My recent days are full. I write, I cook, I do mosaics, I promote art and I serve the needs of cats. And I realize that these diverse days are exactly what I prepared for when I went to a liberal arts college.
No one has asked me to do a commencement address, but here's mine anyway.
Don't limit yourself to earning money or perceived marketability, kids. Just learn. Absorb. Eventually, everything you know will become important.
No, I don't remember everything from all the classes I took, especially when I was over my head in physics or chemistry. But I can say, "I think there's some sort of law for that," and look it up. I know how to use a library. I'm not afraid to call an expert and ask questions. To all that, I credit a liberal arts education.
So much emphasis has been given to making our students marketable - meaning that they have to have just the right skills for whatever position they want. But you know what? The best job candidate is the generalist, no matter what the human resources people say.
The world moves so fast now that you're never going to learn in advance just the right things you need for a particular job. The best you can do is learn how to learn. That's the goal of liberal arts.
I've never made a lot of money, and I joke about how my only skill after 19 years of school was being able to read a novel. But given the chance to do it all over, I'd do the same thing, playing to my strengths instead of to the market.
No one has asked me to do a commencement address, but here's mine anyway.
Don't limit yourself to earning money or perceived marketability, kids. Just learn. Absorb. Eventually, everything you know will become important.
No, I don't remember everything from all the classes I took, especially when I was over my head in physics or chemistry. But I can say, "I think there's some sort of law for that," and look it up. I know how to use a library. I'm not afraid to call an expert and ask questions. To all that, I credit a liberal arts education.
So much emphasis has been given to making our students marketable - meaning that they have to have just the right skills for whatever position they want. But you know what? The best job candidate is the generalist, no matter what the human resources people say.
The world moves so fast now that you're never going to learn in advance just the right things you need for a particular job. The best you can do is learn how to learn. That's the goal of liberal arts.
I've never made a lot of money, and I joke about how my only skill after 19 years of school was being able to read a novel. But given the chance to do it all over, I'd do the same thing, playing to my strengths instead of to the market.