<p>Liberal arts on the brink?</p>
<p>"The National Center for Education Statistics says the share of students matriculating with a liberal arts degree, as a percentage of all graduates, dropped slightly from 2004 to 2010 from 3 to 2.8 percent."</p>
<p>^^Hmmm...</p>
<p>Read more at Students</a> Are Fleeing Liberal Arts - How It Could Hurt the U.S.</p>
<p>Is that really a significant drop?</p>
<p>That study seems to only address the number of students graduating from colleges that are considered strictly LACs. Tons of students graduate from other kinds of college with majors in areas that are considered part of the liberal arts (eg, English, history, languages, etc.). So I think that is a misleading statistic. I also am very surprised at the number of “liberal arts colleges” at only 130. I am pretty sure I could name that many colleges I consider to be liberal arts colleges off the top of my head. It seems low to me.</p>
<p>Yes, the cited statistic seems a gross under-representation–as measured against less-narrowly defined, generally-accepted notions of ‘liberal arts’ majors.</p>
<p>Son’s school has two academic campuses. Business, health, science, engineering on one campus and liberal arts and fine arts on the other. I’d guess that the enrollments on the two campuses are comparable. When the article states that LA majors are 2-3 percent, that seems shocking to me.</p>
<p>Whenever the economy dives, students are more inclined to select majors they perceive will grant them access to stable employment. More time in the library and less time at demonstrations and sit-ins. We should call it “Occupy the STEM labs and business schools.”</p>
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<p>That is not what happened at all when the US economy last tanked.</p>
<p>It is not all that clear what the “percentage of students matriculating to liberal arts degrees” is measuring.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Percentage of students matriculating to liberal arts colleges? If so, it undercounts the liberal arts majors (economics, psychology, political science, biology, English, etc.) at big universities.</p></li>
<li><p>Percentage of students matriculating declared in a liberal arts major? If so, it undercounts students matriculating undeclared who will eventually declare a liberal arts major.</p></li>
<li><p>Includes students matriculating to community colleges, many of whom are looking for specific pre-professional education? If so, it could be believable that only 3% are in liberal arts, because there are a lot of community college students studying specific pre-professional topics there.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>However, it is true that, outside of the most selective colleges and universities (state flagship level selectivity or more selective), liberal arts majors are less popular than pre-professional majors. But they do comprise more than 3% of the graduates even at less selective four year colleges and universities.</p>
<p>It is so annoying that people persist in using the term “liberal arts” as if it were a synonym for “humanities”. Liberal arts majors include – by any definition – math, and I would argue basic science like physics, chemistry, biology, and social sciences like economics, linguistics, and psychology. What is NOT included in “liberal arts” is professional degrees, like nursing, accounting, or engineering, or business curriculums. (Architecture is a tough one, since it was clearly part of the classical study of geometry included in the liberal arts.)</p>
<p>Most people who go to law school, medical school, or business school, do so with undergraduate liberal arts degrees. In that sense, liberal arts majors ARE pre-professional. What they aren’t is “professional” without the “pre-”.</p>
<p>Note that a lot of liberal arts students chose their majors for pre-professional reasons (although, in some cases, the success rate of getting into the desired career is low):</p>
<ul>
<li>Math and statistics for finance and actuarial work.</li>
<li>Art, music, and theater for work in those areas.</li>
<li>Economics as a substitute business major.</li>
<li>Biology for pre-med (even though pre-med does not require any specific major).</li>
<li>Political science or English for pre-law (even though pre-law does not require any specific major or course work).</li>
<li>Biology or chemistry “because STEM majors have better job prospects than H/SS majors” (not true for biology or chemistry, despite popular perception).</li>
</ul>