Liberal Arts Education

America's higher education system is under siege. Changes in economics, technology, demographics and attitudes regarding the relevance of a college degree are forcing many institutions to rethink the way they operate.

When a student who has been narrowly preparing for a specific field sees their plan radically altered, they have little to cushion their fall. At least a liberal arts model hones a student's thinking skills and intellectual development to be prepared for a change in plan.

Our campuses should be places where diversity leads to learning as students come to see differences among people as a deep resource for solving problems and seeking opportunities. Online education can complement this educational environment. But it does not replace the need for it.

Liberal arts colleges cannot be satisfied with simply being what they have been. I am suggesting that our greatest opportunity is to re-imagine what the liberal arts college can be for our society and for the world.

Students are losing a sense of how human beings grappled in the past with moral issues that challenge us in the present and will persist into the future. This is the shrinking province of what we call "the humanities."

As The Artist suggests, art can help us understand the dilemmas presented by technological change, just as technology can help unleash the creative possibilities of art.

The odious phrase "the real world" assumes that the university is unlike the world of blue and white collars. But the private and public sectors are not replete with multiple choice exams.

We are connecting our schools to the worlds of public life, the economy and the broader culture.

Steve Jobs, in one of his less profane moments, might have called an educational system devoid of the liberal arts, like a computer or a phone or a music player devoid of both beauty and functionality, "a piece of crap." I can't say that I disagree.

Employers and politicians need to learn that if colleges provide training only for jobs that need to be filled now, those workers will probably be useless in about two years, given the rapid pace of change in most industries.

If we do not support and preserve the segment of American higher education that provides instruction in the liberal arts we will be reducing the likelihood that we will continue to be global leaders in innovation.

The ghoulish governor, Florida's favorite son, Rick Scott is in the news again. This time he's bashing anthropology and showcasing his profound ignorance of culture and society.

A college's ultimate responsibility is to help students clarify their sense of self. We do them a disservice if we ignore their future working life as they discover their talents, passions and convictions.

The free inquiry and experimentation of our education helps us to think for ourselves, take responsibility for our beliefs and actions, and be better acquainted with our own desires, our own hopes.

Labor is on the mind of our students and their families in a more general sense this year. The awful job situation in the United States has lasted far too long, and each year frosh begin their college years hoping it will be better by the time they graduate.

Bowdoin's annual lobster bake is not merely a lobster bake. The anthropology of our arthropod fête will tell you everything you need to know about the college.

When it works well, our higher education sector offers a wide range of choices to students who hope to build on their education in different ways. This is great American resource to be protected and cultivated.

In a few weeks, Mopati Morake will earn a bachelor's degree in political science from Williams College in Massachusetts. A native of Botswana, Morake has been educated on three continents.