Liberal arts in a new era

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the effectiveness and outcomes of liberal arts in preparing people for adult roles. Design/methodology/approach – Review of research and opinions about the liberal arts. Findings – Liberal-arts outcomes results have fallen short of expectations though this may be a short coming of higher education generally. A new era of the knowledge society will shrink liberal-arts departments in humanities, literature and philosophy. Research limitations/implications – Liberal arts need definition and clarity of expected outcomes. Practical implications – Jobs in liberal arts colleges will decrease given its weak effectiveness. Online education for liberal-arts areas will grow explosively. Originality/value – Liberal-arts critics have been active for decades. What is different today is world wide access to all information 24/7 and massive open online courses (MOOCs).