Is it worth having a liberal arts college here?

Clivebenss SG

THE deal is set for the Yale University and the National University of Singapore to set up a liberal arts college here ('Yale-NUS College gets faculty, alumni backing'; April 1).

But the question I want to pose is: Is it worth it?

The college will be offering a degree in liberal arts, which is not exactly a commercially viable qualification.

The fact is, to live and succeed in a competitive country like Singapore, there is more pressure on students such as myself to get a degree that will help us get a stable job, rather than something we would like to do.

The unfortunate truth is that students go to university for the degree, and not for the experience.

Also, the liberal arts 'scene' in Singapore is virtually non-existent. Students who want to actually apply what they learn in the programme will have to migrate to a country with more liberal arts opportunities, something conservative Singapore cannot provide.

Therefore, having a course that binds Western and Eastern cultures becomes moot.

Also, why not go straight to Yale, or any other university in a liberal arts savvy foreign country to study since they will have to migrate anyway? How useful will the students find this programme?

Dhaneesha Ratankumar Chugani (Miss)

^Acid^ aka s|aO^eH~ SG

wat is liberal arts???

is it something like appearing naked on MBS and claims it's for art???

ditzy SG

What is liberal arts? Something like nude paintings issit?

Maybe from our replies, it really isn't worth opening a liberal arts college here.

fudgester SG

From what I understand, liberal arts is a 'chapalang' kind of degree where they allow you to take all sorts of subjects from geology to history to biochemistry to finance.

I don't see why they shouldn't start a liberal arts programme, but to be frank, I don't see liberal arts graduates going very far in an economy as small as Singapore's.

the Bear SG

the old joke...

The graduate with a Science degree asks, “Why does it work?”

The graduate with an Engineering degree asks, “How does it work?”

The graduate with an Accounting degree asks, “How much will it cost?”

The graduate with a Liberal Arts degree asks, “Do you want fries with that?”

p.s. i will be so fried for that gag

FireIce SG

there is just a handful of ppl who study for the sake of it and not going to use tt paper for making big bucks, or any bucks at all.

fudgester SG

The truth is that their career opportunities will be severely limited.

It may sound all fair and good to be a jack of all trades, but if I were an employer, who would I hire to be my finance officer, for instance? A liberal arts graduate who took a couple of modules on finance, or a finance graduate from a good business school?

I don't oppose liberal arts per se, but I really hope that those who choose it would not whine about their lack of career opportunities later on.

^Acid^ aka s|aO^eH~ SG

So Iiberal Arts doesn't means Art as in design?

More to Jack-of-all-trade-but-master-of-none ???

dukedracula SG

liberal arts is pretty much about critical thinking, definitely no place in singapore...

sbst275 SG

the prob is jobs they can find aft studies

Arapahoe SG

Liberal Arts provide an all rounded education in covers pure sciences, mathematics, languages, history and social science. The approach to an all rounded education so that when a person graduated that have more common sense than others who simply know nothing but -- Business.

But again in Singapore......its a long way to go.

Clivebenss SG

In fact, among Asian societies, Singapore is 'probably the least dissimilar in ethos to Western societies', he said at the launch of the Yale-National University of Singapore (NUS) liberal arts college.

'We are open and rational, we uphold the spirit of inquiry, we encourage independent thinking,' he said, pointing out that this is also reflected in how English is the working language.

'It's a society within which a liberal arts college can blossom and grow, and help us to adapt to the changing world.'

To be opened in 2013, the Yale-NUS College is a collaboration between NUS and Yale from New Haven, Connecticut, in the US. The college, on the site of the former Warren Golf Club, will start with 150 students, growing to 1,000 later.

In the first two years, students will take general education courses bringing together Western and Asian perspectives before going on to concentrate on a major. At the end of four years, they will graduate with a bachelor of arts or science (honours) awarded by NUS, but their scrolls will include the Yale-NUS College name.