For years, economists, lawmakers and more than a few worried parents have questioned the value of a liberal arts education. In an economy increasingly defined by technology, the argument goes, small liberal arts colleges like Guilford should follow the lead of larger universities by pushing skills-based learning more closely aligned to employment onto their students.

Critics of the liberal arts will have a hard time winning over Tinyah Ervin ’23 . On a radiant morning last May, Tinyah and her classmates, billowing figures in black robes and maroon-tasseled mortarboards, floated across the quad on a carpet of whoops and shouts to accept their diplomas.

That Guilford diploma didn’t come without learning a thing or two about critical analysis, reflection and communication. Tinyah’s convinced a liberal education, one as broad as it is deep at Guilford, is a prerequisite to whatever she wants personally and professionally in life.
When she started college at Guilford, Tinyah took the prerequisite first-year classes before branching out to Justice & Policy Studies classes on Understanding Oppressive Systems and Capital Punishment, an Art class on the History of Monuments, a Physical Education class in Tai Chi.

Those classes might seem counterintuitive — especially to parents cringing at tuition bills and Socratic seminars by the lake — but Tinyah made the connections early on. A double major in Biology and Psychology with a minor in Criminal Justice, she wants to be a doctor and the Justice & Policy classes, for example, will help her best advocate for herself and patients. She quickly learned that in the small classes Guilford is known for, she had to not only complete the work, but be ready to answer tough questions, appreciate multiple perspectives and explain her ideas.

Soon Tinyah will apply to medical schools. It’s a nail-biting experience for students like her, but if she’s nervous, she hides it well. Besides equipping her with the tools to thrive, a liberal arts education has instilled in her a quiet sense of confidence. “You can hide at a large university but not Guilford,” she says.  “Guilford is going to give me an edge. Not just an edge when I apply to medical school, but after. That’s what a liberal arts education does. It hasn’t just prepared me for a career, it’s prepared me for the world.”

For President Kyle Farmbry, Tinyah's words — and those of other Guilfordians before her — are as timely as they are affirming. While many higher-education institutions are questioning — even paring — a liberal arts curriculum, Kyle says Guilford is “doubling down on our liberal arts roots.” He says, “a liberal arts education is critical — not just for the career you pursue but the life you live pursuing it."

Kyle has heard the adage, the one boasting a liberal arts education teaches students how to think. He says that axiom doesn’t do a liberal education justice. “A Guilford education teaches our students not just how to think but how to communicate, written and verbally, and see issues differently, how to evaluate and solve problems,” says Kyle. “Those are skills that may not seem important right out of college, but as our students move into their careers [those skills] become more valuable and lead to advancement. Some students take years to master those skills. Guilford students are in possession of them when they graduate.”

That tracks with Mark Cubberley ’79, a retired lawyer. There wasn’t a day on the job that Mark didn’t tap into his liberal arts education. Guilford opened him to seeing and understanding other people’s thoughts and ideas.

Mark says the perspective inspired by a liberal arts education “is a natural bridge” to connect with other people you might not have a lot in common with. “You see the perspective of the lawyer against you in court, the stranger walking next to you down the street, the person sitting across from you at the lunch counter. In the business world you have to interact with people,” he says.

“Guilford gave me an appreciation of the person on the other side of the table. It helped me understand what they were thinking. I might not have agreed with them, but I understood where they were coming from.”

The biggest value of a liberal arts education is the opportunity to develop a breadth of knowledge and depth of understanding from courses outside one’s major and take that knowledge wherever you go. Jahmarley Vivens ’26 didn’t see that when he first walked on campus. He sees it now. Jahmarley is a Business major. He wants to sell real estate — maybe even own a few properties — back home in Miami. That Business degree will certainly help, but it didn’t take long for Jahmarley to realize the skills he’s developing at Guilford will give him an edge over Business majors from other schools constrained by a narrow curriculum.

He's pursuing a minor in Sociology because it’s a field he believes will prepare him for many careers. He rattles off some of the proficiencies he’s learning outside his Business classes: writing and speaking clearly; working cohesively in a group; thinking strategically and critically, problem solving; and collecting and analyzing data. He’s excited about how Sociology — a discipline he knew nothing about until Guilford — can help him in real estate.

“If I want to work in a place (as diverse as) Miami,” Jahmarley says, “doesn’t it make sense to understand the lives of everyone living there? Their social lives, their social changes? I would have never thought this way without coming to Guilford.”

That breadth of knowledge is a staple of liberal arts education, says Heather Hayton, Robert K. Marshall Professor of English and Director of the College’s Honors Program. “We’re not training a student to be excellent at one particular skill set that’s going to be irrelevant in five years. We’re training our students how to think, how to problem solve, how to approach problems from different disciplines and fields of study.”

At Guilford, it’s not uncommon for Biology and Chemistry students to sit next to Theatre Studies and Psychology majors in a History class. A liberal arts education at Guilford fosters in students the desire and capacity to learn, and master skills like reading critically, thinking broadly and communicating clearly while strengthening their analytical, investigative and intellectual abilities, says Jill Peterfeso, Eli Franklin Craven and Minnie Phipps Craven Associate Professor of Religious Studies.

Last summer, Jill and Tom Guthrie, Professor of Sociology and Anthropology, offered a retreat for faculty to discuss Guilford’s identity in an educational landscape where the liberal arts are increasingly devalued. Nearly a dozen colleagues attended. Not just faculty from Religious Studies, Philosophy, English, History and modern languages, which make up the College’s humanities, but Sports Studies, Economics, Justice and Policy Studies, Psychology and Art, too.

“It’s not just something on our mission statement," says Jill. "Faculty are invested in a liberal arts education because we believe in it.  We've seen how transformative it was in our lives, and we want that for our students.”

Transformative and practical. A recent Georgetown University study showed that a liberal arts education provides a median return on investment 40 years after enrollment that approaches $918,000. That compares to four-year technology-related schools ($917,000), and business and management schools ($913,000).

But a liberal arts education can’t be measured by money alone. Alumni and faculty say their Guilford education makes them happier. “What does it matter if we train an excellent technician who is miserable because there's no joy in their life?” asks Heather. “I would much rather have students leaving Guilford, who have taken the four years with us and invest in who they are and who they want to become in a way that is not commodified, or commercially driven, but it's truly about finding their passion and their way forward in the world.”

Heather says that takes exposure to different subjects and different classes.  "That can't be done quickly in an engineering or nursing program," she says. "That has to be done with the hard messy work of learning and discovering that only a liberal arts education provides.”
Todd Woerner ’78, a Senior Lecturing Fellow at Duke University, agrees. He says his years at Guilford helped him grow not just a person but as a citizen.

“If the only language I know is that of the chemist, then my ability to see where other people are coming from is limited. It’s a responsibility of mine to read and study widely, to take on how other people see the world so I can be out in that world. "Guilford and the liberal arts inspire that,” he says.

“What you take from your education depends on what basket you bring with you to college,” says Todd. “You get a broad education at Guilford across so many disciplines. If you come, you better bring a big basket.”