Windows and Bridges as Metaphors for Learning and Life

This past week my colleague, Dr. Keely Baronak, and I spoke with the campus community at the Carlow Forum about the launch of the new College of Education and Social Work and what it means for Carlow University. We focused our conversation on three themes: transformation, liberal arts as education for a great career and a meaningful life, and meeting the next great need. These focal areas which are at the heart of the work our colleges do, resonated strongly with the community leading to rich discussion and feedback from faculty and staff attendees.

 Liberty Bridge, Pittsburgh. Source: Wikimedia Commons

In this post I offer just one facet of that conversation: a metaphor that resonates with me and that  captures, in an affective and impressionistic way, what an education grounded in the liberal arts “does” for students on their educational journeys. In a previous blog post, I reflected on the skills of the liberal arts and how these connect with the qualities employers most seek in their employees. As important as that information is for understanding the relevance of liberal arts today, it does not give the whole picture. This metaphor attempts to get at it in a different way. 

The way I’m beginning to think about an education grounded in the liberal arts is like a ride on the T. [Side note: The T is Pittsburgh’s public rail transit. Second side note: When I first moved to Pittsburgh in 2015, I assumed the T was a reference to the train. Not so. For Pittsburghers, it is actually the trolley. I thought yinz would appreciate this.] 

Think about it. As a student you are on an educational journey, a degree pathway. It starts at a particular station, orientation, and ends at another one, graduation. And along the way you are literally moving to a new place, a place you want to get to. 

Taking the T from the south hills, like I do most days, there are some great views along the way—especially coming over the hill through the Allentown neighborhood. Just as you crest the hill, all of a sudden the city view opens up. And it is just beautiful. To the right is the Cathedral of Learning and Oakland. Ahead is downtown and all its beautiful buildings. And to the left is Acrisure Stadium and Point State Park. And of course, every direction I look are the bridges, making connections possible across the rivers. This panoramic view often surprises me and always gives me a really interesting moment of perspective on where I work, where I live, and also the beauty in this world.

But one day I thought: imagine if there were no windows on the T. It would still do what it needed to do: take me from point a to point b. It would not take any less time or more time. But I would, without even knowing it, miss out on the incredible view—a view I would not get at any other point in my day. I would miss out on the perspective I could gain from looking out from that view, and just the enjoyment of the experience.

Pittsburgh Skyline. Source: Wikimedia Commons

In a very real way, this is what an education grounded in the liberal arts is like. If attaining a degree is a train journey from point a to point b, from orientation to graduation, as a student you need to get to point b with the foundational skills, experiences, and qualifications you need for the career you aspire to. Nurses need to learn a set of baseline clinical skills. Educators need skills in classroom management and curriculum and instruction. Computer scientists need fundamental coding and technical skills. That is what a student’s major provides them.

But at colleges and universities which offer an education grounded in the liberal arts, students also have windows to the world around them. The windows are an opportunity to see a fuller picture of human life, of nature, of the vitality of our world. Liberal arts—natural sciences, humanities, social sciences, creative arts, history, philosophy, ethics, theology— are like those windows, inviting a wider view. They not only enhance a person’s journey, but also invite new perspective on that journey. They might invite curiosity and even inspire a person to travel some new routes. They might help develop empathy for those they see along the way, who are in very different life circumstances than they are.

So we can think of those non-major classes (e.g., the classes in the Carlow compass, or electives, or a minor in a different field) as windows on the journey of education—enriching your ride, giving you a larger perspective, and enhancing your life.

I owe this metaphor, in part, to John O’Donohue. He wrote about how we, as humans, can conceive of our lives as spacious rooms surrounded by large and open windows. Unfortunately, most of us become quite comfortable in one small corner of the room of our life, looking out of just one or two windows—the ones we are used to. The opportunity and invitation in life is to have the curiosity and courage to move around and explore the room of our lives, and to see what life looks like from other windows.

“Real growth is experienced when you draw back from that one window, turn, and walk around the inner tower of the soul and see all the different windows that await your gaze. Through these different windows, you can see new vistas of possibility, presence, and creativity. Complacency, habit, and blindness often prevent you from feeling your life. So much depends on the frame of vision—the window through which you look.” (John O’Donohue, Anam Cara)

To me, this is a beautiful image of opening ourselves to more of the experiences and opportunities that life offers us. This process of opening ourselves to more of the human experience is part of what a liberal arts education, when done well, can encourage within us.

