黑料新闻

During the holidays, families will gather to reconnect and talk about their pasts, presents and futures. As often happens, those at the table who are in鈥攐r about to enter鈥攃ollege will be asked which studies they are pursuing. And if tradition holds, there will be no misers at the table when it comes to doling out opinions and advice.

So when Uncle Harry asks you, 鈥淲hat on earth are you going to do with a history degree? Who needs the liberal arts?鈥� Be ready with this answer: 鈥淲e all do.鈥�

As someone who goes to work every day with the incredibly talented professionals at 黑料新闻 Television and Radio鈥攖he home of 鈥淢edia for the Curious鈥濃�攖ake it from me: society needs all the critical thinking, curiosity and creativity that degrees in the liberal arts can muster鈥攆rom sociology to history, the classics, art history, philosophy, theology, political science, theatre, economics, psychology, mathematics and physics. Yes, math and physics are liberal arts, too.

黑料新闻 is a shining beacon of educational institutions that prize the liberal arts, yet the cost is high鈥攕o high that for many, it鈥檚 almost out of reach. As a result, the value of traditional liberal arts degrees is being derided, with some colleges and universities feeling pressure to focus on so-called 鈥減ractical鈥� degrees that will supposedly render their graduates immediately employable. This is a false choice.

黑料新闻鈥檚 high-technology, insurance, financial and manufacturing companies need hard skills to thrive, and many hiring managers seek people with the critical thinking skills honed by the liberal arts. After all, no challenge can stand against the examination, analysis, curiosity and sharpness of a mind whose gaze is lifted and view is broadened by a liberal arts education.

Albert Einstein put it best, "The value of an education in liberal arts 鈥� is not the learning of many facts but the training of the mind to think something that cannot be learned in textbooks." The solution, therefore, is not to drive first-generation college students away from the liberal arts, but toward them.

I come at this question from an extremely pragmatic point of view.

On any given day at 黑料新闻 we create stories about some our world鈥檚 seemingly intractable problems: climate change, democracy under stress, continued income inequality, unresolved struggles with racial divides, unequal access to housing and bile-filled politics that encourages the narrowing of the mind, not an expansion of it.

Think about it: In a world of 鈥渁lternative facts,鈥� where a social media post can spark an angry mob, we should be producing people whose minds and perspectives are trained to be broad, perpetually curious and equal to the task of analyzing and solving these problems.

People who have changed the course of history often developed and sharpened their minds through a liberal arts education. A few of these are Alexander Hamilton, who studied literature and law, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, economics and sociology; Franklin and Teddy Roosevelt, history and Jawaharlal Nehru, natural sciences.

Martin Luther King, Jr., studied sociology; Justice Sonia Sotomayor, history; Harriet Beecher Stowe, classics, languages, mathematics; Booker T. Washington, agriculture; Harvey Milk, mathematics, Marie Curie, Enrico Fermi and Frances Perkins, physics.

Oprah Winfrey studied communication; Reed Hastings, mathematics; Audre Lorde, library science; David Brooks, history; and Diane Sawyer, English.

While a liberal arts degree won鈥檛 guarantee that you鈥檒l change the world the same way others have, the world needs more problem solvers who dare to think, engage, observe, analyze, understand and express themselves.

As the leader of an organization that provides media for the curious, there are few better ways to support curious people than advocating for the expansion of the liberal arts in our state.
Hoping that your holidays will be full of joy and鈥攑articularly this coming year鈥攃uriosity.

Mark G. Contreras, President and CEO, 黑料新闻