Thoughts on a liberal arts education:
“What you need from college is an excellent liberal arts education that will give you a broad base of judgment and perspective that will stand you in good stead no matter what sort of career you pursue.”
- Garrison Keillor, August 18, 2010
I graduated from college with a degree in Cell and Structural Biology with an emphasis in Immunology. As I neither became a lab technician or a doctor, my specific skills have never been useful to me.
However, my upper level college classes taught me systems theory, how everything is interrelated to everything else. In biology, the increase of one hormone would change the expression of a protein or a molecule, turn on or off a gene, or make an organelle grow big or tiny. Certain things counteracted other things, a constant movement of weights and levels.
Much of what I learned 15 years ago is now hopelessly out of date. However, those skills and that way of thinking has been invaluable in my working life. System theory is true in every part of life, and not relegated to microbiology. Economics is the easiest example of systems at work, but so too are organizational structures, supply chain develop and quality control procedures.
So, to every person who graduates college from some obscure field or discipline with a narrow focus, keep in mind that what you learn is never half as useful as how you learn.
I still think that you would have made a kick-butt doctor!