[Post by Janet Castleman]
“Making the Case for Liberal Arts Colleges,” an Inside Higher Ed piece by Scott Jaschik, summarizes findings by Richard A. Detweiler, the president of the Great Lakes Colleges Association. Detweiler has been involved in extensive research to document the positive impact of a liberal arts education. Based on interviews with 1,000 college graduates, roughly half of whom attended liberal arts schools, Detweiler recently presented his findings to presidents of the Council of Independent Colleges. The interviewees had graduated between 10 and 40 years prior.
So far, Detweiler and his team have learned that:
- Graduates who discussed peace, justice, or human rights outside of class in school are 27% to 52% more likely to be leaders;
- Graduates whose professors knew their names and who spoke frequently with faculty members outside of the classroom are 32% to 90% more likely to report feeling personally fulfilled;
- Graduates who participated in philosophical or ethical discussions in school and took ample humanities classes are 25% to 60% more likely than others to volunteer, give to nonprofit groups, and become otherwise altruistic; and
- Graduates who say their college professors encouraged them to examine strengths and weaknesses of different viewpoints and to question “correct” answers in school are 25% to 40% more likely to report feeling personally fulfilled in their lives.
Citation: Jaschik, Scott. “Making the Case for Liberal Arts Colleges.” Inside Higher Ed. 2017.