Liberals Arts United: shedding some guilt

Ugh, it drives me crazy that there are so many articles that are like “social sciences aren’t important” and “literature isn’t important” and always emphasizing STEM STEM STEM!

I totally think STEM is important too. In fact, I wish that I had taken way more STEM classes. I wish I retook calculus in college, and that I’d taken a statistics class. I regret my dismissal of science and my assumption that a greater understanding of science is irrelevant to my life. I wish that I’d taken more basic computer classes in high school, and maybe some handy electives like automotive tech. As a liberal arts major who has struggled off and on with unemployment and underemployment since graduating two years ago, I know very well the value of these “hard skills” and technical knowledge.

But reading between the lines of this recent article continuing the drum beat of STEM STEM STEM, the simple STEM solution is not as simple as it seems. One of the most telling lines is this:

“Hans-Herbert Jagla, executive vice president for human resources at Volkswagen in Chattanooga, said finding workers with both technical skills and people skills was proving more difficult than predicted… [Jagla says,] “In manufacturing, you have to be able to calculate things — and express yourself."”

I have found that despite my “unemployability” as a nearly skill-less, non-technical worker, I actually have invaluable skill set—my people skills and communication skills, particularly interpersonal communication. And where did I get that? From reading books! From taking sociology and psychology classes. From going on “useless and frivolous” study abroad programs. These are some of the things that the social sciences and liberal arts have to offer, and their contributions to the workforce should not be ignored. They have been soundly blasted for nearly a century now as being useless, baseless skills, but that is simply not true. The above article quotes an economist say “It’s better to get a C in chemistry than an A in literature.” This is an awful pithy statement, but it is a frivolous and irresponsible thing to say, especially because it sounds like just the kind of latchkey phrase that a politician would cling to when trying to get rid of liberal art and social sciences and replace them with engineering.

I mean, I love engineers. Some of my best friends of engineers! But the thing is, every engineer thinks that if they and their engineer friends ran the world, everything would be perfect. This is clearly not true, because Herbert Hoover is the only engineer president and everyone agrees that that guy was no good. I don’t deny that engineers are smart and that they have really good, logical answers and solutions to many of todays problems. An engineer would probably make a great VP, actually. But there are many, many other skills that make up the world of useful skills, and as a proponent of the liberal arts, I am tired of their contribution being marginalized.

That being said, I do agree with many of these alarmist STEM articles that it is a growing and worrisome problem that so many jobs are going overseas, not just for the cheaper labor but also because there are just not enough qualified workers  in the US (I think that biggest illustration of this was in This American Life’s Retraction episode, where Ira is talking to the reporter about Apple’s supply chain in China? In the US, it would take 9 months to find all the industrial engineers they need. In China, it only took 15 days—and they were working slow. That’s crazy!!!!). But, I don’t think it is a simple matter of valuing STEM over all the other subjects. I think that this problem reflects definite cultural shifts in America. And culture is an unwieldy, multi-faceted thing that is hard to figure out, solve, define, or change. So we have our work cut out for us. 

And, just as a further disclaimer and caveat, I would never say that all you need are soft skills and a liberal arts background and you are prepared for the job market. That is untrue as well, and anyone who says otherwise does not have your best interest in mind. But to say that liberal arts or social sciences is a death knell for your future professional life is just as wrong as saying that STEM careers are the way to professional fulfillment and jobs for everybody. Both of these assertions only tell part of the story. 

Liberal Arts Guilt

originally written by hand mid-December 2010 while i was at work. re-written here for your pleasure and enjoyment.


One of the reasons that I am beating myself up is because of the crushing power of Liberal Arts Guilt*.
I was a liberal arts major. I picked a major that I enjoyed, one that would give me amazing life experience, room to breathe, room to think. One that was intellectually flexible. (it was middle east studies and arabic, fyi. being a MESA major wasn't actually any of those idealistic things, though. there were plenty of people who were in it for the practicality of speaking arabic and getting a slight leg up on the millions of poli sci majors our there). I have Liberal Arts Guilt that compared to those in my major and compared to other majors, I have never ever been very career oriented.

And that's what Liberal Arts Guilt is--guilt that you were never career or job oriented, that you foolishly thought that education was about learning for the sake of learning, not learning as a tool to a career. In your short sighted idealism you chose a liberal arts major so that you could learn and grow, while the street smart wise guys were majoring in business and engineering so they could be hirable. You were becoming wise, you thought, and they were just becoming qualified for jobs. You were above the drive for worldly success and gain!

And then at some point it hits you. Maybe for some it's when you graduate. Or maybe it's when the economy goes south and all the entry level jobs in non-profits and academia and wherever else lib art majors go dry up. For me, it was when TFA, "the viable liberal arts career path"i thought, fell through.

And then all the things that I had made the liberal arts major decisions by and all the things that I really valued about myself--sense of adventure, love of fun, my adaptability, my love of doing hard things that would help to grow and learn--seemed hollow and naive. All of that went away, and was replaced with the guilt of never planning for life, of having spent no time acquiring skills, of failing by worldly standards, of having no direction, no ambition, nothing.

Had I really majored in a liberal arts because of all these noble reasons? Had i really not planned for something more career-oriented because of some lofty reason? Or was it because I was lazy, inept, and unable to function in a "real major?" Would I likewise never have a "real job"?
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Thinking about it 5 months later, that is one reason why TFA works--because of Liberal Arts Guilt. Yes, i don't have a job somewhere else and it is my fault. Please, please TFA take two years of my life and part of my soul away, i deserve such punishment for my failures. I will prove myself, i will work hard, and i will expect nothing in return. Please let me be a teacher with little rewards (in either a tangible or metaphysical sense) and work 60 hours a week and no one will really care and that is what I deserve because i majored in Ethnic Studies/Philosophy/various liberal arts majors. Such is the inner dialogue of many TFA recruits, and the reason why an organization that does treat people in pretty crappy ways is allowed to get away with it.

So, do I still have Liberal Arts Guilt? I didn't know what I wanted to do for a career. I still don't know. I think it would have been a mistake to just pick something at random and go with just because i felt a need for a career. I realize that I also skipped a lot of "what will I major in?" drama because I didn't care about career paths and goals. I guess I have to deal with the consequences of that now. But maybe I'd be in this same quandary, anyway. If anything, I regret not doing something TOTALLY useless instead of the kind of middling MESA major. If i did it over again, I'd probably choose art history or film studies. So no, at the end of the day, I am totally unrepentant. The question of where to go next is still an issue, though.

*yes, this is a term that I came up with myself. you should tweet about it so that it becomes an actual thing.