Zachary Thomas
The Liberal Arts After Williams
Well, we’ve done it. After four years, the end of our time at Williams College is imminently approaching. And what better occasion to look back on when we were deciding between colleges in those final days of April four years ago, and remember the reasons why we chose Williams. It may have been Williams’ famous entry system, her strong athletics, or her beautiful natural setting at the base of a mountain. Or, it could have been, in part, for more petty reasons — the majesty of our mascot, the Purple Cow; the lack of construction on campus (unlike at Amherst); or, I’ll admit, because I didn’t want to be known for the next four years around Dartmouth as that other Zach from Pelham, New York.
But, throughout the whole process, Williams’ defining characteristic was the perhaps mysterious appellation of “Liberal Arts College,” with its separate ranking in the U.S. News & World Report. The label of “liberal arts” includes a deep commitment to educating its students across many different fields of study, one that I found quite appealing — and one that is by no means necessarily present at other colleges. During my search, I knew I was quite interested in science and math, and I looked at several top engineering schools during my tours — but I felt out of place there. I wanted to attend a college where I could study both physics and history — a school with more than one lone English major on campus — and Williams more than fit the description.
But now, after four years of the liberal arts college experience, we are graduating. Soon enough we’ll be going off into our respective careers, even if we haven’t quite figured out what that will be yet. When we’ve settled on that one specific field, we will certainly be thankful for our time at Williams — both for whatever specific training we received in our field and, as our admissions office will surely tell you, for the insights, perspectives, and thought processes that are inculcated by Williams’ liberal arts education. But what becomes of the broader liberal arts ideal? Are we to leave behind all subjects but our own once we drive away from Williamstown in a few hours?
Of course, these days it can be quite practical to keep up to date in multiple areas. The ever-growing growth of knowledge and technology in the world ensure that we will need to keep learning as we go on in life. We have all heard the statistics about the number of different careers the average college graduate will hold before retirement, each potentially requiring a different skill set and knowledge base. Even Williams’ one Nobel laureate alum, Robert Engle, received his B.A. and a Master’s in Physics but was awarded his Nobel for work in Economics.
But the purely practical value of the liberal arts is only a small part of their worth. Once you’ve put enough space between yourself and the finals, the papers, the deadlines, and the stress that came with all of your classes here, take a moment to look back. What classes really excited you during your time here — and no picking from your own major.
Two particularly stand out in my mind. One was a linguistics course on English syntax — a surprisingly rich subject whose complexity I did not appreciate beforehand; I remember writing a ten-page paper on the role of the single word “there.” Another was a class on Persian and Mughal art history. Apart from the Taj Mahal, I had known nothing about the topic previously, but, by the end of the course I found myself poring over the intricate details of six-hundred-year-old illustrated manuscripts.
Fellow classmates,
Just because we are departing Williams and its classrooms this afternoon does not mean that we must also leave behind such experiences. No, we will no longer have the amazing and talented faculty of Williams at our disposal, but the spirit of Mark Hopkins and his log is portable (though good luck fitting the log in your car). If, like me, you found yourself reading for fun less and less during college, give it a try again. Fiction, non-fiction, trashy romance novels, it doesn’t matter. When you’re in a city, visit museums, whether it’s admiring works by John Singer Sargent at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston or watching M*A*S*H at the Museum of Television and Radio in New York. And you can always keep talking — engaging intellectual conversations are not the sole domain of the undergraduate. And who knows what you’ll learn from those outside the Purple Bubble.
If nothing else, you’ll stand a better shot on Jeopardy.
June 1, 2008