Mary Crane, the director of the Institute for the Liberal Arts at Boston College, believes that liberal arts professors are too defensive. Rather than constantly defending ourselves, we liberal arts professors should instead talk positively about the value of such an education. Here is a taste:
But I think that instead of always trying to defend liberal arts education by ourselves, we might work to marshal others who may bring kinds of credibility that we lack to contribute to the defense. Former students could attest to their experiences; managers could speak to the skills they want. It would be interesting to see if brain imaging could shed light on the effects of different kinds of higher education on the brain. Instead of always defending, we can show what the liberal arts can do…Liberal arts faculty at Boston College and elsewhere increasingly write for general as well as specialized audiences and these efforts let people outside the academy experience the benefits of our habits of thought…
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