Why Liberal Arts Matter

In our e-book we reference “integral,” or liberal arts education as one of the core pillars of social leadership. I also spoke of how critical liberal arts education is in our last newsletter, “Rockin’ to the Fourth Turning Blues.”

Newsweek published an article online today, “In Defense of the Liberal Arts” by Jon Meacham, that validates what we’ve been teaching.

After recognizing that we live in “an economic and cultural climate that favors efficiency and tangibility” and admitting that “it is inarguably hard to monetize a familiarity with Homer or an intimacy with Shakespeare,” Meacham continues:

“It is just possible, though, that the traditional understanding of the liberal arts may help us in our search for new innovation and new competitiveness. The next chapter of the nation’s economic life could well be written not only by engineers but by entrepreneurs who, as products of an apparently disparate education, have formed a habit of mind that enables them to connect ideas that might otherwise have gone unconnected. As Alan Brinkley, the historian and former provost of Columbia, has argued in our pages, liberal education is a crucial element in the creation of wealth, jobs, and, one hopes, a fairer and more just nation.”

Though I wholeheartedly agree with his conclusion, I think he undercuts the full power of a liberal arts education with his opening caveats.

As an entrepreneur, consultant and writer, I can say with full confidence that my liberal arts education at George Wythe University made my career possible.

It’s not about simply having an “intimacy with Homer and Shakespeare” — though this does matter for the good life — it’s about what that intimacy does for you.

More than the knowledge acquired, the natural byproduct of exploring Homer, Shakespeare, Aristotle, Plato, Thucydides, Aquinas, Locke, Rousseau, Mill, Tocqueville, Jefferson, Mises and others is the ability to learn, think, innovate, and lead.

It helps you to recognize patterns and connect dots that others don’t see. It familiarizes you with human nature, thus helping you work more effectively with others. It connects you with greatness, thus bringing out your own greatness. It inspires virtue and courage. It teaches you the follies and foibles of mankind, thus helping you avoid them.

“Efficiency,” “tangibility” and money are value-less and meaningless in the absence of the comprehensive context that only liberal arts can provide.

If we lose the foundation and context of liberal arts, we’ll find, to paraphrase Stephen Covey, that we’re climbing ladders that are leaning against the wrong walls, and to paraphrase Christ, we may gain the whole world only to lose our souls.

*****************************

Stephen Palmer is a book writer for mission-driven leaders, a small business lead generation website design architect and persuasive website copywriter, a co-founder of The Center for Social Leadership, and the author of Uncommon Sense: A Common Citizen’s Guide to Rebuilding America.

He co-authored the New York Times bestseller Killing Sacred Cows: Overcoming the Financial Myths that are Destroying Your Prosperity, as well as Hub Mentality: Shifting from Business Transactions to Community Interaction.

He is a liberal-arts graduate of George Wythe University and a graduate and faculty member of the “non-traditional business school” Wizard Academy.

Stephen resides in Round Rock, Texas with his gorgeous wife Karina, awesome son Alex, and princess daughters Libby, Avery, and Laela.

Subscribe to Stephen’s blog and contact him at stephen [at] leadershipwriter [dot] com.