Students Of Success: Article Analysis

In “Preparing for a Career”, Derek Bok, president of Harvard Law School and author, argues how universities, more specifically liberal arts colleges, should include training for a certain occupation with regular college classes to better prepare a student for the real world after college. Considering that Bok has earned his degrees at some of the most well-known universities like Stanford University and Harvard, he has a better understanding at what students are missing and what they need to be successful. However, on the other hand, not many professors and students see or agree with Bok’s point of view. They do not agree that students need the vocational training during their years in a liberal arts college, even though students need both; an education that helps them become critical thinkers and skilled communicators as well as skilled workers in a certain career. So why not help students with their career along with their regular core courses?

From the outside, it is hard to see why I would want to earn a liberal arts degree. Time and time again, the lifetime earnings of workers who studied in the liberal arts are outpaced by their peers who worked in engineering. These “hard sciences” of math and engineering are lauded as the “right choice” for future success by ambitious parents and counselors, while liberal arts degrees are the butt of jokes. However, for me, a liberal arts degree means a lot more than just making money. It means a global vision and universality across disciplines, as well as many future opportunities to change the world radically.

“Misconception No.1: A liberal arts education is a luxury that most families can no longer afford. ‘Career-education’ is what we must now focus on.” (Ungar, 2010, pp.191) As Ungar has claimed, there is a recent misconception that a liberal arts education is no longer a necessity but luxury because it doesn’t provide an instant career launching education. With so many people having to a need to spend as little money as possible, they are determined to only spend money on preparation for their future career. For this reason they go to college only to take courses that are necessary for their future. “She is in college to take vocational training. She wants to write computer code. Start a business. Get a job in television. She uses college to take vocational courses that pertain to her career interest.” (Murray, 2008, pp.228) Murray explained the story of a girl who is in college solely for preparation for her career. Because of this, she isn’t interested in a liberal arts education. If the course doesn’t directly pertain to her desired career, she prefers not to take it.

The use of a liberal arts degree is considerably useful and you should certainly strive towards one. The professor in this essay believes that the perception of getting a liberal arts degree is commonly misconceived as being a degree for hobbies and not for the workforce. The argument centers around the many uses of a liberal arts degree that offer people multiple opportunities for them to find a career. The point of this essay is to evaluate and provide facts of the uses of these degrees and how these degrees will help you in the workforce.

Martin Luther King Junior said, “Intelligence plus character-that is the goal of true education.” Higher education does not exist for the sole purpose of preparing students for future jobs; it’s there in order to prepare individuals for life where they are expected to participate in their community, their government, and the lives of those around them. Liberal arts, in particular, exist for the broadening of students’ minds in order for them to be successful not only in their chosen career but also in their lives outside of it. Liberal arts lost their past popularity during the last few decades, but they shouldn’t be disregarded in favor of technical and professional degrees because they still provide students with skills that are perhaps less tangible, but no less necessary for life in modern world.

In the article "The Value of a Liberal Arts Education in Today’s Global Marketplace", the author, Edward Ray, talks about the importance of a liberal education in large companies. He believes that a STEM education is important, but a liberal education is the key to be successful in all fields of work. There are characteristics of a liberal education that everyone needs to have success in your career. This article was enjoyable because Ray made it clear that a degree in liberal education is important in the workforce by using examples of large businesses, statistics, and how it could help our country.

Now that I am in college, I have pondered upon whether a liberal arts education is better than a vocational education; a topic that did not cross my mind in high school. A liberal arts curriculum includes the studies intended to primarily provide general knowledge such as language, philosophy, literature, and abstract science and to develop general intellectual capacities, such as reason and judgment, as opposed to professional or vocational skills (merriam-webster.com). As students wanting to achieve a higher education, we have to think about what we want for ourselves. Either you want to grow as an individual and obtain a major in whichever field you chose, or just learn what best interests you. People have many misconceptions toward what the liberal arts are and how they can benefit you. We often hear things like, “A liberal arts degree will not get you a real job.” or “A liberal arts degree is a luxury not a necessity.” Although this is what the majority of the people who are not aware about the actual facts say, this is not true. An examination of, The New Liberal Arts by author Sanford J. Ungar, and Are Too Many People Going to College? by author Charles Murray, will reveal to us why one gains more knowledge at a liberal arts school. Murray argues that a liberal arts education is only for the elite, but I believe that they shouldn 't be the only ones to attend because my vision of a liberal arts college is one where all students come in with the appropriate amount of

