Article from University Affairs, March, 1987 edition.

The first of this two part series on the Ryerson conference "Career Education
for the 1990s: The Role of Liberal Studies" was featured in the February 24th
edition of the Mad Hatter. The following is part two of the series.

Employers undervalue liberal education

in search for technical skills

There is a widespread assumption that
broad, generalist training in the liberal arts
will best serve future corporate leaders.
But business demand for technically
trained, business-oriented, instant experts
confuses the educational signals being sent
to postsecondary institutions and new
graduates, What then is the justification
for liberal studies in career education for
the 90s? And why are liberal arts in
jeopardy within the corporate hiring
structure?

Representatives of business, labor,
government and academia wrestled with
these and other questions during a two-
day conference convened late last year in
Toronto by Ryerson Polytechnical Insti-
tute. The consensus was that employers
are undervaluing liberal education in their
search for graduates with technical and
business skills that may turn out to be
relevant only in the short term.

A solid grounding in the humanities,
sciences and languages is often overlooked
by employers seeking a “quick gain” when
they hire. Long-term goals of preparing
globally competitive future leaders and
managers are therefore jeopardized.

What came out of the dialogue is the
sense that a liberal education prepares
students not for vocations but for life and
that the educational enterprise should
instill the drive for “life-long learning’’ in
its graduates.

The best of both worlds would see the
professional competence of graduates
complemented by a firm footing in liberal
education. A curriculum that integrates
liberal studies with technical knowledge
and clinical practice (in the human services
sector, for example) was viewed as better
preparation for meeting the growing
demands of any given profession as it
evolves in a changing society. And, it was
felt that the integrated program would not
only enrich the specific discipline but
advance it in the academic community.

However, when introducing a liberal
studies component into program require-
ments, universities were called on to ensure
that it indeed lives up to its credo of
breadth and depth.

Focusing on the rhetorical question:
‘‘Have we become the victims of over-
specialized education?’’, business leaders
and educators agreed that universities and
colleges need to produce innovative
graduates — those who are flexible,
creative, versatile and imaginative, who
possess an entrepreneurial spirit and who
can motivate others.

While agreeing that student mastery of

“discipline-specific technical and vocational

knowledge is a core function of career
education for the 90s, those participating
in the conference were concerned with
what could be called a; rublem of disci-
plinary myopia. There was optimism that,
increasingly, schools and departments

would move towards enriching their
programs through interdisciplinary study.

There was consensus on the general
goals of a university program (whether
technical, vocational or general). Such .
programs of study should provide students
with advanced analytical, computational
and creative thinking skills, the ability to
understand a foreign language at least at
a rudimentary level, and an understanding
of historical, social and economic condi-
tions to provide a context for the discipline
and vocation, In essence, the learning
experience should enable students to
become self-directed, ethical, creative
professionals, capable of risk-taking and
responsive to change.

Speakers included Stuart Smith, chair-
man of the Science Council of Canada,
Walter Pitman, executive director of the
Ontario Arts Council and director of the
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education,
James Adams, chairman, program in
values, technology, science and society at
Stanford University, Arthur Kruger,
principal of Woodsworth College, Univer-
sity of Toronto, Ralph Garber, dean of
social work, University of Toronto and Jo
Surich, education director, Ontario
Federation of Labour.

Last summer Ryerson Polytechnical
Institute adopted a liberal studies policy
that, beginning in the fall of 1988, will
require all students to complete one liberal
studies course per semester in order to
graduate (UA October 86).

This is the second of a two-part report on the
Ryerson conference ‘Career Education for the
1990s: The Role of Liberal Studies”.