Arts graduates fulfill those requirements. Blachford is not just washing a rosy rinse over a grim picture. York University's Institute for Social Research surveyed 1995 York graduates and found that two years later, more Arts grads had landed full-time employment than Fine Arts or Science grads. Meanwhile, graduates from liberal arts programs also had incomes that rose faster than those from vocational programs. However, a double major in English and history may not have grads rolling in stock options as quickly as a degree in computer engineering.
Jobs even exist in the high-tech industries driving the information economy.
Nor does one need a commerce degree to wheel and deal in high finance. Anthony Comper, the new CEO, shares his predecessor's feelings, observing in the June 23 Globe and Mail that universities should provide students with a solid general education, while the business community must accept responsibility for training graduates to meet their specific needs. Contemplating the diversity of human thought and behaviour is bound to be unsettling, he explains, and it comes with no guarantees. The challenge today is not in finding the information, but in making sense of it. And people working in the liberal arts are adept at meeting this challenge.