Many people mistakenly believe that liberal arts colleges are only for people interested in the arts or maybe the humanities. In reality, liberal arts colleges are good for students who are interested in all aspects of education including science and math. In fact, the majority of colleges in this country provide a liberal arts background. From Harvard to your local state university, most students earn the BA or bachelors of arts degree.
I raise this issue because it is important for students to understand. I also raise it because I just read a wonderful explanation of why having a liberal arts background is so important.
Jon Boeckenstedt, who is the Associate Vice President for Policy and Planning at DePaul University, found the transcript of a speech given in 1954 by John Ciardi, a professor of English at Rutgers University. He has made a copy of that speech available on his blog. The speech was entitled, Another School Year: Why?.
I thank Jon for bringing this speech to my attention and I strongly recommend it to all of my readers. Getting a job after your education is important. But getting an education is really about making us human.
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