Contrary to popular belief, it is possible to find a practical application for a liberal arts education, an acclaimed author and professor said Thursday.
Louis Menand, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and staff writer for the New Yorker magazine, explained that the global debate in higher education needs to answer the universal question of what an undergraduate liberal arts education can offer a student. Speaking in Love Auditorium Feb. 24, he told an audience of approximately one hundred professors from Duke and other local universities as well as several students that those who still wish to “pursue knowledge for the sake of knowledge” are not wasting their time.
“We have a hard time explaining in concrete terms where and why the process of going to college makes a difference,” Menand said. “Coming up with a way for the academic experience to make a difference and even to come up with a definition of what that difference should be has been complicated yet interesting.”
As part of the “Re-Imagining the Academy” lecture series organized by the Bass Society of Fellows, Menand was meant to “stir the pot,” explained Steve Nowicki, dean and vice provost for undergraduate education. Targeted toward University faculty, the lecture series was a step taken to encourage more discussion about education and the changes that should take place in colleges.
“We suffer the crisis of a lack of an accurate tool to measure the effect of an undergraduate experience,” Nowicki said. “Without proof that there is something to gain from a college education, it is easy to undervalue the intangible benefits institutions like Duke present.”
Using the scientifically proven facts that the “developmental leap” between the ages of 18 and 22 mirrors the changes from ages two to four and 11 to 14 years of age, Menand commented that standardized tests are an unreliable measure of intellect for college freshmen.
“What we measure at age 16 or 17 does not tell us what they are capable of later in life,” he noted.
Freshman Michael Oliver said he staunchly agreed, adding that it was dangerous to group individuals together at such a young age based on ability because it may preclude future improvement. Menand added that the stigma attached to humanity majors pushes students at the top of the academic hierarchy to have a predilection for professional tracks.
After being grouped based on ability, he explained, students are told that “practical is the enemy of what is true”—a perception that Menand sees as “nonsense.”
Historically, America had a system of universities that were geared solely toward professional studies, vocational skills and general college education, he said. Beginning with “revolutionary“ Harvard President Charles William Eliot, Menand said schools began to mandate that all students applying to professional schools first obtain a bachelor’s degree. After the implementation of this policy, the idea that applicable knowledge be left to graduate school developed, he said.
“Students studying liberal arts subjects love knowledge for its own sake. However, professional schools are then meant to ‘de-liberalize’ students,” Menand said, speaking critically of the divide between college and professional schools. “They must think within the channels of professions…if they don’t adhere to the canons of the profession
they won’t get hired.”
This doesn’t have to be the case, Menand emphasized. He explained that any practical field can be made liberal if students are taught the subject matter in a liberal arts fashion. He outlined the three major benefits of a liberal arts education—learning the process of inquiring about and utilizing information, thinking in broader terms and understanding that there is more than one way to implement change.
Sophomore Jacob Hanger, one of the few students at the event, enjoyed the lecture and appreciated the facts that Menand offered to support his point. He said he thought it was very telling that 18 million students are currently in higher education yet only one-third of the growing number of bachelor’s degrees are in the liberal arts. Hanger added that he liked a question that Dean of the Chapel Sam Wells asked after the lecture.
“I thought that his speech left a lot of questions unanswered. Rev. Wells agreed that college can help translate information into knowledge but then asked him to elaborate on how a liberal arts education could translate knowledge into deeper wisdom,” Hanger said. “There was a disconnect there. Menand struggled to answer that, and Wells did not seem satisfied with the answer.”
Other students and faculty in the crowd disliked that Menand recited the speech from prepared remarks. Nowicki, however, said he was ultimately pleased with the event because it succeeded in its goals to make waves and “get people thinking.” Menand offered an interesting perspective and left his audience with a clearer idea of why one should study the liberal arts, Nowicki added.
“It is not meant to soften the soul but strengthen the mind,” Menand concluded. “It helps us understand the world, if we ever hope to change it.”
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.