THE ECHO

by Edward Crowe

If you’ve participated in any discussions about the liberal arts, you’ve probably had a certain image of a student majoring in something like “Mongolian basket weaving” or some other degree for a niche or hyper-specific subject. I find that the people who bring these up use them to represent the entirety of the liberal arts to try and characterize the liberal arts subjects as useless, and the people who major in them as stupid. 

Now I could discuss how liberal arts encompasses a whole range of subjects that have universal application to try and distance it from those hyper-specific subjects. But instead of doing those, I’m going to focus on the mindset that’s used for judging those who take these ostensibly worthless majors.   

To me, it seems that these people have a materially focused mind, basing the worth of a major or career choice on potential material gains such as money. If someone had this mindset, then I would get why you would look down upon these degrees, as those majoring in it would be far more likely to make a lot less compared to a doctor or engineer. 

But as they focus on the lack of financial success of these majors, have they ever considered the thought that they aren’t doing it for the money? Have they ever considered that a person majoring in crocheting probably knows that they aren’t going to be making a ton of money from this? I think when people focus on how these degrees won’t bring any money, they tend to skip over all the other things to gain from majoring in them and don’t consider them when determining their value.   

Let’s take gender studies, one of the majors I consistently see brought up when arguing about the uselessness of liberal arts degrees. Sure, you’re probably not going to make bank pursuing one, but gender studies can help people learn about the complexities of gender and how it affects our society, helping people understand both other people and society at large in new ways. The people majoring in gender studies probably see a lot of importance in learning these things, and more than trying to make a lot of money.  

Now with the way I’ve been talking about it, I’ve kind of painted career choices based on financial motivations in a quite negative light. But I should clarify that this type of motivation itself isn’t the problem itself. I could see why someone would take the average income and job opportunities of a career when considering their options, and I can also see why the lack of these things could be a turn-off for going into majors like these.  

So, I understand why someone might worry about the financial viability of the liberal arts, and I’m not asking you to let go of it. All I ask for is that you don’t mock someone for doing things with a different mindset. You don’t have to like the Liberal Arts, but that doesn’t mean you should disrespect those who take it.