Let me start this post with a quote from a recent\u00a0Bloomberg<\/em> article<\/a>:<\/p>\n Recent research suggests that contrary to the popular idea that majoring in art or literature is a route to personal penury and a contributor to industrial decline, there are actually plenty of science majors, except among low-income students. Moreover, while newly minted graduates with science and technical degrees enjoy a salary premium over their classmates in the humanities, that premium fades over time, in part because technological skills become obsolete faster. Liberal arts majors, by contrast, trained to be creative communicators and critical thinkers, are more adaptable.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n There was also a really interesting article on what the liberal arts offers to underrepresented students<\/a>. George Kuh touched on that same topic when he wrote<\/a>:<\/p>\n We\u2019ve known for many decades that there are no short cuts to cultivating the habits of the mind and heart that, over time, enable people to deepen their learning, develop resilience, transfer information into action, and creatively juggle and evaluate competing ideas and approaches. These are the kinds of proficiencies and dispositions needed to discover\u00a0alternative responses to challenges presented by the changing nature of today\u2019s jobs or for work not yet invented<\/a>. Workplaces, societal institutions, and the world order are only going to get more complicated and challenging to navigate and manage, increasing the need for people with accumulated wisdom, interpersonal and practical competence, and more than a splash of critical thinking, analytical reasoning, and altruism.<\/p>\n Intentionally shortening and fragmenting educational and personal development in the name of bolstering economic productivity\u00a0now<\/em>\u00a0is shortsighted and does a catastrophic disservice to individuals, our national prosperity, and the long-term well-being of a civil, democratic society. What\u2019s also troubling is the likelihood that learners from historically underserved groups \u2014 low income and ethnic minorities, for example \u2014 will be disproportionately represented among (or maybe even tracked into) short-term training programs.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n See too the piece on enhancing students\u2019 perception of the relevance of the liberal arts<\/a>, another on universities focusing on their central educational mission rather than on marketing themselves to those who do not embrace it, as well as these<\/a>:<\/p>\n