The value and benefits of a liberal arts education steeped in the humanities has worthy champions in Kristin Brennan, executive director of Bowdoin’s Office of Career Exploration and Development (CXD), and Stephen Perkinson, professor of art history.
In a thoughtful piece for Inside Higher Ed, the duo makes the case for the practical application of the humanities, engages in some myth-busting around the common trope that the pursuit of these studies will leave one impoverished or ill-prepared for the workforce, and even mentions “The Offer of the College.”
“We want students to know that a liberal arts education that includes deep engagement with the humanities prepares its beneficiaries to face the profound challenges and joys that life will confront them with, not simply to function as employees,” write Brennan and Perkinson.
“We want them to understand that humanities are not something students should wonder if they can make room for, but a central ingredient of an education that will prepare them to be interdisciplinary thinkers poised to solve the most complex problems of our times.”
Read “Can I Just Make Room for Interesting Things” in Inside Higher Ed.
