Preparing for the Future, Today.

                High schools across the country have begun to abolish the idea of teaching a broad curriculum based around the liberal arts in favor of specified vocational schooling and required internships in the area of the student’s interest. True, this kind of teaching would be invaluable for a specific career. However, I believe that a solid foundation built upon the liberal arts in a traditional high school with specialized training in college will better prepare me to be competitive in the global market: If I have several skills to offer, it makes me a more valuable asset and also shows that I am capable of acquiring new skills down the road if necessary.

                Don’t misunderstand me; I believe that specialized training for a career is necessary to perform it well. There are benefits to having specific training as well: having experience in your chosen field of study will increase your ability to perform immensely. You will be extremely well prepared for your job when you are hired in both understanding of what is required and confidence in your ability to do your job correctly.  I believe, though, that college gives students that specialized training and high school shouldn’t be.

It is important to understand the basics of any skill before one learns how to apply it to reality. Even if a student doesn’t plan on using a particular area, such as math, in their future career, it is still a very much needed skill for real life. People should just know how to perform certain tasks even if they don’t anticipate using those skills in real life. A journalist may never use calculus after math class, however if they ever encounter calculus, perhaps in an explanation of a topic they are writing about, a basic understanding of calculus is needed to be capable of thoroughly covering that writing topic. Everyone must file taxes, pay bills, and handle money. Understanding math is crucial to completing these basic responsibilities. A scientist or mathematician must know how to communicate well with others in oral and written form. They may not have chosen language arts as their focus of study, but it still taught them necessary skills they needed. It is beneficial for a performer to understand science to know how their body works, how different substances react, or the physics of any movement required in their performance. It is important for every citizen of any nation to know their nation’s history, how its government functions and what civic duties and guaranteed rights they have as citizens.

Specialized training can be highly beneficial, however throughout time the most highly educated people have been well rounded in many areas of study, especially the liberal arts. Many past people are famous for their highly educated contributions to society: Albert Einstein, Leonardo Da Vinci, Abraham Lincoln, and Eleanor Roosevelt. All of these people had well-rounded educations. Albert Einstein may not have been famous for his knowledge of history and writing, but he still was well educated in those fields. Da Vinci was an engineer and architect, but also an artist. Lincoln was not known for his math aptitude, however he taught himself not only writing and history, but advanced math and science of the era. Eleanor Roosevelt was well educated and helped her husband run the country while he was weakened by polio. She conducted many duties that only men had previously had and performed above expectations.

Some people may be better taught in an environment permeated by exclusively their area of interest, however if they do not know the basics of all fields, they are limited in what they can do. It is all good and well to be able to perform one task exceptionally well. But if exclusive focus on one area requires all other areas to be stunted in development, the person will become a one-trick monkey and if that trick becomes old and isn’t valued anymore, then there is no use for the monkey anymore. The same goes for skills; If the skill a person acquires is no longer useful and it is the only skill they know, they will not progress very far until they back up and learn another one. The demand for skills in the global market is constantly changing and it is no longer reasonable to assume that the skill one is valued for will be valued down the road.  This is why I believe that knowing several skills with adequate knowledge is better than knowing one skill exceptionally well, and why a broad-range, liberal arts foundation with specialized training added is the best preparation for the competitive global market today.