Study: College Students Value Job Skills over Liberal Arts

 

For generations, many colleges and universities in the United States have offered classes in a lot of different subjects.

Higher education officials believed that by learning about different subjects, students would be able to improve their understanding of the world around them.

But a new study suggests the current generation of college students may not value liberal arts study programs as much as earlier generations. It found many current students want programs that directly connect to specific career paths.

In November 2019, the social research company Gallup and the Strada Education Network reported on an opinion study of 340,000 Americans. Researchers asked the individuals about their educational experiences after high school. They wanted to know if these men and women felt whatever classes or study programs they attended were worth the cost.

Out of those who completed a vocational¹ program, meaning training for a specific job or technical skill, 57 percent strongly agreed it was worth the cost. However, only 40 percent of people who completed four-year study programs at a traditional college or university said the same.

Dave Clayton is a senior vice² president with Strada. He told VOA the study confirms earlier findings from his organization. He said it shows that Americans want higher education to relate to jobs.

In the past, many Americans thought of higher education as a means, or method, of self-improvement, Clayton says.

A college or university was traditionally a place for improving one's critical thinking and other skills by learning about different subjects. So while students would focus on one central subject, like economics³, they might also take classes in literature or philosophy, for example.

But the cost of U.S. higher education has risen over the past 30 years, notes Clayton. And the labor⁴ market has changed a great deal. More than ever before, higher education has become a requirement for better paying jobs. Yet employees can no longer expect to work for the same company for many years, and may even need to change fields more than once.

So, Clayton argues, people want to gain demonstrable skills that have some kind of long-lasting value. This is especially important to many Americans with limited financial resources.

"We have expanded access to college over the generations, and so ... the upward social mobility⁵ ... that can provide ... becomes even more important for those communities who are trying to break through or advance their lives," Clayton said.

But this questioning of the value of a liberal arts education is nothing new, even if it feels like a modern concern, notes Timothy Burke. He is a co-director of the Aydelotte Foundation at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. The foundation researches and provides support to liberal arts programs.

Burke notes that while America's first colleges were teaching students subjects like Latin and history, their students wanted to learn how to become doctors or engineers. However, even the biggest companies today are not just looking for students with one area of specialization.

In 2010, Steve Jobs, creator of Apple, stated that technology alone is not enough. "It's technology married with liberal arts ... that yields the results that make our hearts sing," he said.

Similarly, another technology company, Google, led a study of its own leadership team in 2008. The aim was to identify the top 10 qualities possessed⁶ by its most successful and effective executives⁷. It listed strong communication and leadership abilities well above technical skills.

Many people around the world still see the U.S. liberal arts approach to higher education as among the best in the world, Burke says. In fact, the number of colleges and universities following this model has grown in Asia and Europe in recent years.

Still, Burke argues, the problem remains⁸ that liberal arts programs do not do a good job of explaining to the public where their value lies.

"Even if ... there's actually a lot of evidence ... it's not anything that relieves anybody's anxiety, especially in a time when a lot of Americans ... fear, with some good reason, that overall the next generation ... will not do better than their parents did financially, which is a new situation in American history," he said.

Burke suggests the way forward is not necessarily to get liberal arts educators to change what they are teaching. Instead, they need to change how they teach by making connections between the material they present in classes and issues in the real world. That will help students better understand how they can put what they are learning to use.

Burke adds that educators must help students explain the value their "softer skills" represent for a future employer.

For example, saying you are a strong writer might make sense, but that does not really clarify what you can do with that skill. Instead, he says, educators should urge students to list major projects they were involved in or work they published during their study program. This demonstrates the results of a person's combined skills and experience, says Burke.

Words in This Story

specific – adj. special or particular

focus – v. to direct your attention or effort at something

resource(s) – n. a supply of money or materials

access – n. the right or ability to approach, enter, or use

upward (social) mobility – n. the ability to move into a higher social or economic position

advance – v. to move forward

yield(s) – v. to produce or provide something

approach – n. a way of doing or thinking about something

relieve(s) – v. cause pain, worry, or difficulty to become less severe or serious.

anxiety – n. fear or nervousness about what might happen

1 vocational   

adj.职业的，业务的

参考例句：

• They have set a regular time for vocational study.他们把业务学习时间固定下来。
• She was given some quick training at the vocational school.她在职业学校受过速成训练。

2 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

3 economics   

n.经济学，经济情况

参考例句：

• He is studying economics,which subject is very important.他正在学习经济学，该学科是很重要的。
• One can't separate politics from economics.不能把政治与经济割裂开来。

4 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

5 mobility   

n.可动性，变动性，情感不定

参考例句：

• The difference in regional house prices acts as an obstacle to mobility of labour.不同地区房价的差异阻碍了劳动力的流动。
• Mobility is very important in guerrilla warfare.机动性在游击战中至关重要。

6 possessed   

adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的

参考例句：

• He flew out of the room like a man possessed.他像着了魔似地猛然冲出房门。
• He behaved like someone possessed.他行为举止像是魔怔了。

7 executives   

（公司或机构的）经理( executive的名词复数 )； （统称公司或机构的）行政领导； （政府的）行政部门； [the Executive][美国英语]（美国政府的）行政当局

参考例句：

• They have taken measures to equate the salaries of higher civil servants to those of business executives. 他们采取措施使高级文职人员的工资和企业管理干部的工资相等。
• He disregarded the advice of his executives. 他对主管层的建议置若罔闻。

8 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。