exact segment of whatever aspect of your chosen subject you wish to learn about. If it were not so, we'd probably not need formal courses in surgery - or business for that matter.