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The debate on the “future” of the university is a debate, seemingly endless, between those who believe the university should be about vocational training and those who think its purpose is to develop intellectual capacity, critical thinking, judgement, wisdom, etc., via the liberal arts. Excerpt: “The tension between a market model and a Socratic model…

I’ve posted a couple of articles encouraging students to measure carefully the costs and risks of going to law school in a down market. The Dean of Case Western Reserve Law School says enough already with the overblown arguments against law school: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/29/opinion/law-school-is-worth-the-money.html?hp

Governor Walker’s plan is based on the idea that the university should be a pipeline to existing jobs, much like a vocational school model. The idea is understandable but misguided for reasons that Benjamin Rifkin lays out here: http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2012/11/27/why-scott-walkers-focus-pushing-graduates-specific-majors-wrong-essay

Why it that? Because: “The people who will succeed in more expensive labor markets like the U.S. will be those who can think creatively and generate the IDEAS that will propel economic growth. Such skills are best fostered in a traditional liberal arts environment…. If you teach students one trade, that skill might be obsolete…

See the results of a recent survey here: http://lifehacker.com/5910871/what-employers-look-for-in-entry+level-job-candidates

Author of Don’t Go to Law School, Paul Campos, warns graduates of the perils of going into deep debt to become an attorney. A glut of law grads combined with a net decline of good-paying positions in law firms (due to outsourcing and new technologies) has resulted in high un- or under-employment. Read here: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/09/24/the-perils-of-law-school.html

Some of the more famous ones featured here explain what was valuable about their undergraduate education:http://www.onlinemba.com/blog/8-famous-ceos-who-were-liberal-arts-majors/ 

USA Today reports that liberal arts students can have a leg up in a floundering economy. The abilities to “think critically, reason analytically and write effectively” tend to lead to lower unemployment rates, less student loan debt, and great independence. Read more here: http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/story/2012-01-24/liberal-arts-education-graduates/52779652/1

A new book, Rethinking Undergraduate Business Education: Liberal Learning for the Profession (Jossey-Bass, 2011), proposes to import liberal arts training into the business major to correct some of its deficiencies. An article in the Chronicle of Higher Ed says that this proposal is a response to Academically Adrift, a book claiming that business majors score…

This Newsweek article reflects research conducted by Georgetown on the value of college degrees according to least unemployment after graduation, salary, long-term advancement potential, etc. See more here: http://newsweek.tumblr.com/post/21784902381/the-13-most-useful-college-majors-as-determined-by *thanks to Corry Cropper for link