Liberal arts are some of the most important things you can learn in life. They teach you how to connect with other people, what is important to you, and how to use your logical thinking process to understand concepts.
These are all fundamental skills that anyone needs to succeed in the real world. Whether you’re an entrepreneur planning a business launch or someone looking for employment, these qualities will help you gain confidence as well as promote interpersonal success.
With technology becoming more advanced every day, it is easier than ever to access information. However, knowing how to decipher true knowledge from false information is still very important. You would not spend money on expensive junk food or medicine, so why throw away hard-earned cash on something that does not work?
Liberal arts education teaches students how to evaluate sources properly and assess their credibility. It also encourages critical thinking, which comes naturally to many but not everyone. This article will talk about some reasons why liberal arts education is crucial to your future.
This article will focus on two main points: why learning Latin is important and why learning art is important.
History of the liberal arts
The term “liberal arts” comes from the Ancient Greeks, where it referred to the study of literature, rhetoric, poetry, music, and other forms of entertainment. These are considered humanities topics because they focus more on how people relate to each other through language and expression.
The ancient Romans also had their own version of the term that included science, mathematics, architecture, and geography. This is why we have universities organized into these departments – in order to emphasize this tradition of educating students broadly.
In medieval times, the term “arts” was used less like it is today (only referring to writing, painting, and performing) and more like what we call the “higher learning” or college degree programs now. It wasn’t until the Renaissance when education took on its current form: university-level courses focused primarily on knowledge and literacy acquisition.
With the rise of modern capitalism, business schools began offering degrees in marketing, finance, etc. In the 20th century, with the advent of mass communication technologies such as radio, television, and newspapers, studies emerged to address the growing need for professionals who could spread messages about products and services.
These fields were sometimes called “communication studies,” but over time they came to be known as journalism and public relations. More recently, social media has ushered in an era of interactive engagement and sharing of ideas via platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
What does it mean to be a liberal artist?
As we have discussed, artists are people who use creativity to express themselves. They create things such as paintings or poems or songs or stories or designs- anything that uses the media of expression and communication to convey an idea or message.
Artists often emphasize aesthetics, which is the perception of beauty in form, proportion, color, and texture. Aesthetic qualities can include colors, lines, shapes, and materials used to make something.
However, what makes art “art” is how it communicates with the viewer. An example of this would be a painting of a dog. Even though there may be no direct messages about love or loyalty, they are still considered art because they provoke reactions like laughter or sadness.
A person viewing the work can feel emotions, so these internal responses are part of the effect of the artwork. This way, the artist has succeeded in their goal to get someone else to do some thinking and/or feeling.
Popular liberal arts degrees
Many people these days are dropping out of college to pursue their dreams, but that doesn’t mean you have to! There are many popular liberal arts majors that can set you up for success later in life, or even now while you’re working towards your dream career.
Many employers look at undergraduate education as one big opportunity to learn about yourself and the world. A degree in psychology teaches you about mental health, sociology helps you understand other cultures, history informs you about humanity’s past, and philosophy teaches you how to apply logic to understanding everything around you. All of these things help develop your thinking skills and self-awareness.
Furthermore, all of these areas connect with each other. For example, studying psychology will teach you about motivation, which is key to learning about social relations from studying sociology. Or, looking into historical studies will show you why applying systematic reasoning to understanding concepts like justice and equality has always worked.
There are many ways that having an art major, a literature major, or any type of humanities major can prepare you for the real world.
Ways to become a liberal arts degree
Now, this isn’t an every day thing but if you are really dedicated to it, there are some ways that you can make it even more important. You could major in art or music, for example. Or sociology, which studies how humans interact with each other.
Or maybe history, which looks at how societies evolved over time. Or literature, which is similar to studying social science except instead of looking at people, it is about words and stories.
These areas all focus on understanding others so they are a good way to develop your soft skills. And since we talked about before how important these are, becoming someone who knows what to do when things get tough because you have practiced them, this makes their value higher too.
Ways to become a good artist
As we have discussed, being an artistic person comes with many benefits, but it takes lots of work to be an excellent artist. It is very difficult to tell if someone is not well trained as an artist unless they are exposed to some kind of art form or other.
Concerning training as an artist, there are two main types of education that can help you hone your skills as a painter, illustrator, sculptor, etc.: formal schooling and informal schooling.
Formal schooling typically includes courses in painting, drawing, sculpture, illustration, creative writing, and so forth at the college or university level. These degrees often require several years to obtain, however, which may limit your opportunities to pursue your dreams as an artist.
Informal schooling is usually more readily available and cost-effective. Many artists were formally educated in various arts before developing their own style, such as Michelangelo (sculpture), Pablo Picasso (painting) and Jackson Pollock (Abstract Expressionism).
Creative outlets for artists
As we’ve discussed, liberal arts education is an important part of what makes up the backbone of our society and culture. It gives us knowledge that goes beyond things like math and science, it cultivates creativity, and it helps develop communication skills.
Many people believe that getting only an art or music degree is not very practical because you can’t make money doing that. But just like with business degrees, there are many ways to use your artistic talent to achieve other goals.
For example, if you’re passionate about painting and want to be able to pay your bills, then learning how to paint is one way to go about it. You may also choose to specialize in oil painting, acrylic painting, watercolor painting, etc.
There are several ways to make money selling art so whatever field you decide to focus on, you’ll need to know some basics such as color theory, composition, and marketing.
Art as a form of therapy
A liberal arts education is an educational experience that cultivates your artistic side through learning about different disciplines, including art. This is important because we spend a lot of our time in this world interacting with other people — something that most of us are not trained in how to do so well.
Art can be a very effective tool for improving relationships. There are many theories about why this is, but one thing almost all agree on is that exposure to beauty makes you feel good.
By studying art from various periods and cultures, you will learn about aesthetics — what makes a piece beautiful or ugly, whether something is realistic or abstract, formalist styles like classical realism or conceptualism.
These concepts apply not just to visual art, but to music, literature and even theater. By understanding these fundamentals, you will develop your own style, which may depend on what types of things appeal to you.
Using yourself as a subject – either self-portraits or studies of others – helps bring out your inner artist by allowing you to use yourself as a source of inspiration. Your personal style comes naturally when it feels right, and is influenced by who you study and admire.
Yourself being the main focus also helps mitigate the risk of narcissism, since you’re using your work rather than someone else’s.
The importance of culture
We live in an increasingly globalized world, where technology has made it possible to access information from anywhere at any time. With everything we consume being influenced by our cultures, it is important that you are aware of other cultures so that your lifestyle can be more balanced.
Your upbringing in different cultures teaches you about other people, their societies, and how they interact with each other. It also gives you knowledge of history, politics, and philosophy, all of which play a huge part in shaping us as individuals.
Liberal arts education cultivates students’ understanding not only of individual disciplines, but also of the relationships between these areas. This inter-relation depends on context, therefore giving you broader insights into what makes sense for this society versus another.
Furthermore, liberal arts courses often emphasize concepts like democracy, liberty, equality, and justice, making you conscious of societal structures and how power works in groups.
