I’m included in that group, but I have myself totally to blame…and the military to thank…
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- I got a Poli Sci degree from Miami, and now work in IT (but non-tech, meaning I don’t write code). Earning my Miami degree exposed me to several things in international relations, which better allows me to communicate with teams from India, Israel, Ukraine, etc. It wasn’t all about slinging script
- If college is all about learning a trade, and not about increasing your knowledge of the world, it should be basically a vocational school that takes ya two years.
my $.02
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Hand raised. I work in a technology-based field, but that doesn’t stop me from injecting Classical Humanities and History into it. 
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Number one on 21st Century Skills is critical thinking. Single-minded focus is not critical thinking, and sadly critical thinking appears to be in short demand in our country. And it’s only going to get worse with Availability bias and AI.
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Not to mention you’re going to lose on Jeopardy so badly.
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You win!
For me, my Miami “liberal arts” education (BA in English) opened my eyes to the many facets of the world which came to enhance my interest in travel, supporting the arts, reading even better books, engaging in creative writing, etc., etc. From Miami, I went on to THE OSU to obtain my law degree and, thereafter, enjoy a successful 30+ year career in the investment management industry, start two companies in that space and a third in medical technology while continuing many of the pursuits to which I was first introduced as an undergraduate.
My observation of the college landscape today, minus certain majors which broaden and deepen the exposures and experiences of young people, is that we are simply transitioning to a trade school mentality…true “education” be damned.
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The breadth of information found online greatly reduces the need to spend 50K - 100K on elective classes for two years. I understand what the “value” of a liberal arts education meant/means; but from a value perspective, I think its appropriate to question the wisdom to maintain under-enrolled majors.
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I don’t know, how are they going to fill all those music theory vacancies?
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I always think of the John Mulaney joke about how he paid $120,000 for someone to tell him to read Jane Austen and then he didn’t.
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My high school english literature teacher told me Tolkein wasn’t a real british author, when I picked him for a paper…my jaw dropped.
It’s true, he spent basically a whole year in my wife’s apartment goofing off. (He was dating her roommate.)
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Overall, I think this a fascinating discussion. We all talk about the Athletic Arms Race, but the Higher Education Arms Race is often forgotten. I mean, for those that remember the vast green spaces at Miami, that is quickly disappearing, or has disappeared in alot of instances.
Raise your hand if you think students will go to the internet to learn about these subjects they used to learn in class.
In reading the Miami Student article posted earlier on this post, the thing that disturbs me the most is the State of Ohio’s step- back from funding state higher education institutions that has triggered higher tuition levels for students. Having vibrant, excellent-quality and affordable universities is critical to the state’s ongoing prosperity. The fact that such a fiscally austere university as Miami finds itself with such a looming deficit is frightening.
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There are still plenty of green spaces on campus but yes they have been reduced a little. We were just there this past weekend. We will be back on campus Oct 6 for family weekend. Hopefully they haven’t all disappeared by then!
Not to let the state off the hook, but Ohio’s demographics (and that of the Rust Belt generally) aren’t doing by any favors. The five MAC states went from making up 19.5% of the total US population in 2010 to 18.6% in 2020; those same states made up as much as 32.3% in 1870 and 27.4% in 1960. Ohio in the 2020 census grew only 2.3%, sixth-lowest of all states. Also these states are generally much older than the South/West, with less incoming students now that we’re going from Millennials to the numerically smaller Gen Z group.
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I haven’t lived in the state since 1974 but I’ve been back almost every year since then. My observation from afar matches yours.
Bluesman…
Back in the good ole’ days when I was there there were I think approximately 13-14k total undergrad/grad students. Now the number is about 20,000. They need more buildings to house more students and classes. That means less green space.Hell, wrote about it earlier, they even have a 3-4 story parking garage! Whole lot less green than there used to be.