There is a frequent miss understanding that an arts degree does not make a strong career prospect. This because unlike many vocational degrees which prepare you for a specific occupation, a Bachelor of Arts degree is focused on increasing a student’s knowledge and critical thinking skills in numerous areas such as history, literature, art and philosophy which obviously does not lead to a direct job but gives you many paths in terms of the way you think when you begin a job.
Participating arts students focus on studying ideas, theories in culture, movement, society, reasoning, language, history and many more. The Bachelor of Arts helps students to form a broad understanding about the about the world around them and the way humans from the past and present interact and connect. This knowledge is vital to form a deepened broad understanding of our modern society as well as analytical skills and critical communication and thinking skills. The purpose of this essay is to identify that an arts degree is valuable and provides beneficial skills such as critical thinking and reading, writing and speaking skills that will always beneficial in the future as well as when beginning a new job.
A Bachelor of Arts degree is extremely practical and useful when new to the workforce. The purpose of an arts degree is to enlighten your understanding of the world and how it works. This is reinforced by the fact that critical thinking skills are vital and used in our everyday life and are taught when completing an arts degree. According to Tara DeLecce, critical thinking skills are defined as “making reasoned judgments that are logical and well-thought out. It is a way of thinking in which you don’t simply accept all arguments and conclusions you are exposed to but rather have an attitude involving questioning such arguments and conclusions” DeLecce (2015) critical thinking skills are broken into three main categories curiosity; which the desire is to learn information and have the correct evidence as well as being exposed to new Ideas and information. The second scepticism; which is not believing everything straight away but having a sensible questioning attitude and finally humility; which is the ability to acknowledge that your opinions and Beliefs maybe wrong when introduced with convincing evidence. Having these skills which were obtained by completing an arts degree allows an individual to have an open mindset in terms of your work as well as your surrounding colleges. On the other hand, many oppose critical thinking and believe that it does not have a successful outcome when used in everyday life, Carl Hendrick a professor at a King’s College London states “instead of teaching generic critical-thinking skills, we ought to focus on subject-specific critical-thinking skills that seek to broaden a student’s individual subject knowledge and unlock the unique” Hendrick (2012). A developmental psychologist Carol Dweck states otherwise and revealed that having a growth or critical thinking mindset where your outcomes come from effort rather than talent leads to success for both kids and grownups.