Deciding on a college major is huge, but what's even greater is the variety of career paths available through Liberal Arts. I went this route because it didn't limit my choices or pigeonhole me into one option. I've changed my mind a few times, but at the same time, I am learning the sociocultural skills needed to work anywhere. Baker and Baldwin (2015) emphasizes “exposing its students to a breadth of disciplinary and interdisciplinary experiences; helps them develop strong analytical, communication, and conceptual skills; and encourages them to engage in social and political issues to develop their attitudes and skills as effective citizens” (p.253). This is a positive argument against critics who constantly bash the ongoing staying power of the Liberal Arts program.

Recently a study was done on the earnings and career paths of college graduates by the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems and the Association of American Colleges and Universities. In their report they found that “Nearly all employers surveyed (95 percent) say they give hiring preference to college graduates with skills that will enable them to contribute to innovation in the workplace… [furthermore] eighty percent of employers agree that, regardless of their major, all college students should acquire broad knowledge in the liberal arts and sciences” (Hart Research Associates). This data indicates that the skills taught from a liberal arts degree are advantageous when seeking for and acquiring work, but elicits the question of what kind of employment it might lead to in respect to

Many students are told to follow their dream careers they do not look realistically at the job market. Mark Bauerlein author of “The Major and the Job Market, the Dream and the Reality” writes about how students are not informed enough about current availabilities in the job market. For example, a popular degree today is mass communications. As a result of more and more students obtaining this degree the field is rapidly shrinking. Consequently, recent graduates are struggling to find positions and continue to work jobs that do not require a degree.

Students can spend their whole lives lusting after a college degree, and saving up vast sums of money in order to accomplish this dream. Once they finally reach the college campus they must merely select the major they want to spend a grueling four years learning everything about. Graduates then enter the job market confident that they’ll spend the rest of their live working in that field; however, this is not always the case. While all majors may seem equal on a university level, some majors are better than others when faced with the inconvenient truth of job availability. There should be more focus on helping students decide on a major that will prove fruitful in the labor market, rather than just getting them to college.

MBA programs, specializing in a single subject, provides a shortcut for students who scramble for the pathway to Wall Street, whereas a liberal arts education, covering subjects within social sciences, natural sciences, formal sciences, arts and humanities, and so on, teaches students a wider range of knowledge that enables them to come into many fields and choose careers that they are passionate about. Harvard Crimson writer Matthew Siegel is worried about the consequences that the culture of success brings about. He wonders, “Could it be at all possible that the culture of success at Harvard drives people to skip right over the most important part of cognition—getting to know themselves and what they want and need—and instead, sends them straight into the outstretched arms of J.P. Morgan’s H.R. department?(Siegel 2003)”(Ho, p181). Enveloped in an atmosphere of the culture of success, some students regard working on Wall Street as their ultimate goal, while are not aware of what they really want and need deep down. They are lost in the process of discovering themselves, pursuing money and prestige out of

The perception of Liberal Arts education has started to evolve over the years. Initially, Liberal Arts education was considered as a form of elitist education where nobles tried to expand on their knowledge on different topics rather than developing certain skills. However, as time is passing Liberal Arts education is becoming synonymous with personal development and critical thinking. While some people still believe that for a secure financial standing practical education such as going to a business school is rudimentary, the idea of attaining Liberal Arts education for personal development is spreading too. With the help of this memo I would like to expand on how attaining a Liberal Arts education is preparing to become a successful consultant at Boston Consulting Group.

In the article The Unexpected Value of the Liberal Arts, the goal is to spread knowledge to others on how social and liber degrees can befit all. Expressing the beneficial skills and life stories helps to shed light on these degrees being viable opportunities that are not just associated with those of wealth and social influence. The author George Anders continues with this goal throughout the article by giving examples of modern people while attending college, changing their ideals, and adapting to situations that better themselves through changes of majors or utilization of college groups. The argument is that former stereotypes relating to liberal arts is not valid and that many opportunities can be opened by perusing this degree.

Defining student success and how to improve it will forever be an important endeavor. Student success has been defined in many different ways by many different people and countless methods to improve the rate of success have been discovered. In this literature review, I will summarize and analyze five papers on student success, its attributes, and methods to improve it.