In an age of advancement, competitiveness is the key to success. Valuable jobs granted to high-school graduates are diminishing into obsolescence, Associate’s degrees are rendered nearly insignificant in a competitive workforce, and the cost of tuition is multiplying by the hour. The late Generation Y are graduating high school with debt even before they enroll in college; they have spent their entire high-school careers preparing for the debt and financial obligations that will consume them after they graduate.
With a workforce that undoubtedly prioritizes prior experience and encourages a specific threshold of competitiveness, pressures to secure a financially stable and secure a job post-graduation are especially high. After the Great Recession swept the economy in late 2007, undergraduate STEM fields witnessed an exponentiating rise in enrollment. This was partially due to the fear of post-graduation job security; students were eager to get a taste of stability in a promising and expansionary job field. Careers in science, mathematics, and the growing field of technology promise a specific degree of permanence; as our society inches towards advancement and improvement, the STEM fields continue to expand and blossom into more opportunities for innovation.
This, unfortunately, has rendered the value of liberal arts fields in modern society nearly obsolete. Although liberal arts fields promise just as much job security and opportunities for growth and success as STEM-driven fields, they are often overshadowed by the presence of them. The discourse on the improbability of finding success and financial stability with a degree in a liberal arts field has been popularized by the recent wave of encouragement to conform to pragmatic, economically-considerate job roles. Its relevance in recent political agendas has also furthered the divide between the two realms of education; educators and politicians are beginning to stress the glamour of Silicon Valley as opposed to the dimming appeal of Hollywood. Quite bluntly, degrees in liberal arts fields—which extend from gender studies to film, to English—are beginning to be viewed as luxuries and financial gambles.
The missing element in the false dichotomy between liberal arts and STEM fields is the idea of college itself, which serves a purpose to provide students with opportunities to explore, expand, discover, and culminate their interests and talents alongside other like-minded intellects. This, essentially, has been lost among the controversy of the political, social, and economic debates married to the issue.
Whether or not it is highlighted between segments in an airing of Fox News or stapled between the pages of an admissions packet, college equally serves a purpose for exploration as it does for training. Students should not feel the need to confine themselves within the walls mathematics and sciences solely for the purpose to guarantee themselves a decent paycheck and a 401K by the time they hit thirty.
When analyzed to the bone, the real answer to the issue depends upon subjectivity; employers will equally value a liberal arts degree as much as it would value a degree in the STEM field, but the debate between the two fields will continue to pick the brains of students, politicians, and educators for years to come. Although a concrete answer to the ongoing debate will never be reached, it must be stressed that the significance of liberal arts degrees is not—and will never be—diminishing. Schools must continue to provide funding for the arts to provide students with equal opportunities to discover their talents and their passions; as George Bernard Shaw once claimed, ‘’Without art, the crudeness of reality would make the world unbearable.’’
