Christendom College Grads Turn Arts into Crafts

Christendom College liberal arts graduates enter many different fields of employment.

Front Royal, Va. -- According to a report published in The Wall Street Journal a number of years ago, there are more top business executives who have degrees in the liberal arts than in any other field. Business and science degrees came in second. To some, this may come as a surprise, but to many college students and employers, the explanation is simple. Business and science fill vital and important functions in society, but when it comes to new ideas, communication, and analytical thinking, liberal arts is the wave of the future.

Following graduation from Christendom College in Front Royal, VA, in 1997, Sean Kay enrolled in Northeastern University's Graduate School of Professional Accounting in Boston, MA, where he found that 90% of the students there have liberal arts, nonbusiness backgrounds. In less than two years, he was able to obtain his MS Accounting/MBA degrees, and he began working at PricewaterhouseCoopers L.L.P., the largest professional services firm in the world. Now a Senior Associate in the Audit and Assurance practice, Kay has earned his CPA license and continues to enjoy a great working environment. "I credit my current situation to the academic discipline provided me at Christendom," remarks Kay. "A liberal arts degree from Christendom does not prohibit entry into such a field. On the contrary, it facilitates success to an extent greater than many other groundings."

In today's ever changing world, both the private and public sectors need people who can think and adapt with very little training. As new problems arise in the workplace, the need for creative problem-solvers continues to grow. In fact, a report by researchers at Michigan State University, for instance, found that the labor market for 2001 college graduates would grow 6% to 10%, with especially heated demand for liberal-arts graduates.

Matt Herter, a computer programmer and part-owner of a multimedia company in the Dulles Corridor, believes that his Bachelor of Arts degree in Theology which he received from Christendom in 1995 has actually given him the skills needed to succeed in the ever-changing world of information technology and computer programming.

"I was hired because I had a liberal arts education and therefore, could presumably think and learn," says Herter. "These are the essential qualities needed for a worker in today's high-tech world. Computer programming is nothing more than linguistics and logic: learning to speak a language in a perfectly structured format. I never would have guessed that philosophy and Latin were training me to be a computer programmer, but in fact they were."

But still there are those who seem convinced that the numerous myths about liberal arts education are too convincing and so they continue the string of complaints about a liberal arts education: "You'll never find a job. The degree is worthless," "You won't earn any money," "All you can do with a liberal arts degree is teach," and "You won't be qualified to do anything if you graduate from a liberal arts college."

"Having simply a technical degree without the critical mind provided by a liberal arts education is like having a car but no arms to steer," says Sean Garvey, a Christendom Class of '93 Political Science major and President of Novus Consulting Group, a business focusing primarily on Enterprise Storage Consulting and providing IT services in the infrastructure space. "Not to mention the fact that a well-rounded person is a lot more enjoyable than a lopsided one."

Many of these myths revolve around the notion that you will not be able to get a job with a liberal arts degree. In fact, there are actually more jobs available to liberal arts majors than to technical majors; and in the long-run, liberal arts grads are more employable than graduates of any other discipline.

Matthew OHerron, an Associate Lawyer at the law firm of Johnston & Turbitt, PLLC, and a 1993 graduate of Christendom with a B.A. in history, discovered that the technical training required for a specific job can be easily obtained as needed. My liberal arts education at Christendom proved important in both law law school and in my current position," opines OHerron. However, there is one part of the education which I cannot stress enough; writing. Writing papers in Theology, Philosophy and English forced me to think in a disciplined and controlled manner. This in turn enhanced my ability to communicate clearly. When informing a client, analyzing caselaw, negotiating a case, or putting on a trial, disciplined thinking and clear communication are absolutely necessary."

Many people are apt to think of going to college as a matter of job preparation. In some sense it is. College graduates earn substantially more over their lifetimes than people who have completed only a high school degree. But this is not because college prepares you for some specific high-paying job. If that were its purpose, it would be much less valuable than it is.

"With any education there are both benefits and drawbacks; the liberal arts are no different. The liberal arts teach you to think and understand on a much broader level. Its drawback is that it does not focus you into actual fields of work. But of course that is not the intent of the liberal arts education. It is up to you to decide what you want to do with it," says Captain John Bowes, USMC, and 1997 Christendom graduate.

"My liberal arts education has given me the opportunity to do what I only dreamed of as a child: flying military aircraft. It has given me the ability to think clearly and quickly. It allows me to expediently assess situations and decide what is the best and most appropriate action to take. Most educations don't form the mind; they just teach it how to do a particular task. In doing so, many people are limited and do not know how to operate outside the box," Bowes says.

According to David Denby, author and film critic of New York magazine: "It's interesting and encouraging to me that when I talk to younger people about corporate careers, I am getting the sense that corporations want people of character. It's not just that you have to have certain technical skills. Much of that is job-specific, and can be learned very quickly if you have the readiness and the learning skills. But they want people of character, who can present themselves, make decisions, manage and be managed. Anyone can punch numbers into a computer. But to run any kind of large organization, you need a much broader perspective. So when we speak about the training of an elite, and what employers are looking for in candidates for positions of responsibility, the tradition of the educated person is as essential as it ever was."   

More information about Christendom College, located outside the historic town of Front Royal, VA, in the Shenandoah Valley, can be found on the internet at www.christendom.edu or by calling 800-877-5456.