Gov. Pat McCrory recently sparked a debate among educators when he claimed certain liberal arts degrees from public universities are not economically viable in the long run. He said such majors should be offered exclusively at private schools, sparking indignation among many members of the Elon University community.
Speaking in a radio interview in early February, McCrory said he plans to draft legislation to allocate state funding to public universities according to the professional skills their students attain, suggesting that liberal arts programs, such as philosophy and gender studies, should receive lesser funding.
“I’m going to adjust my education curriculum to what business and commerce needs to get our kids jobs, as opposed to moving back in with their parents after they graduate with debt," McCrory said in the interview. "What are we teaching these courses for if they're not going to help get a job?"
As a private university, Elon would be largely unaffected by any budget reallocation set in motion by McCrory’s potential legislation, but some community members adamantly disagreed with his comments. According to Nim Batchelor, head of the philosophy department, the value of an education is not simply determined by employment rate and salary.
“There are a series of domains that make for a full rich human life that are distant from the economic realm,” Batchelor said, “and to say all values must reduce to economic values—it takes a very narrow conception about what human beings can be about.”
The value of the liberal arts
There is no precise calculation to determine the value of a liberal arts degree, but most educators agree that liberal arts are not useless.
Philosophy, for example, emphasizes critical thinking, problem solving, adaptability, clear speaking and writing skills and ethical reasoning. These kinds of skills prepare a student for the workforce, according to Yoram Lubling, a philosophy professor.
“You might not find, immediately, the job you want,” he said. “However, in the long run, I think in general, successful people are people who have liberal arts educations. A liberal arts education allows an individual to change careers and adopt new needs, think critically, adapt to situations.”
Although many agree liberal arts studies promote necessary professional skills, statistics don’t clearly establish the value of such a degree. Two studies offer conflicting findings. The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) conducted a survey in 2012 that showed only 16 percent of employers looked for employees majoring in the social sciences and liberal arts, while 63 percent of employers preferred business majors.
In contrast, another 2012 survey, conducted by research and management firm Millennial Branding and Experience Inc., surveyed 250 employers and found 30 percent preferred employees with liberal arts education, only second to engineering at 34 percent.
“There’s this really incredible tension,” said Stephen Bloch-Shuman, philosophy professor. “Employers want students who have those skills, but they don’t want the price and the very thing that teaches them those skills, which is liberal arts.”
Regarding employment rates, the Center of Education and the Workforce (CEW) at Georgetown University conducted an extensive study on college unemployment in 2012. Their results revealed the unemployment rate among recent graduates with liberal arts degrees was 9.2, compared to a 7.7 percent for business majors. Liberal arts majors earn and average starting salary of $31,000, while business majors earn $39,000.
“The problem is not that liberal arts students can’t get jobs,” Bloch-Shulman said. “They do. If you’re a communications student, you’ll go into communications. If you’re business major, you’re likely to go into business. But for a philosophy major, you don’t always know what you’re going to do. So it’s not that the skills don’t transfer. They do. Its just not immediately evident.”
The cost of losing the liberal arts
If McCrory decides to put forth legislation distribute public university funding based on job creation rates, or in his words, funding “not based on butts in seats but how many of those butts can get jobs,” liberal arts majors would not be the only ones affected.
On an economic level, columnists at Chapel Hill have theorized that cuts to any public universities’ liberal arts departments will result in larger classes and less teachers. Those teachers would be most likely underpaid.
Although Elon would not be directly affected, an increased emphasis on technology and business classes could undermine Elon’s liberal arts programs. Elon’s most recent registrar report showed a 20 percent increase in the number of business majors since 2011, as well as a 1.8 percent decrease in the number of liberal arts majors.
But many communications and business students still recognize the importance of the liberal arts. Many communications majors at Elon complete a major or minor outside their field “to encourage students to develop a second area of academic depth” according to Elon’s website.
“History has helped with my major,” said sophomore Katie Maraghy, a broadcast journalism major. “It’s a required course for my international studies minor, and it helps you look at things and put things into a broader context.”
Yubling said he thinks losing liberal arts will have a greater effect on students’ lives and on society as a whole, especially if students are studying technical careers because they’re scared they won’t make money in the liberal arts.
“I see in my students that they admit they have to basically give up passion and interest in favor of economical interests,” Lubling said. “I would say that for 18-year-old to make these kinds of fatal decisions, it can only lead to a very unhappy life.”