Utilitarian Value

Scott Sprenger
Associate Dean

Outside of preparing future teachers, writers, editors, or preprofessionals, do the liberal arts (or humanities) have any utility?  Does academic study of language, culture, literature, or philosophy

provide a suitable pathway into the contemporary workplace? Or do the humanities have no useful purpose “except in relation to the pleasure they give to those who enjoy them,” as Stanley Fish has provocatively claimed?

Such questions have cropped up recently in the national press as the economic downturn and lingering market uncertainties have renewed an age-old debate about the value or relevance of the liberal arts. Not so long ago, one of the aims of a liberal arts education was to produce well-rounded citizens with employable skills. Is this still the case? What value do the liberal arts hold in our increasingly bottom-line society where many people judge undergraduate degrees solely by their promise of immediate financial reward? 

The casual onlooker might conclude that the humanities are in a nationwide decline—or “crisis,” as the press likes to call it. But they have been in a “crisis” for as long as I can remember. For over three decades, tenure-track professor jobs have been scarce, and undergraduates have gravitated to majors appearing to lead to specific jobs upon graduation. During this same time, humanities colleges and departments have endured cuts and consolidations, while their traditional intellectual prestige has faded.

The curious thing is that while liberal arts funding, prestige, and enrollments have declined, their utility to the global marketplace has not. Studies show a strong correlation between exposure to the humanities and lifelong professional advancement, even in fields ostensibly unrelated to them. The correlation is hard for students to perceive because, as career services expert Sheila Curran points out, “A strong liberal arts education prepares students best not for their first jobs, but for jobs at mid-management and above.” The usefulness of the humanities, then, is a kind of paradox: it derives precisely from their detachment from any immediate or particular utility.

Experts tell us that the industry-specific knowledge of a typical vocational education is exhausted within a few years. In some cases, it is  nearly exhausted by the time students enter the workforce. In order to transcend these limitations and to either create new avenues of employment or to advance to higher management positions, employees must engage in perpetual reinvention, often by drawing on a broader set of critical skills learned in liberal arts course work. It’s no accident that a large percentage of people running Fortune 500 companies (one study says up to 40 percent) are liberal arts graduates; they advance more rapidly into mid- and senior-level management positions; and their earning power tends to rise more significantly than people with only technical training.

What explains this success? A recent article in the Wall Street Journal states: “A broad liberal arts education is preferred for future CEOs—blending knowledge of history, culture, philosophy, and economic policy with international experience and problem-solving skills.” And a report by the National Association of Scholars echoes: “Liberal education is demonstrably the most effective form of education for preparing students to meet the challenges of today’s rapidly changing global economy.”

Recent articles in both the New York Times and Newsweek report that even business schools around the country have taken note. In response to the recent financial meltdown, several business programs in the U.S. and Canada have undertaken curricular reforms, often by infusing the traditional course work with liberal arts learning, including language, writing, intercultural competency, and even improvisation to
teach better leadership. Roger Martin, the dean of the Rotman School of Management in Toronto, justifies these changes: “Learning to think critically—how to imaginatively frame questions and consider multiple perspectives—has historically been associated with a liberal arts education, not a business school curriculum, so this change represents something of a tectonic shift for business school leaders.” David A. Garvin, a Harvard Business School professor, agrees: “I think there’s a feeling that people need to sharpen their thinking skills, whether it’s  questioning assumptions or looking at problems from multiple points of view.” And Bruce DelMonico, director of admissions at the Yale  School of Management, states the point even more emphatically: “A degree in history or religion or languages can be anything you want it to  be. . . . We don’t value business over liberal arts backgrounds. . . . It’s not a question of particular classes, but it’s whether you have the  mindset, the temperament, the intellectual horsepower to succeed.” Even a top-flight financial institution like J. P. Morgan offers this advice  to recruits on its website: “If you’re going to be a liberal arts major, take an economics course.” And if you’re a business major, “Take a  few literature courses; read some great books. Classes in history, writing, music, and art may inspire you.” 

And, finally, who can argue with the success of Apple? At the company’s annual meeting in January 2010, Steve Jobs illustrated the crucial importance of the liberal arts to Apple’s creative philosophy by means of a visual metaphor: a street sign indicating the intersection where Apple’s innovative thinkers reside, that of “Technology Street” and “Liberal Arts Street.” He explains: “The reason that Apple is able to create products like iPad is because we always try to be at the intersection of technology and liberal arts, to get the best of both.”

One of my most exciting and encouraging tasks as associate dean of the College of Humanities over the past year has been to study the connection between the humanities and the labor market and to learn firsthand from major employers, human resource experts, and career service professionals about what the market values in humanities students. This research tells us a lot about how our College can better advise and prepare undergraduates for the world of work by funding more mentored research, encouraging challenging study abroad programs, and, above all, promoting intellectually rigorous and professionally relevant internships, which is the single most effective way to bridge academics with work. The research also confirms that the Humanities+ and +Humanities initiatives currently being developed in our academic departments and advisement center (as described by the dean in the Winter 2010 issue of this magazine) are taking the College of Humanities in a promising direction.

I have amassed in a very short time over a hundred articles, industry studies, and direct testimonials on the value of a humanities education. I’ve begun archiving these in a blog located at http://humanitiesplus.byu.edu. My purpose is to share up-to-date resources with students so they can be assured of their education’s lasting value and be aware of the many avenues it can open up. It is also to provide useful strategies and means for students to enrich or “plus” their university studies.