Letters to the Editor: Liberal arts teaches skills attractive to employers

I commend The Student Printz for the recent article on graduates of USM trying to find a job. In today’s tough economic times we need clear-headed thinking about what is required to make a living in America. Most interesting to me was the long list of "Quality or skills employers are looking for," for nearly all of those skills are taught and required within the traditional humanities or liberal arts disciplines. At a time when the trend is to de-emphasize majors such as history, English, philosophy, political science, anthropology, sociology and so on because they do not seem to be practical, it is encouraging to see that employers seek graduates with the skills that those disciplines strive to instill in their students.

Following the list presented in The Student Printz, if you earn a degree at the undergraduate or graduate level in a liberal arts field you will most likely be a good verbal and written communicator, a person of honesty and integrity who understands that evidence must support your conclusions, know how to relate well and discuss issues with others, be self-motivated and have a strong work ethic (completing all that reading and writing pays off), know how to analyze evidence and interpretations, use a computer and on down the line.

Any corporations recognize the validity and importance of training received by students in humanities programs. This is why, for example, the CEO of Walt Disney, a senior VP at Natural Microsystems, an executive VP at Fidelity Investments and the VP of International Relations at Jupiter Communications have BA degrees in English, and the CEOs of General Mills, Hewlett-Packard, Corning, QXL.com, the Celtics basketball franchise and American Express have BA degrees in history. Even President G. W. Bush majored in history.

This list is just a sampling of persons with humanities degrees who lead corporations. Fifteen percent of all Fortune 500 CEOs have a liberal arts degree, the same percentage who hold a business degree. Liberal arts graduates are also uniquely suited for government jobs, museums, foundations, other non-profit sector jobs, sales, public relations, tourism, consulting and teaching.

According to the College Majors Handbook, for example, "some 13 percent of those with a bachelor's degree in history work in managerial or administrative jobs, while another 16 percent work in various sales, marketing, insurance, securities and real estate sales occupations."

Of course, humanities programs are also vital to our culture and society as a whole. In no other sector of a university is the exploration of what it means to be a human or a citizen approached from so many different angles. This is one of the major reasons that liberal arts training has provided the foundation of American and Western education for centuries.

Greg O’Brien
associate professor & Director of Graduate Studies
Department of History