It is important to understand the wide spectrum of points of view represented in such an anthology. An appreciation of the arts is also fundamental to what it means to be an educated person. To lack an education in the arts is to be profoundly disconnected from our history, from beauty, from other cultures and from other forms of expression. A college diploma must be much more than a passport to a good job. A college education should improve the overall quality of one's life.
Work consumes only a small part of our time.
What we do with the remainder of our lives defines who we are. A college education can open the mind to both the beauty and the wonder of our civilized culture. From such exposure, the pursuits of a lifetime can be born. Studies show that when the arts are a strong component of the school environment, the dropout rate and absenteeism decline. I hope you can see that they are also interactive - attainment of one attribute is interrelated to achievement in another.