Liberal Arts Key to Work Force Future
By Angie Herrington, Chattanooga Times/Free Press, Tenn.
Jan. 15–A new report calls on the nation’s colleges to embrace a different kind of liberal arts education, one that builds skills such as critical thinking and creativity to prepare students for a complex, competitive world.
The report by the Association of American Colleges and Universities rejects “narrow learning” — teaching students specialized knowledge in one field — regardless of whether they are enrolled at a community college or four-year university.
“(Students) need to hear now from their future employers… that narrow learning will limit rather than expand their options,” the report states. “The world in which today’s students will make choices and compose lives is one of disruption rather than certainty.”
The group also released a national poll that sampled 305 business executives on how well colleges are preparing the future work force. A second poll surveyed recent college graduates.
Only 22 percent of the business executives said they want colleges to concentrate on providing students skills and knowledge in a specific field. An executive with one of Chattanooga’s largest employers said he seeks out employees who are more “generalists rather than specialists.”
“The reason why is there is such an increased need over time to find people that can work in teams, think strategically and, while being on a team, be able to be held accountable,” said John Sorrow, Cigna Healthcare’s Mid-South regional president.
Dr. Gavin Townsend, a University of Tennessee at Chattanooga art history professor, said most schools already are finding ways to make a liberal education one that will translate to success beyond college.
“A liberal education is not designed to prepare you for a particular job or career, but for any job or career. It’s designed to help you cope with a world that is ever changing, ever volatile, ever more global and complex,” he wrote in an e-mail.
“I do not know of any school offering liberal education that does not also provide opportunities for travel, community service, leadership development, internships and learning outside the classroom,” he said.
Dr. Townsend also said he cannot imagine that his colleagues in the business or engineering departments would disagree with the report.
“After all, a good engineer needs to think and communicate critically and creatively as much as any poet,” he wrote.
Dr. Carl Hite, president of Cleveland State Community College, said the college in recent years has made a “major shift” to educating active learners instead of passive ones.
He said ways in which this was done include offering more group instruction, putting less emphasis on lecture learning and having more opportunities for off-campus instruction.
Dr. Hite said he wants students who graduate from Cleveland State to be “life learners” and good citizens.
“We tend to forget that part of education that deals with life beyond work,” he said.
Dr. Carol Geary Schneider, president of the Association of American Colleges and Universities, said in a news release that the group will send the recommendations to various higher education officials, business leaders, recruiters and state and federal policy-makers.
The association convened a group of more than 30 education, business, community and policy leaders across the county to produce the College Learning for the New Global Century report.
ON THE WEB
To view the whole College Learning for the New Global Century report, go to www.aacu.org.
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