Comments on: Liberal Arts Poster Children

By: Rebekah

Rebekah — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 19:49:07 +0000

I’ve always liked this essay for emphasizing the defining qualities of a liberally educated person rather than privileging a particular curriculum.

I first read ‘Only Connect’ while applying to colleges, when I still had only a tenuous understanding of what distinguishes a small liberal arts college from a large research institution, besides size. I credit it with my decision to attend Bryn Mawr, a decision I appreciate more than ever now that I’ve graduated.
Life in the “real world” is uncertain, demanding, but endlessly rewarding; I find those qualities of ‘connecting’ serve me well out here.

By: swiers

swiers — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 15:51:16 +0000

Or take Mike Rowe, host of ‘Dirty Jobs’. You can’t knock it, that singing in opera makes a great education and preparation for life, generally, even if you never get a liberal arts degree.

By: jpool

jpool — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 19:06:02 +0000

Ira Glass majored in Semiotics at Brown. I’m not sure if such a thing is possible at that institution anymore, but it does seem to be a nice point for cultural theory having real world applications.

By: Laura

Laura — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 11:15:25 +0000

I consider myself a poster child of liberal arts education. The older I get, the more grateful I am that I was allowed to ramble through many subjects, encouraged to find connections between different subjects and had the time to do fun and interesting things outside of schoolwork. God, I even learned how to work a cocktail party, thanks to being in a sorority. It’s really come in handy. I run into a few students that I know will benefit in the long run from their Bryn Mawr education. Usually, they’re not the straight A students or the ones who pursued a specific curriculum toward a specific goal. They’re the ones who took things they were interested in, fell into a major, and even as seniors, have no idea what they’re going to do for a career They’re much smarter than they look on paper.

By: Daniel Rosenblatt

Daniel Rosenblatt — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 02:53:09 +0000

I’d like to make another nomination, for someone who embodies what can be done with the whole other side of the liberal arts that includes the humanities and social sciences, and the side of liberal arts that says talking and thinking about things is a worthy and socially necessary activity: Ira Glass, of the radio show “This American Life.”

It might even be really plausible to think about creating a liberal arts curriculum that facilitates the sort of work he does–perhaps even one that finds a way not only to produce such work but to make it available to the world at large.

By: ancarett

ancarett — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 00:14:29 +0000

That is a genius comparison. I could think of few people in society who better represent the intellectual basis of the liberal arts approach — always question, always demand proof and rigour — than the team on “Mythbusters”. Plus, they are royally entertaining!