Andy Warhol Bridge. Source: Wikimedia Commons

There is one further element of this metaphor I have been exploring. During my commute the windows also make it abundantly clear that you cannot get from here to there without crossing bridges.

And I now see that an education grounded in the liberal arts (and at Carlow, one grounded in values of mercy, service, and the dignity of every person), invites us to consider the bridges we need to cross in our world today. Bridges connect people, and metaphorically, they are a way of getting across differences.

In a moment like the present, with so much division and animosity, the skills of the liberal arts (listening, learning, considering others’ ideas) can help us see the world from many different perspectives and imagine, and build, bridges to reconnect with others across those differences.

Our social media-driven world and the AI transformation we are going through raise a lot of questions about how we all can preserve and foster meaningful human interactions and connections. Pope Leo challenges all of us to build what he calls “bridges of dialogue” that can help foster a sense of the brotherhood and sisterhood of all of us. In essence, this is a key part of creating a more just and merciful world.

In short, as I think about what an education grounded in the liberal arts offers students today, I think of windows and bridges: windows that expand our vision to encompass all the richness and beauty of the human experience; bridges to connect us across division and help foster connection and understanding.

What Liberal Arts Education Does and Why It Still Matters

Liberal arts education is doomed to an AI-fueled obsolescence. Or is it? With its focus on fostering deeply human skills such as empathy, creativity, and ethical reasoning, this might just be a moment in which a liberal arts education is more relevant than ever. Starting the new academic year in this transformational AI moment, many of us are asking ourselves what kind of education is needed now and into the future, and what value does a liberal arts education offer. 

Birmingham Museum of Art, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

A high-quality liberal arts education does many things, but two are especially critical today:

A liberal arts education helps you develop skills for a great career AND develop skills for a meaningful life.

 

This is so because an education grounded in the liberal arts:

 

• Energizes analytical thinking,
• Boosts creativity,
• Nurtures self-awareness,
• Elevates empathy, and
• Unlocks an appreciation for life.

Interestingly enough, these abilities align directly to five of the top eight core skills that employers say they are looking for in their employees. “Soft skills,” as they are sometimes called, are in high demand, and increasingly so in our AI world. (See the World Economic Forum's "The Future of Jobs Report 2025" for the details.)

A liberal arts education is invaluable because it:

Energizes analytical thinking. "Analytical thinking" is the top skill employers say they need. And rightly so. In any work environment, learning to formulate meaningful questions; synthesize information from multiple sources; create coherent arguments; question assumptions; apply moral and ethical reasoning to complex situations, are invaluable skills. As one AI-engineer shared with me, “AI can do Excel but you need to be able to think critically, think deeply across different problems, in order to make use of it and not be replaced by it.”

Boosts creativity. "Creative thinking" is fourth on employers’ lists of core skills they seek in their employees. While AI-generated content is all the rage right now, many people are voicing concerns, dissatisfaction, or outright disgust with some of the types of output they are encountering. It is even possible that we may see a swing back to interest in human-produced content: writing, music, poetry, art, books. See Jessica Stillman's interesting take that "The Rise of AI Will Make Liberal Arts Degrees Popular Again: Here's Why."

Nurtures self-awareness and Elevates empathy. Encountering the experiences of other people through music, movies, literature, poetry and art, we learn to visualize the stories of others. Opening our minds this way invites understanding and compassion, engaging other people and ourselves as whole persons. Martha C. Nussbaum explains:

We do not automatically see another human being as spacious and deep, having thoughts, spiritual longings, and emotions. It is all too easy to see another person as just a body—which we might then think we can use for our ends, bad or good. It is an achievement to see a soul in that body, and this achievement is supported by poetry and the arts, which ask us to wonder about the inner world of that shape we see—and, too, to wonder about ourselves and our own depths. (Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities, 102)

And note also that the number five core skill on employers’ lists is "motivation and self-awareness" while the number seven core skill is "empathy and active listening."

