One of my favorite words is “holistic,” which vocabulary.com defines as “encompassing the whole of a thing, and not just the part.” Thinking holistically is what my interdisciplinary liberal studies major has taught me to do. This means not seeing something merely from one specific academic perspective. It means even considering non-academic, more personal perspectives as well.
Simply put, liberal studies can develop a person’s sense of culture and a person’s soulfulness. By developing a person’s sense of culture I mean liberal studies can show you what’s “out there in the world;” the different kinds of people there are and the different things they know and do. By developing a person’s soulfulness I mean that liberal studies can push you to think freely about what it means to a human, an individual- to have a self yet live among others.
This kind of learning and thinking is much more fulfilling, personally than being thrown a plethora of information simply to memorize and regurgitate so I can prove I’m competent. Moreover, my liberal studies major is not just a means to an end so I can get a nice bachelor’s degree and snag myself some job that’s in high demand and pays generously. This major has changed how I think, what I think and thus how I am living, and even where I want to live.
Here’s a concrete example for you to illustrate just how my thinking has changed: the way I now dress.
I used to wear a suit and bowtie virtually every day at work out of a compulsive desire to demonstrate my commitment to professionalism. But I began applying my new skill of looking at things from different perspectives and came to perceive this practice as conforming to traditional and confining notions of professional attire.
I decided to open my mind a little and now I dare to come to work without a bowtie, and maybe add a pair of jeans, or a Hawaiian shirt to the mix, never excluding the option to one day throw on the suit and tie again.
Here’s another example: I now value diversity much more than I did. It’s not that I was ever anti-diversity. I just never thought much about it as I grew up with a lot of diversity–I was a white half-Jewish kid (in name only!) who was often around black people, gay people, etc. You could say I took it for granted.
This realization really hit me while taking my senior capstone course where my classmates and I have been engaged in an interdisciplinary study of Native Americans. I’m writing a paper for this course about how a Native American Cowlitz tribe member, personal essayist and memoirist named Elissa Washuta conceptualizes her Indian identity and writes about the uniqueness of individuals beyond the scope or race that becomes so apparent by perceiving them holistically. This, she says, helps dissipate stereotypes.
The notion of dissipating stereotypes, and seeing peoples’ uniqueness to me also requires immersing oneself in environments where there are a lot of different and unique people. The importance of this ruined my plans for a possible move to New Hampshire.
When I went to visit the state I saw literally how exclusively white not just New Hampshire is, but really much of New England, and I found myself conceding that New Jersey- a much more diverse state- is not so bad a place to live after all (excluding the hectic traffic and lack of open space!)
Unfortunately, not everyone appreciates this mind opening quality a Liberal Studies major offers.
Fox Business columnist Steve Tobak, in a March 2016 article described liberal studies as one of those “useless degrees.” He says “You don’t need a liberal arts degree to become well read, a good writer, an inspired man of God, or the most prolific philanthropists the world has ever known.”
He does have a fair point that you don’t “need” a liberal arts degree to gain those qualities he listed. Abraham Lincoln didn’t “need” a law degree to become a successful lawyer and perhaps the greatest president in American history. He taught himself law however that was in part due to his circumstances. A chance to study at Harvard wasn’t exactly thrown at him.
Imagine if it was. He may have had a wider community of encouraging people with whom he could have discussed all the fascinating nuances of the law. The key word I hope you’ll consider here is “community.” Liberal studies, when you really break it down into its pieces, serves to inform a community of interested people on how to foster a community.
Let’s just list a few of the pieces. Philosophy examines what we can or cannot know and how that should impact how we treat others. Imagine if we had no ethics!
Psychology examines how we think and act. Imagine there was no such thing as therapy.
Sociology and anthropology examine how we interact and the cultures we create. Imagine we were all isolationists.
Political science examines what rules we should be bound to. Imagine anarchy or an unchallenged, and unhinged totalitarian dictatorship.
History helps us understand how the world has come to be as it is. Imagine the consciousness of Americans unable to grasp the slavery of blacks and the genocide of Native Americans (President Donald Trump and many within his cabinet may help you with that one.)
Literature–if it’s really good–makes us forget we’re reading something academic, and makes helps us think about experience. Imagine television shows on Netflix on without any dialogue! (There is actually a Norwegian TV show where the camera just stares at firewood or some other thing, but imagine there were no artists to argue that this might actually be a good idea every now and then.)
Each one of these academic disciplines is a crucial element that helps us understand how to preserve and strengthen our communities and liberal studies teaches how to integrate all of those pieces into a holistic perspective.
So in review: do all people in general “need” a degree in liberal studies to gain this knowledge? Again, no. Of course not! But do we need a community of people devoted to community?
Yes. Our lives depend on it.
