Talking About the Liberal Arts on the Catholic Life Podcast

What are the liberal arts, and why do we feel it is relevant today?

Liberal Arts provides the student with an overall understanding of the different influences that have helped shape the development of human culture. As a student, you learn valuable skills: better critical thinking, analysis, and synthesis. But it does not stop here as it offers proficiency in speaking, writing and reading that help in the development of rational arguments.

‘Liberal education is the development of the philosophical mind; this is the development of the mind’, according to Dr Morrissey.

According to Anna ‘, if you get a richer understanding of what you are doing and why you are doing it, it enriches every part of your life and helps you do it better.’’

Thus liberal arts broaden your mind, help with critical thinking, and think like the other person when you are in an office setting. This immediately matures your thinking, a feature that most employers are looking for to add to their workplace.

The human mind is curious, but most learning institutions tend to shut down opinions and questions that pop up, but liberal Arts opens your mind and develops your critical thinking skills. Now to keep our minds active, we need to keep reading.

Liberal arts is slowly becoming relevant to students as it helps them examine points of view from multiple directions, effectively collaborate with others, solve problems with an open mind, and quickly adapt to the changes taking place. It has been considered an interdisciplinary approach to learning as it easily integrates different areas of study, therefore as a student, you are exposed to a wide range of subjects. This means it will quickly open up doors for job hunting as you have acquired a list of helpful skillsets for the office setting.

The broad education effectively prepares the student to be successful in their career. An individual who can view a situation in multiple angles of perspectives, regardless of their field, usually provides some extra value to the employer.

Liberal Arts studies tend to create some fruitful lifelong friendships, and even after college, this continues. These students then become mentors for the next lot of students meaning there is a powerful alumnus throughout their careers. And with the critical thinking and innovative skills you get to help create that meaningful change we hope to see in the world. The school focuses more on helping the student think rather than what to think, helps in critically analysing the situation and questioning, rather than taking it all in. Students are given time to understand and examine the facts instead of memorising because once they graduate, these are forgotten.

According to Dr Morrissey, ‘How to change up the current culture we need to Get reading, read more broad things and read things that can stretch you’. Reading helps open up our minds, a concept that Liberal Arts is trying to incorporate into our current culture.