What liberal arts education is for (2024)
1–10 of 75 posts
Re: What liberal arts education is for (2024)
#2Communist brainwashing for Trust Fund kids?
Seriously speaking what in Liberal Arts can you learn that's not already on Youtube now?
Re: What liberal arts education is for (2024)
#3Communist brainwashing for Trust Fund kids? Seriously speaking what in Liberal Arts can you learn that's not already on Youtube now?
This comment really speaks to the article.
The commenter didn't even have the curiosity to read and comprehend the article, and made the articles point in that.
Re: What liberal arts education is for (2024)
#4I took and engineering and science program in college. The education was in learning how to learn, learning how to solve problems, and how to distinguish fact from fiction. It's served me well.
To make a living, it is necessary to learn a skill that people are willing to pay for.
Re: What liberal arts education is for (2024)
#5Communist brainwashing for Trust Fund kids? Seriously speaking what in Liberal Arts can you learn that's not already on Youtube now?
You can learn anything from books, you never needed a college for that.
Except, discussing things, having somebody else grade your coursework etc., you don't get that from books or YouTube.
Re: What liberal arts education is for (2024)
#6I had an extremely focused career, but am by nature a curious individual who craved the type of discussions the article talks about. They were closed to me because I came from poverty and had to focus to move myself up the ladder.
Much like the author however, I found that my natural curiosity, and specifically that desire to ask what the words being used MEANT, to serve me extremely well. When I was a PM for a billion dollar plus project (military can hit that easily) that attitude is what got me the job.
The constant push back from those who seem to value only their, and your, positions as cogs in a machine was exhausting. I really agree with this entire article. Thanks for posting it.
Re: What liberal arts education is for (2024)
#7Communist brainwashing for Trust Fund kids? Seriously speaking what in Liberal Arts can you learn that's not already on Youtube now?
From the article,
What can we learn about what other people are thinking, about their mental models of the world, by paying very careful attention to the words they use?
Given you're on HN, try Gödel, Escher, Bach. https://www.amazon.com/G%C3%B6del-Escher-Bach-Eternal-Golden...
Be warned though, it'll take you well over a decade.
Re: What liberal arts education is for (2024)
#8Yet another dubious claim that "skills of close reading and critical questioning" are the products of a liberal arts education. Students can gain such things just fine in a STEM field if they care enough and aren't the sort who are just doing the bare minimum to get the sheepskin.
Re: What liberal arts education is for (2024)
#9I took and engineering and science program in college. The education was in learning how to learn, learning how to solve problems, and how to distinguish fact from fiction. It's served me well. To make a living, it is necessary to learn a skill that people are willing to pay for.
> The education was in learning how to learn, learning how to solve problems, and how to distinguish fact from fiction
Sounds pretty close to a liberal arts education.
That said, not everything is about a job or work. Sometimes (usually) education is itself a goal.
Re: What liberal arts education is for (2024)
#10I've always been a huge proponent of CMU, UIUC, and Stanford's CS+X programs for this very reason.
Innovation is inherently interdisciplinary, and learning how to synthesize multiple different domains has tremendous value.