Liberal Arts PhDs and their economic and social benefits to society

HEPM Journal cover

When perusing the University World News issue 0089, I came across an article titled “The Economic contribution of PhDs” by Bernard H. Casey (2009).  It mounts a theoretical argument that hypothesizes how the production of PhDs may add broader economic value to a society.  He enumerates 4 major outputs (paraphrased):

1. earnings of PhD graduates
2. economic performance of a society
3. knowledge produced is a social good
4. PhD skills contribute to organizations and society as a whole (p. 220)

The article’s abstract raises the issue of the value “to employers in particular and to society and the economy at large.”  The abstract could lead one to the following misconceptions about the article:

• A phrase like “society and the economy”, using “and”, makes them seem separate and equal concepts — social benefit, and economic benefit.
• Talking about PhDs in general also makes it seem like PhDs, regardless of field of study, may contribute equally to the economy.

However, the title of this article, written by an author from an “institute for employment research,” hints at its continual emphasis on economic outputs–despite the occasional use of the word “social” as if it designated a separate category.  It also argues for the higher value of PhDs in the technical fields.

The “social” benefits in this article seem to be completely dependent on their worth to the economy, and the field of study is also weighed according to its potential for economic benefit.

In the following analysis, Casey’s article is examined critically for the way that it enables or constrains public debate about the good of a Liberal Arts PhD education.  The rhetorical analysis leads to the suggestion of several avenues of argument and research that could be productive for Liberal Arts studies advocates.

This article contains an argument, therefore, for Liberal Arts advocates to learn the following

• How can the article help us understand the usual arguments and presumptions of many of the public and internal audiences with whom we may engage in discourse?
• How can Casey’s arguments be refuted or critiqued or subverted? How can it be supplemented by what he omits from consideration?

 

Canada’s 2009 budget and business-focused higher education

Image borrowed from Canada's Economic Action Plan: Budget 2009

This article contains selected excerpts from the 2009 Canada federal budget that tend to focus on the economic functions of university education, increase attention on business degrees and on research that aims primarily at economic benefits.

Will we arise from this phase of university life with a broader view of the aims of postsecondary education? What will be the effect of this “phase” (hopefully it will end) of economic crisis on our collective sense of the value of liberal arts education?

For example, in one place the budget document declared that

“[PhD and Master's] scholarships granted by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council will be focused on business-related degrees.”

 

More U of C Faculty-based Statistics

NSSE Newsletter Title

Since I posted “Educational Clutures in the Arts Faculties” on December 06, I have become aware of our university’s NSSE (National Survey of Student Engagement) action team’s website.

This post provides some commentary in light of Arts Faculty Restructuring relevant to the 2007 faculty-by-faculty data on additional NSSE questions not covered in my earlier post.  My analysis focuses on “Arts” faculties’ results in relation to each other and to “Professional” faculties.

The data covers selected NSSE results on the following issues:

• Active and Collaborative Learning
• Student – Faculty Interaction
• Enriching Educational Experiences
• Level of Academic Challenge
• Supportive Campus Environment

 

Educational Cultures in the “Arts” Faculties

At the time of writing, University of Calgary administrators and faculty members are considering whether (or more likely how) to reorganize our university’s four Arts faculties (Fine Arts, Communication and Culture, Humanities, and Social Sciences).

This post examines some 2007 and 2008 NSSE (National Survey of Student Engagement) results in order to examine whether the data may distinguish “Educational Cultures” among the four “Arts and Social Science” faculties.

I also inquire whether one can distinguish sharply between 1) Arts and Social Sciences and 2) Sciences and Professional faculties on grounds of student learning experiences, not just subject matter.

 

Isocrates, the forgotten educational philosopher?

Clio, the muse of history. Vatican. from Wikimedia Commons

As many of us have heard before, Isocrates is known as “the Father of Liberal Education” in the Western European tradition. This is not just hearsay. Isocrates’ influence on experiential learning and problem-based learning has been clearly proven by historians. Since this is true,

• Why have influential education scholars denied that the history of educational philosophy goes back earlier than 1700, some even claiming that it originated in the 1960s in the United States?

• Why have influential education scholars erroneously attributed the origin of the Liberal Arts to the philosophical academy of Aristotle and Plato, when it was in fact Isocrates’ competing program of study that won popular support and became the basis of liberal education for two millenia?

• Why are Liberal Arts educators still unaware of so much of their field’s own history and unaware of Isocrates’ insights into their art ?

In 2005 James R. Muir, Associate Professor of Philosophy from the University of Winnipeg (Canada) published a paper in the journal Theory and Research in Education titled “Is our history of educational philosophy mostly wrong? The case of Isocrates.” He has summarized the arguments and historical evidence in an article that also explains the reasons why educators have forgotten Isocrates.

In this blog entry I provide an overview of his main points, and a response.  The original is a rich 25 pages and well worth the read.  Please use the link above to the journal issue.

 

Social Sustainability

Herrad von Landsberg, "The seven liberal arts" c. 1180. Wikimedia commons.

At our university we have established an Office of Sustainability, and recently faculty members were asked to fill out a survey about their knowledge and participation in sustainability initiatives.

Of course, the sustainability discourse emphasizes environmental values and economic values; much of the discourse focuses on trying to harmonize and coordinate these values. See the Talloires declaration — this is a major document that is shaping the discourse of sustainability at universities.

I have been troubled lately by the extent to which there is a hierarchy in this discourse: Economic and Environmental sustainability vie for first and second place. Social sustainability is always third, like an afterthought. Why is this?

 

Value of a Liberal Arts Degree (Links)

The Academy. (public domain from Wikimedia Commons)

A set of links created in February 2008 from a Google search. I provided this to a senior-level course in which several students wanted to do research on the social and career value of their own degrees.

 

Community Liberal Arts Salons

Abraham Bosse "Salon des Dames" from Wikipedia commons

A Proposal for a “Community Liberal Arts Salon Society (CLASS)”

VISION –

The Calgary Community Liberal Arts Salon Society (CLASS) will provide a salon-style learning opportunity and social engagement activity for diverse adults with at least grade 12 literacy skills and an interest in the broad liberal arts (literature, language, culture, fine arts, history, philosophy, politics, law, etc.).

The CLASS “salon” draws on the precedent of Humanities 101 which has been successful at the University of British Columbia and several other Universities.

It is also based on the model of the conversational Salon in early modern Europe in which literate adults gathered to discuss and apply historical and contemporary literature and culture in an entertaining and socially engaging manner.

 

Disadvantages of an Elite Education

The Academy. (public domain from Wikimedia Commons)

In the text I quote from below, William Deresiewicz articulates many of our ills in higher education nowadays– and inspires in a reader like me some searching questions about his extreme cynicism and demand for perfection. As a cynic, he seems to be the opposite of Louis Schmier , though he is just as thoughtful.

Whether or not you agree with D., It’s good to know people are still publishing critiques & exhortations
… this is “epideictic” rhetoric — praising and blaming to help a society think clearly about its values.