A Reason for Liberal Education

Today in class there was a comment made about some people having to take "a bunch of pointless math classes."  As a computer science major and a math minor, this got me thinking.  Are people complaining because they don't understand the purpose of such classes, are they too hard, or would they just rather develop their specific skill set? 

I think this question is the base of liberal learning, in some form.  As a computer science major I understand the importance of my math classes.  Understanding math unlocks a whole world of programming and computer science.  Because of my math education I can understand and theorize about math problems that would take forever to solve, or even those which are impossible to solve.  I also understand that a knowledge in the sciences is another invaluable tool for a programmer, just like any other field.  The truth is that a computer programmer may need to be able to program a business application, a chemistry application, a web application, or even an education application.  We are all tied together in one way or another.  This dosen't just apply to computer science either.  You have journalists (a BA style degree) that may cover your basic news, but there are reporters doing story over technilogical advances, medical stories, and other areas of discipline as well.

The bottom line is that liberal education opens your mind up to these fields and possibilities.  What if you love kids and you want to be a teacher/counselor for them?  Is it not important to understand the world they live in rather than just how to teach/counsel them?  Things like learning how children are so connected by the internet, ways to relate to them, and ways they deal with the things we once dealt with as kids.  We need to open our minds to the things that don't necessarily appeal to us.

By developing a very narrow skill set it becomes harder to be flexible as time progresses.  As time progresses the world inevitibly changes.  We must realize this pattern and be able to adapt to it.  A liberal education provides the opportunity to do such.