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Jesus Valtierra
Professor Stalbird
ENG. 1201.225
March 29, 2015
The Captivity of the Liberal Arts
Going to college is not only an exciting phase of a persons life, but it is also one the most
important decisions that a person can make for his or her career. It is a decision to take the first
step into a bright, fulfilling and rich future. Our nations economy and current circumstances are
pulling more of our citizens, young and old, to get an education for more possibilities. College is
known to be an academic experience that involves the preferred subjects that the students are
passionate about. As students enroll in an institution, they have the freedom to choose the field of
study they want to base their career on. Most
people can agree that having a college education
on a resume makes a person more intelligent and
Figure 1. Can A Liberal Arts Degree Get You A Job?
A picture of a globe, books with a graduation cap on
top, and a quill dipped in an ink jar placed on a
surface (Hagerty).

valuable in our society. People feel that getting

any degree in college is worth the time, effort and

tuition. However, not every degree that college offers can be worth the investment. Every major
and degree in college has a distinct value in the work field. Liberal Art studies have become
popular for students in undergraduate programs because they feature a curriculum that revolves
around a talent or conviction. Aspiring students entering college should not consider Liberal
Arts, and those enrolled in the Liberal Arts should consider changing their major because Liberal
Arts include inconvenient income, relevancy and statistical factors in our national undergraduate
system.

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An individual stated that the purpose of a college education is to attain a job that pays
better than a typical job that requires no degree. Nicholaos Jones graduated with a Bachelors in
Philosophy, and he pursued a graduate degree in the same subject. He works in the Department
of Philosophy at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Jones wrote an academic paper titled,
Liberal Arts, and the Advantages of Being Useless, explaining his overall opinion of a Liberal
Arts degree. He concludes that students pursue a college education in order to achieve a job that
pays good money (3). Jones also complains about his decision to major in something that did
not give him a decent job with an undergraduate degree. It gives an impression to readers that a
Liberal Arts degree can cause so much disappointment and remorse.
Anthony P. Carnevale and his group of colleagues, Jeff Strohl and Michelle Melton, work
for Georgetown University located in Utah. They collaborate to create reports in a quarterly
manner to inform their students about topics that concern their campus. Anthony P. Carnevale
writes most of the reports for Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce
where they research topics from student internship opportunities to statistics on a certain issue of
employment.

Figure 2. Title cover of the written report "What's It Worth? The Economic Value of College Majors" (Carnevale).

Carnevale and his colleagues wrote a report titled Whats It Worth? The Economic Value
of College Majors which records the statistics of employment in the year 2011 for each degree
offered in Georgetown University. It records data from the most popular degree to the statistics

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of the amount of students enrolled in a program from each race. It also records the median salary
of the traditional majors offered in most of the institution in the United States: Agriculture &
Natural Resources, Arts, Biology & Life Sciences, Business, Communications & Journalism,
Computers & Mathematics, Education, Engineering, Health, Humanities & Liberal Arts,
Industrial Arts, Law & Public Policy, Physical Sciences, Psychology and Social Sciences (30).
Humanities & Liberal Arts is the category that was recorded to be a major with one of the least
median income earnings for an undergraduate degree being $47,000 a year (134). That amount
would not be enough for those wishing to earn the average annual income of $50,054 recorded in
2011 (Luhby). As we have progressed to the year 2015, the average income amount is
undoubtedly higher.
A person can choose another degree that gives up to $30,000 more like the Health
Services and Engineering programs. The factors of the Liberal Arts program can cause the
students to either reconsider their major or work extra hard to bring about success in their field of
study. There are other majors that can be more promising alternatives for brilliant college
students. Eleni Karageorge is a Senior Economist at the Bureau of Labor Statistics and conducts
research on the current top-paying professions in our nation. She concludes In general, majors
providing technical training earned the highest return (Karageorge). Jobs that involve technical
skills such as: modern technology, health services and engineering can be more promising and
straightforward than professions in the Liberal Arts category.
Our society has experienced a tremendous amount of technological advances in the last
decade. We have experienced a change on how people manage their daily tasks because it seems
that everyone performs daily activities through cell phones. Cell phones, today, feature a touch
screen and downloadable applications that can practically allow a person to manage financial,

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shopping and social tasks on a device that fits on the palm of his or her hand. It is only a matter
of time when people will no longer value quality, but rather value what a touch of a button can
operate quickly. A society that will not be interested in the disciplines of Liberal Arts. A professor
of Humanities located in Midwest U.S. writes daily blogs and offers insight to his readers about
his teaching experience in the Liberal Arts. He wrote a blog titled Four arguments for the
Elimination of the Liberal Arts. In this blog he states four reasons why he thinks Liberal Arts
should be removed. The reasons go as follows:
1) The assumption that a person educated in the traditional liberal arts will be a
more effective citizen who contributes to the betterment of society is simply
incorrect. 2) The liberal arts are inherently elitist and anti-democratic. 3) They are
outdated, irrelevant, and potentially harmful to a modern society. 4) Evidence
suggests that higher education today is doing a lousy job of teaching them
(Quest).
The Liberal Arts programs will soon face a social persecution or policy updates as a whole.
A Liberal Arts degree may seem to be insignificant in a general sense. However, there are
some reasons why a Liberal Arts education can be useful and even essential in the way people
work with other people. No matter how hard we try, problems invade every part of our lives and
we could have a necessity of promoting individuals who have the unique set of skills to solve
those problems. When students enroll in the Liberal Arts program of the University of
Massachusetts, a catalog is presented to the students explaining the benefits of a Liberal Arts
education. According to Daniel Gordon, a professor of History and Associate Dean of
Commonwealth Honors College at the University of Massachusetts, Liberal Art programs
explore creativity and prepare students to comprehend, analyze and take a lead for a generation