Unlocks an appreciation for life. Employers seek people who posses the core skills of "curiosity and lifelong learning" (number eight on their lists). Philosophy, theology, and related disciplines remind us that there is a gentle radiance, a quiet but luminous presence, a spiritual dimension, in all aspects of being: humans, living creatures, plants, inanimate objects, the earth itself. Depending on your view you might call this transcendence or the sacredness of creation; or you might say this world is enchanted, charmed with magic. Regardless, whether we perceive this mysterious aspect of the world depends largely on our ability to slow down, quiet our minds, and, with awareness, offer reverent attention to the world around us and the world within us. “But the magic of life is not about definitions and labels; it’s about love. About finding the beauty in the everyday motions of life” (Courtney Peppernell, Watering the Soul, p. 30). A liberal arts education invites us to appreciate the beauty and wonder of this world in which we live.

 

More than just practical in their own right, development of these skills and qualities prepares a person for "leadership and social influence," which is the number three skill sought by employers. Add “technological literacy” (#6) and “resilience, flexibility and agility” (#2) to your capabilities and you possess the top eight skills employers seek.

 

What can you do with these skills? Use them in all areas of your life to support meaningful relationships and meaningful work. A deeper sense of understanding who you are, appreciating the complexity of others, and an ability to engage each new circumstance with openness and creativity are qualities that will serve you well your whole life.

 

 

The Value of a Liberal Arts Education

Two national organizations dedicated to the meaningful delivery of university education issued a joint statement this week about the value of the liberal arts. The statement by these two organizations, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), is in response to a widespread trend which shows a devaluing of the liberal arts in American society today. The now common caricature and criticism of the liberal arts, particularly the idea of majoring in a liberal arts discipline in the humanities such as philosophy, history, theology, art, or English, is that they are not directly tied to training for a specific career outcome. And as students are steered toward other more clearly career-oriented majors that they can be sure will lead to a specific job, liberal arts enrollments have declined. This has often led to difficult decisions by university administrators to eliminate some liberal arts majors. It has also led to decisions by state legislatures who fund higher education about how to prioritize their limited funding. The result is a cycle that in the end reflects a societal devaluation of liberal arts education.

But, as the AAC&U and AAUP statement points out, it has long been known by employers that liberal arts are great preparation for many careers since, rather than focusing on one narrow set of technical skills (which may become irrelevant) the liberal arts prepare graduates with skills they will use in any career. These skills include the ability to learn quickly and learn on the job, a capacity for lifelong learning. They also include the ability to think deeply and critically, to understand complex problems, to draw on knowledge from a range of disciplines to solve problems, and to be creative in approaching challenges. In addition the liberal arts foster the ability to understand differing perspectives and, more importantly, people who have differing perspectives. The liberal arts promote empathy along with an understanding of culture and how it impacts individuals and groups.

All of those skills are more important in today’s society than they ever have been. Thus, the promotion of the liberal arts can readily be seen as needed for the sake of the public good. This shifts the focus from only the single issue of an individual having the option to choose liberal education to a broader issue: how to promote and foster what is needed for our society to thrive and to overcome its current challenges. Career education and technical training, as inherently valuable as those are, are not sufficient in themselves. A liberal arts education has a strong claim to being equally important for our world today, if not more so.

This week, in addition to being glad to see this joint statement about the liberal arts, I also came across a now classic essay entitled “Only Connect” by William Cronon. This essay, from twenty years ago, described the ten things that liberal arts enables people to do. The last was the phrase “only connect” which suggests the ability to take the many parts of a liberal education and make connections—between ideas, between events, as well as between people. I was surprised to see at the end of Cronon’s essay that he linked the liberal arts to one primary goal: love. A liberal arts education is not something one undertakes only for oneself, although the value to an individual can be great (see the salary surveys of liberal arts majors by mid-and late-career compared to other majors). Instead, the thinking, skills, and values of a liberal arts education provide one the perspective and motivation for service. Cronon wrote: “Liberal education nurtures human freedom in the service of human community, which is to say that in the end it celebrates love.” For Cronon, this is agape love, “the most powerful and generous form of human connection.” One need not look too far to find this notion rooted in the biblical ideals of love of God, the creator of the human community, and love of neighbor.

For those of us committed to lifelong learning, our own as well as that of our students, it is important to remember the value of what we do, both its roots and its outcomes, for individuals and for society. And in the current climate, to be aware of what may ultimately be at stake if liberal arts education continues to be devalued.