"Narratives of Decline" — W. Robert Connor (president of the Teagle Foundation) uses this phrase to describe the familiar story employed by both advocates and critics when talking about the course of the liberal arts. [1] Citing long-term declines in the proportion of undergraduates who major in the arts and sciences, and the increasing number of traditional liberal arts colleges that adopt applied majors like business and nursing, this narrative highlights the fading value that today’s career-focused students and "pay-off" focused parents see for education in the sciences, social sciences, and especially, the humanities.
This narrative can, however, take a different course. One that, instead of highlighting a loss of appreciation for the arts and sciences, focuses more on the backgrounds of the students we serve at liberal arts colleges. Kimberly Goyette and Ann Mullen recently published a study on the connection between students’ social and economic backgrounds and the academic majors they choose. [2] Using data from two longitudinal studies sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, Goyette and Mullen examined whether parents’ socioeconomic status (SES), that is, their level of education, job, and income, predicted the majors their children selected in college.
They found that "low-SES students are more likely to choose vocational majors even after factors like tested proficiency, college characteristics, expectations, and work values have been considered. High-SES students choose A & S (arts and sciences) majors." [2, p. 524] Like many liberal arts advocates, Goyette and Mullen expressed concern that in choosing more practical, career-focused majors, students from less affluent backgrounds end up shortchanging their long-term prospects because they miss a form of education that sharpens the skills and qualities of mind that promote upward social mobility.
But to what extent do liberal arts colleges actually promote education in the traditional arts and sciences to students who come from less privileged backgrounds? We recently looked at data from 220 baccalaureate liberal arts colleges, that is, institutions in which at least half of the students earn degrees in the arts and sciences. [3] This group includes the U.S. News & World Report’s top liberal arts colleges.
We found that business-related majors were the first or second most popular majors at 45% of these institutions. To some, this may seem to be further evidence of the decline of "real liberal arts colleges." But we also found that the tuition is usually substantially lower (about $6,800 less) and the proportion of students who receive need-based federal grants higher (26% verses 18%) at institutions where a large proportion of students choose business related majors. Of course, the vast majority of students at the most prestigious liberal arts colleges earn degrees in the arts and sciences. However, while these institutions often support a small number of poorer students, many of their students, sometimes more than half, come from families that can afford to pay nearly $45,000 a year for college with little or no assistance.
While there is no doubt that the intertwined relationship of social background, class, and students’ choice of academic major is very complicated, it is worth considering whether the strong urge that many liberal arts advocates have to exclude practical, career-focused majors in the curriculum also excludes the kinds of students for whom the liberal arts have the most value.
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