How does your College compare to that of the Liberal Education? According to Association of American Colleges and Universities at aacu.org, “A liberal education helps students develop a sense of social responsibility, as well as strong and transferable intellectual and practical skills such as communication, analytical and problem-solving skills, and a demonstrated ability to apply knowledge and skills in real-world settings.” Does your major do all of that, while providing you with empowering skills to prepare you for complexity, diversity and change?

It’s not uncommon to hear things like, “That’s an easy major” and “You can’t get a job with a Liberal Arts Degree.” Fortunately, these are both myths. Like every college and major, there are obstacles to our classes and our majors. We have hard exams and essays to write, just like everyone else. As AACU also points out, “4 out of 5 employers agree that all students should acquire broad knowledge in the liberal arts and sciences.”  Employers want students with a broad knowledge on numerous things, but also have specific skills: this is what a Liberal Education is.

As far as Liberal Arts Majors go, they may not be the most strenuous. We will be the first to admit that labs, research, and engineering all require a lot of focus and work. STEM majors also are more demanding overall. The truth is that there is a false dichotomy between STEM majors and Liberal Arts majors. Among the two, we are different in what we do, and the careers we pursue: that’s really the extent of it. According to USATODAY.com, a lot of STEM majors end up opting out and switching into a liberal arts major. These shifts often are because of diversity factors such as race, class, and gender.

Liberal Arts degrees aren’t just for teachers and administrators either. Liberal Arts graduates make up lawyers, professors, writers, editors, counselors, social workers, managers, politicians and supervisors; this is just to name a few. Because the major offers a variety of courses and provides numerous opportunities for students, there are a number of jobs available to them. Their job market is wider and varied more than any other.

It’s not to say we’re better, by any means. We fully understand that sciences and health majors are just as important as engineers, or Liberal Arts majors. However, it’s realistic to say, no matter what the major may be, we’re all important to our functioning society. Not everyone is cut out to develop cures for diseases, not everyone will excel at open heart surgery, not everyone will develop new software and not everyone will develop new technology: this is why we Liberal Arts Majors are just as important.

The point is, everyone has their own niche. Liberal Arts majors won’t be doing the above things, but they may be drafting legislation to fund research on diseases or open heart surgery, or they might be writing manuals for new software, or they might be building a business and hiring or strengthening employees who will market new technology. The options are endless: no matter what the major is, it’s important to respect that we are all called to be good at different things.