I happened to watch Mr Fareed's interview on Bloomberg TV. It is one of the few shows that kept me hooked to TV. He was talking about the importance of the "liberal arts" education in today's context, when STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) courses are gaining prominence day-by-day.Mr Fareed was educated in a renowned school in Mumbai. One of the lines from the interview that struck a chord was: "In my time, the smart kids went into Science, the rich kids went into Commerce and the Humanities were for girls." He chuckled when he said this. This man himself studied in the science stream. However, Fareed Zakaria was always fascinated by the fact that in the US, one can major in Physics and minor in Poetry. In fact, Steve Jobs had pursued Physics, Literature and Poetry in Reed College, an exclusive liberal arts college. The turning point in Zakaria's life was when he received a scholarship into Yale to study international relations, and today he runs the flagship show 'Fareed Zakaria GPS' on foreign affairs in CNN.
Even Mr Obama recently stated the kids would be better with manufacturing or professional degrees than with one in arts history. Many states in the US are defunding humanities education. At this moment, it is interesting to note that liberal arts may in fact be the hallmark of American education. In the nineteenth century, when countries like Britain, France and much of Europe specialized in technical education, America provided for a broad-based liberal education. At USD 36 billion, Harvard's endowment doubles the entire GDP of Nepal. This is also in contrast to Asian education. So Americans may not perform well in Math, but with a GDP of 16.8 trillion dollars, the economy has been moving up.
Liberal arts teach students the ability to think, and do things which computers can't. They teach us to create jobs. Steve Jobs had said, "It's in Apple's DNA that technology alone is not enough. That it's technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields us the result that makes our hearts sing." This man has definitely created many, many jobs. A few months back, Ashoka University of India had visited our school to give a presentation on their courses. Apparently, they're trying to model the liberal arts for Asia, and the University boasts of several professors from Yale and Harvard, and it signals a positive shift.
This leaves some questions unanswered. Will the humanities disappear in the future, or is this trend of scientific dominance like the "limit" in calculus which strives to but never reaches an absolute value? In the context of Nepal, where good students are ditching HSEB for A-Levels, and where the "best and the brightest" are pushed into medicine or engineering, is there a space for the liberal arts? And if there exists such a space, is it the gaping loophole in our flawed education system, which, if mended, shall mean a brighter future for the nation's young workforce which will craft wise politicians in the long run?
Avaneesh is a Class XI student at DAV Sushil Kedia Vishwa Bharati Higher Secondary School in Jawalakhel, Lalitpur.
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