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in our society (Gordon, 47). Other than pursuing a job in something they love, people with the
set of skills from a Liberal Arts program can apply those skills in real situations outside of the
workplace.
Liberal Arts education has been adopted in other countries because it can improve a
society and enable locals to discover more resources. China has recently promoted a Liberal Arts
curriculum because they have observed that it prepares students to think flexibly and become
innovated. Universities in Hong Kong have adopted the United States model of general
education which reflects the qualities of a Liberal Arts education (Gordon, 44-45). If Liberal Arts
have been considered by foreign countries, then they can have worth in some aspects of the work
field.
In addition, a professor from Indiana University argues that [the] majority with degrees
in the humanities and social sciences are employed, and at salaries significantly higher than those
having earned only a high school diploma (Lowe). A Liberal Arts degree is better than no
degree. Others also argue that a person with a Liberal Arts degree can achieve having a salary
either just as much or even higher than other degrees that colleges in the United States offer. It
has been recorded that people with a Liberal Arts degree from an undergraduate institution can
increase their income earnings through loyal service in the same organization or by enhancing
their education in graduate school (Carnevale et. al.). Liberal Arts may not reward a high salary
right after graduation, but the salary for a Liberal Arts degree rises just as much or even higher
than those with other degrees (Gordon, 42). Maybe a degree from the Liberal Arts does not seem
as worthless as some think.
Although a Liberal Arts degree has the possibility of earning an income of equal or
greater value than other degrees through more experience, only a graduate degree guarantees the

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improvement of a Liberal Arts degree. A high value degree should be earned upon graduation of
undergraduate institutions instead of investing more money for graduate school. It can be another
opportunity, but graduate school tuition costs are way more than undergraduate education. It is
estimated that students have to pay around $60,000 of student debt after graduate school
(Snider). While having a profession that pays well, students also have bills to repay the college
debt they have accumulated to earn that profession. Herbert I. London is a senior contributor at
the Manhattan Institute and president of the London Center for Policy Research. He knows and
conducts more research on how the education institutions function in society, and he agrees that
education may not be for everyone. College can be a way of success for some, but he argues that
students graduate from college while dragging a burdensome load of student loans from the
government (London, 360). Seeking further education in graduate school is not exempt from
asking for loans to pay for school which might result in debt.
In conclusion, college students should not consider the Liberal Arts and pursue a different
study or major in undergraduate programs. Every college degree has a unique value in the work
field, and a degree in the Liberal Arts is one of the least valuable. Society promotes advances to
become a more monotonous and materialistic civilization, but discourages the disciplines learned
in a Liberal Arts program. Graduate school should not be requisite for a student to be successful
in life. Everyone wants to make the right choices, but paying for a Liberal Arts degree is not one
of them.

Figure 3. Liberal Arts Degree Sticker compares a Liberal Arts degree with toilet paper.

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Works Cited
Carnevale, Anthony P., Jeff Strohl, Michelle Melton. Whats It Worth? The Economic Value of
College Majors. Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce (2011):
182 pp. ERIC. Web. 13 Mar. 2015.
Carnevale, Anthony P. Whats It Worth? The Economic Value of College Majors.
georgetown.edu. Photograph. 2011. Web. 28 Mar. 2015.
https://cew.georgetown.edu/report/whats-it-worth-the-economic-value-of-college-majors/
Gordon, Daniel. The Confidence Factor. Liberal Education 98.3 (2012): 42-47. ERIC. Web.
14 Mar. 2015.
Hagerty, Danielle. Can A Liberal Degree Get You A Job? CampusPhilly. Photograph. 2014.
Web. 31 Mar. 2015.
http://campusphilly.org/2014/02/06/can-a-liberal-arts-degree-get-you-a-job/
Jones, Nicholaos. Liberal Arts, and the Advantages of Being Useless. academia.edu (2012):
Np. Web. 10 Mar. 2015.
Karageorge, Eleni. Is a College Degree Still Worth It? Monthly Labor Review Nov. (2014):
p1-1. EBSCOhost. Web. 13 Mar. 2015.
Liberal Arts Degree Sticker. SodaHead. Photograph. 2012. Web. 31 Mar. 2015.
http://www.sodahead.com/united-states/can-the-liberals-stoop-any-lower-than-thesetwo/question-2386715/
London, Herbert I. Is college Worth It? A Former United States Secretary of Education and a
Liberal Arts Graduate Expose the Broken Promise of Higher Education. Academic

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Questions 26.3 (2013): 360-6. Web. 13 Mar. 2015.
Lowe, William J. Education Is Worth the Investment. University Business 17.12 (2014): 96,
1p. Professional Development Collection. Web. 13 Mar. 2015.
Luhby, Tami. Median Income Falls, But So Does Poverty. CNN Money. CNN, 12 Sept. 2012.
Web. 29 Mar. 2015.
Quest, Professor. Four arguments for the Elimination of the Liberal Arts. My Fall Semester
20 Nov. 2009. Blogspot. Web. 10 Mar. 2015.
Snider, Susannah. How Student Loan Repayment Changes After Graduate School. U.S. News
Education. U.S. News & World Report, 12 Nov. 2014. Web. 29 Mar. 2015.