Hey Andrew, thanks for this question! I think there's good evidence that a broad education will often mean that the individual getting it takes a little longer to get going in the work world, but has better results over the long term. Ultimately, I tend to think it depends specifically what the student is getting. In the final paper he wrote, Herbert Simon (trained in poli sci, Nobel laureate in econ, one of the pioneers of both cognitive psychology and AI), argued for a kind of liberal education that created a "new Renaissance person" for a world of fast moving technology. It's in the "What is to be done?" section of this paper below. The publication requires a login, but it's free to read five articles per month: https://kenyonreview.org/piece/april-2001-creativity-in-the-arts-and-the-sciences/
I have a liberal arts degree (BA in History) from a small NE college and have had a career in teaching, tech, and land planning. And within tech, I worked on sports, medical, travel, networking, etc. I was never the expert coming in, but always rose pretty quickly by being able to learn quickly and synthesize info. Even some of our best coders or engineers came to that sideways after degrees in something else and maybe even work experience unrelated to tech. I am definitely a fan of hiring the smartest generalist you can.
I love it, and I hope you share your path widely. I think we need visible role models all over the place, showing that zig-zagging is now a normal path, not an oddity that dooms your prospects. ...And I hope you've found it interesting!
Haha, Adam, that's a great way to put it. And I really appreciate the kind words from someone who is actually doing the work where the rubber meets the road, so to speak.
Is this an argument for re-prioritizing a liberal arts degree? Seems like that's the best way to generate generalists, no?
Hey Andrew, thanks for this question! I think there's good evidence that a broad education will often mean that the individual getting it takes a little longer to get going in the work world, but has better results over the long term. Ultimately, I tend to think it depends specifically what the student is getting. In the final paper he wrote, Herbert Simon (trained in poli sci, Nobel laureate in econ, one of the pioneers of both cognitive psychology and AI), argued for a kind of liberal education that created a "new Renaissance person" for a world of fast moving technology. It's in the "What is to be done?" section of this paper below. The publication requires a login, but it's free to read five articles per month: https://kenyonreview.org/piece/april-2001-creativity-in-the-arts-and-the-sciences/
I have a liberal arts degree (BA in History) from a small NE college and have had a career in teaching, tech, and land planning. And within tech, I worked on sports, medical, travel, networking, etc. I was never the expert coming in, but always rose pretty quickly by being able to learn quickly and synthesize info. Even some of our best coders or engineers came to that sideways after degrees in something else and maybe even work experience unrelated to tech. I am definitely a fan of hiring the smartest generalist you can.
I love it, and I hope you share your path widely. I think we need visible role models all over the place, showing that zig-zagging is now a normal path, not an oddity that dooms your prospects. ...And I hope you've found it interesting!
Whenever I tell folks about "Range," I say the book comes just *short* of endorsing the liberal arts degree.
As a K12 teacher, I believe it should be required reading here. Academic standards have absolutely boxed thinking into dead ends.
Haha, Adam, that's a great way to put it. And I really appreciate the kind words from someone who is actually doing the work where the rubber meets the road, so to speak.
I may have read Range at least half a dozen times or more. ЁЯШЕ
Woaa! You may know it better than I do at this point;) ...Seriously though, the more I've read in general, the bigger fan I've become of re-reading.