It’s called General Education in UP and UST. In Ateneo, it is referred to as the Core Curriculum. Apart from your major subjects, these are the other subjects that you have to take in college: English, Filipino, History, Philosophy, Sociology, Natural Science, Math and many others.
Most consider them a burdensome requirement and do not take them seriously. For instance, what does History have to do with you becoming a good journalist? A lot, as it turns out.
Take Howie Severino. I think his training in History in Tufts University allowed him to make better documentaries for I-Witness. If you've seen them, you can see that he has a knack for story-telling and making important-but-boring topics interesting. In News To Go, he always seems to ask his guests the right questions which makes his interviews relevant and truly informative.
Stock analyst Juanis Barredo is Vice President for Sales and Training in CitisecOnline, so I was surprised to find out that he graduated with a Philosophy degree from De La Salle University. If you've attended Mr. Barredo's trainings on technical analysis, you'll know that he has a talent for explaining complicated things in a simple way.
Mr. Severino and Mr. Barredo are not the only successful liberal arts graduates. The CEO of Manny Pangilinan’s Metro Pacific Investments Corporation Jose Ma. K. Lim is a Philosophy major of Ateneo de Manila University. UP Political Science graduate, Noli Hernandez, is the First Vice President for Marketing of real estate giant Megaworld. And to prove that this is not confined to the corporate world, one can look at Von Hernandez, a UP English graduate, who is Executive Director of Greenpeace Southeast Asia and the winner of the 2003 Goldman Environmental Prize.
In an article entitled, "On the Purpose of a Liberal Arts Education," Robert Harris explains that a liberal arts education teaches you how to think. He adds that it enhances your "ability to distinguish the important from the trivial" and helps you actively engage knowledge instead of just being a "passive recipient of a hundred boring facts." Studying Art, Humanities, Social Science, and Languages also helps the mind develop "the mental dexterity that opens a person to new ideas," which A.G. Layfley says, is needed to succeed in a constantly changing environment.
So, why then do people avoid majoring in liberal arts? One reason could be money. Time magazine’s list of 10 lowest-earning majors consists mostly of liberal arts courses such as drama, theater, visual and performing arts. But in an article by NY Daily News, executive search consultant Sally Stetson advises graduates not to be overly concerned with a high salary. She adds that flexibility and mobility within the company is also important."The highest salary doesn't always equate with job satisfaction. The compensation will follow with time, especially if you're good at what you do and apply yourself," she says.
Some organizations now actually prefer liberal arts graduates. The research head of an investment firm told Stetson, "Stop sending me only finance majors; I was a Russian lit major. I want someone who thinks outside the box, who can tell me a story and who has good writing skills." A former I-Witness researcher I know claims TV networks are now more inclined to accept applicants who do not hold mass media degrees but degrees in History and the Humanities. "My professor in college advised us that if we want to work in media, we should take a Social Science course that provides a broader perspective of society and current events," she adds.
In a world where society and technology are changing so fast, highly specialized training may not be enough. A liberal arts education may give you the edge that you need.
No comments:
Post a Comment