By Bess Kerby

‘‘What are you going to do with that?’

The age-old question.

Most college students have been asked this more times than they can count, and the question typically comes from a place of genuine curiosity…unless you’re a liberal arts student. In that case, it’s filled with judgment and doubt, as if pursuing a degree in the humanities or fine arts is just a brief detour on the way to becoming an overeducated barista at your hometown cafe.

Liberal arts students consistently encounter the assumption that their degree lacks practicality, making it non-traditional, and therefore unsuccessful. These assumptions are fueled by the belief that STEM and business degrees are the only ways to achieve a stable career as well as a misunderstanding of liberal arts education. This misconception is part of a larger cultural narrative that values fields seen as more profitable or technical. Unless a degree directly translates into a high-paying job, it lacks worth, which ignores the inherent value of an education in the humanities. 

This ideological phenomenon is not a new one. While liberal arts is considered one of the oldest forms of education, its validity has been questioned over time. As both a historian and a university administrator, Lynda Coon, dean of the Honors College, has consistently participated in the fight for humanities education and has come to understand what she is up against. 

“It comes in cycles,” Coon said. “The humanities has been through this before. It isn’t the case that all of the sudden it’s deemed lesser than. It’s always had this sort of tussle. There’s this sudden desire to come back to an older model of education. It goes through periods of not being seen as practical or career worthy, and then it’ll shift back is my guess. A cry for returning for the classics.”

Students are the first to challenge the misconception that their area of study is impractical, rejecting the idea that a degree should be exclusively linked to a “traditional” career or financial upward mobility. This gives students such as junior Jason Marecki, an English education major, an opportunity to take a step back from societal expectations and focus on learning as much as possible, whether within or beyond his major. 

Although people are quick to invalidate that journey, Marecki said he appreciates that the less rigid paths within the humanities allow for a level of openness that is otherwise unachievable. This openness demonstrates an inherent value of the liberal arts, which is an unrestricted education that focuses on what the individual wants rather than what society wants. 

Liberal arts students demonstrate an impressive ability to tune out skepticism and focus on personal goals, leading to great success, even if it is not what society deems as such. Coon has seen this skill firsthand. 

“These students are adventurous because they are not stopped by the misinformation they are hearing about their choice of academic discipline,” Coon said. “People that are successful are risk-takers. Maybe right now the humanities are presented as a risk, but why is that bad?”

It is important to recognize, however, that societal misconceptions of liberal arts education implicate everyone, including those within it, and many students are affected by it. It leads to questioning if their journey is one worth embarking upon. This was the case for freshman Tristan Busse-Jones, an anthropology major who recently went through the process of choosing her college path and questioned if her passion would be enough. 

“I considered a more science-based path,” Busse-Jones said.  “I don’t really have an idea of what I would do aside from this, but something that had a more set career plan or more job opportunities. But I didn’t really want to do that, I just felt like I should. If I went into some kind of STEM major, I would have done it, but I would not have been happy.” 

In the same way societal expectations implicate students, they also affect the university. It is impossible to separate the university from the culture in which it exists, leading to STEM and business dominance and putting liberal arts students at an innate disadvantage. This has been proven by the obstacles that humanities students encounter while networking. Marecki said he is forced to go out and build his own connections, whereas other majors have them built in. It becomes a more people-first approach, which he finds more difficult, but ultimately more enjoyable and rewarding. 

These paths, however, are not black and white. Even if it is deemed as lesser than, the humanities permeate every aspect of education, which includes STEM and business; critically examining the way things work is what is at the core of the humanities, which is necessary regardless of major. 

“There’s a lot of pressure to push STEM because it is something that brings in money,” Coon said. “It might be seen as more practical, but at the same time a lot of studies are philosophical. It’s not either or, and that’s what’s so great about it.”

The main skills taught in a liberal arts education are inherently valuable, but even under the assumption that being lucrative equals being successful, the humanities can lead to that success. Majors such as English, history, anthropology or philosophy are people-based, and classes within them are often discussion-based, leading to a more accurate representation of what it is like working after graduation, but many people don’t try to understand that. 

“They just don’t know what it means, or the life skills you get from it,” Busse-Jones said. “Even if you don’t get a career in that field, you still learn so much. As an anthropology major, I’m learning so much about people, about humans and how we work as a society, which is applicable to any job that I could get after school.” 

These skills aren’t just assumed to be transferable but have been proven within the university. There is material evidence of these abilities being coveted in the workforce. Coon said she recalls a course taught by the Honors College in which CEOs of Arkansas corporations told students exactly what abilities they were looking for. The main one was communication, both written and spoken. The traditional humanities were the most prepared to demonstrate this skill because of the nature of their curriculum, which gave them “a competitive edge in the realm of communicating”. 

The notion that liberal arts degrees are useless or wasteful is a myth that fails to account for the skills that these students develop such as communication and critical thinking. It also ignores their tenacity and ability to keep learning in the face of adversity, further contributing to students’ knowledge of the complex human experience.