A Rant In Support of Liberal Arts Education

Dear Readers,

Please allow me this personal rant in support of a liberal arts education. You see, the Governor of the State of Florida has recently gone on record as saying that he believes tax dollars should only support math and science higher education degrees because, after all, who needs another anthropologist. (Yes, he did say disparage anthropology.)

I was a sociology major in college and use it every day in my job. My husband was a political science major. He had a long career in pro sports and now works for a nonprofit. My daughter was a theatre major. She teaches drama and works as a voice over artist. My son, the philosophy major, works in marketing for a sports company. What do we all have in common besides a liberal arts degree? We can write coherently, we can critically think our way out of a problem, and we’re great strategic planners. And, yes, we all have a job.

The idea that public universities, or in this case Florida public universities, would limit liberal arts types of degrees, just proves the lack of understanding about what these types of degrees bring to the work force. For example, Groupon was founded by someone who majored in music. And, of course, where would our knowledge and even science be without famous anthropologists such as Margaret Mead and Mary Leakey.

The nonprofit world relies on all types of people with a wide variety of degrees to create and serve their various constituencies.

Education of all types is critical to a well-functioning society. Or as a friend of mine said, liberal arts people are the ones who hire the science and math types.

The myth that nonprofits are not a business

Cause to Communicate is located in Florida so we thought it might be interesting to examine the nonprofit sector in our state. With the help of The Florida Philanthropic Network’s 2008 study on the Florida Nonprofit Sector, we’re going to make the case that this is a vital business industry to the economic well-being of our state.

The nonprofit industry is the state’s fourth largest employer. In 2005 there were 17,814 nonprofits including 4,128 private foundations. In 2005, the nonprofits of Florida employed nearly 630,000 workers which represents one out of every 20 workers in the state. Also as of 2005, the industry generated $48.1 billion in revenues, spent $44.5 billion including over $14.6 billion in wages and compensation and generated at least $300 million of sales tax revenues for Florida governments.

Florida does lag behind the rest of the U.S. in average charitable contribution per $1000 of income as well as volunteering rate. It is not clear if this is a function of the fact that the state has a disproportionately high number of senior citizens or that its median wage is 8% below the U.S. average even though the cost of living is higher than the U.S. average.

Whatever you believe, the nonprofit industry is one of the fastest growing employment sectors in the state and contributes to the quality of life through both good works and financial value.