(04-30-2021 06:55 PM)HoustonRocks Wrote: Does not every school meet the classic definition of liberal arts education ?
The case -- and I'm not saying it's ironclad -- is that we have a lot more specialization in higher education today.
How many humanities classes does an engineering major take at most schools?
And at most "liberal arts" schools, I would say that a BA can be gained with minimal STEM exposure.
I've got four daughters in school. Three at schools classed as small liberal arts schools. One finished undergrad with what we would have called a Communications degree, but it is Interactive Media these days - so checks the "tech" block, but very little science or math, and no engineering. (She's now in a one year Masters program, also in Interactive Media, at another "liberal arts school.")
Two have been in science/math majors at a small liberal arts school, so they're getting that well-rounded thing.
Youngest is at a recognizable name school, classified as a private research university, ...she's in an interdisciplinary program, so full marks for the current perception of liberal arts, but not the grounding in sciences for that "classic liberal arts education" definition.
The bigger point for Navy, again, is that there are really only two other schools like us -- I suppose you could add in Coast Guard and Merchant Marine Academies. For the point of the thread, we don't do research, so we suffer in rankings that are weighted for research.