To the Editor:
After reading "Welcome, Class of 2001" by Kenji Hosokawa '98 [Sept. 24, The Dartmouth], I had to wonder whether Hosokawa has ventured outside his computer lab lately. For the benefit of the '01's, allow me to quickly disassemble his dogmatic construct of the means and ends of a Dartmouth education.
First, there is a very good reason why "liberal arts" should be, and is, the basis of your college education. Dartmouth graduates all kinds of people, but the one common thread evident in nearly all alumni(ae) is that they are superior communicators. When a Government or History professor demands two papers, a midterm, and a final, the purpose is not to test your ability to memorize facts and theories, but rather to cause you to synthesize course material with the purpose of discovering how well you can express an idea or opinion. Stated differently, a liberal education is an exercise in massaging the English language for the purpose of effectively conveying thought.
One may wonder why this matters, especially if one has his sights set on trading shares of IBM or Microsoft, or speculating on pork-belly futures. Well, even on Wall Street, you not only have to be intelligent, but you have to know how to, in Hosokawa's words, "schmooze." Knowledge of C++ is not going to help you at a cocktail party if your boss wants to know what you think about Newt Gingrich's continuing efficacy as a leader. Mr. Hosokawa, do you have any conception of what kind of an idiot you are going to look like if you say "Um, I dunno?" Let me give you a hint: a big idiot.
This brings me to my second point. The ability to effectively convey thought is only valuable if you have thoughts to convey. A liberal education forces (well, prods) a student to study a number of different disciplines: politics, history, religion, and art, to name a few. While, admittedly, one will forget most of the details, the liberally-educated student will leave college much more aware of his surroundings than when he entered. Perhaps that tidbit of information you gleaned from Govy 6 will impress your boss, leading to more opportunity and, yes...
...more money. Mr. Hosokawa, I do not endorse your sense of greed, but you should know that during the last two or three years -- that is, during the most recent run-up in equity valuations -- attorneys have, per capita, been the highest-paid professionals, and physicians have come in a close second. Education loans are an issue in the short-term, but if $300,000+ per year is what you really want, there are surer ways of getting there than trading securities. In the end, the highest-paid professionals will always be those who can effectively interrelate and communicate with other people. The ability to synthesize complex algorithms may pay, but reasoned and intelligent expression simply pays more. Think about that.
