Commencement season has arrived. ‘Tis the time for inspiring speeches, advice-giving tales of caution, and everyone in a high school graduate’s extended family asking them what their plans are now that their senior year has ended.
What we say to parents who are skeptical of the liberal arts education is ,“This is exactly what makes the U.S. [collegiate] education system work.” You’re developing critical skills: working together, collaboration, communication creativity, and adaptability. They are soft skills that really pay off in the long run.
Whether that’s heading off to a four-year university, a two-year trade school, or going right into the workforce, deciding on post-secondary education plans can be incredibly stressful. It’s both a terrifying and thrilling notion (and one many of us are all too familiar with) for those that are still figuring out just what it is exactly that they that want to do.
In this week’s Philosophy Friday, Don McMillan, EXPLO College Advisor and CEO of leading education consultancy McMillan Education, discusses how it actually benefits students to go into college as a declared undecided major.
Ten years ago, majoring in the liberal arts looked like an economic sacrifice. Today, most companies believe that complex problem-solving and applied knowledge in real-world settings are primary elements in becoming a prosperous employee. From McMillan’s perspective, when a third of Fortune 500 CEOs come from liberal arts backgrounds, choosing undecided holds the key to flexibility and success in an uncertain future.
At EXPLO, we encourage the pursuit of lifelong learning — which means we are constantly doing our own studying up, reading on, or relearning the concepts that we teach throughout the summer. Here are some really interesting (and some just fun) links that we've been recently reading on choosing undecided.
At EXPLO, liberal arts takes many forms, exercises, and events. Just a few EXPLO experiences that encourage students to choose undecided include:
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