What is the Future of Liberal Arts Education in America?

Ever since I read this recent WSJ article ‘At Harvard, Humanities Lose Status‘, I have been disturbed by this question. Actually, I have been thinking about the issue for longer, and wondering how the American Higher Education industry will evolve.

I am curious what your thoughts are on the subject. Here are some of mine:

I am a big believer in Liberal Arts education. However, it needs to be combined with actionable education that allows people to ‘do’ not just ‘think’. The latter quickly degrades into pontification, without any concrete output coming out.

Additionally, I happen to be of the opinion that the next decade of Silicon Valley will be at the cross-road of technology and the Liberal Arts. Steve Jobs has talked about this junction repeatedly. He was of the opinion that everybody should learn to program. In essence, if everybody learns some Computer Science, and then supplements that with another Liberal Arts (or technology) discipline, the likelihood of practical application of knowledge would vastly improve in this highly connected world.

For more, please read: Silicon Valley: The Next Decade.

And finally, combining entrepreneurship education to the above would add yet another layer of ‘actionable learning’.

So, if we can arrive at curriculums at Liberal Arts institutions that require (as compulsory subjects) Computer Science and Entrepreneurship, and a Liberal Arts discipline (Arts, Humanities, Philosophy, Science, etc.) – we would be able to create a more marketable set of Liberal Arts graduates.

Without some serious modification, however, vast populations of young graduates will continue to languish without jobs.