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Liberal Arts for Science Majors
by Anna Giarratana, The Bi-College News Online, October 27, 2009
Anna Giarratana, a chemistry major at Bryn Mawr, has gotten used to people saying things like, “You deal with the liberal arts classes because Bryn Mawr has a good academic reputation,” when they learn that she’s a chemistry major who conducts research. But that response is short-sighted, Giarratana says, just as is the other response she often hears: that she attended a liberal arts college to avoid real scientific rigor. Being exposed to courses from across the spectrum is the essence of a liberal education, she writes, and the natural sciences are a vital part of the experience—a part that too many students disregard. “While some people will claim the purpose of a liberal arts college is not to teach facts but rather skills, I don’t necessarily agree,” she argues. “I think a well-rounded education is even more vital…however, after many students take their required natural science classes, they never think about science again. I believe our liberal arts experience fails us in this case.” The ignorance that well-educated people display about science dismays Giarratana, who argues that she, as a science major, benefits from studying literature, social sciences, and history, just as humanities students would benefit from more science. “While we have these four years of freedom at our respective liberal arts institutions, let’s take advantage of them, learning the science that will broaden our education and inform our worldviews.”
Read the entire opinion piece here.
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