Readers unfamiliar with Scott Carlson’s newsletter “The Edge” (which appears on the The Chronicle of Higher Education) might find a post from this past summer inspiring and relevant to the work we do within vocation studies. In this post, he celebrates one of the winners of its “Edge Essay Contest”—Rachel Elliot Rigolino and her submission, “What My General-Studies Students Taught Me About Higher Ed’s Future.” As a lecturer of English and coordinator of the Supplemental Writing Workshop at the State University of New York at New Paltz, Rigolino uses her experience in these areas to argue “for the power of an unusual approach,” as Carlson writes, “in service to a nontraditional student population.”
These students are often those who return to higher education to complete their degrees after time away from school, whether for personal or professional reasons. The interdisciplinary nature of many general studies degree programs lend itself quite well to vocational exploration and discernment. As she works with the students in her program, Rigolino comes to appreciate how the degree allows them to identify meaningful ways to complete their coursework and to integrate important questions of identity, personal values, and profession experience into their intellectual growth. As she writes,
“A general studies or bachelor of general studies program lets students design their own college degree, within broad limits. Instead of majoring in a particular discipline, students can choose classes from a range of subjects to match their career goals or previous coursework.”
As she considers the ways that these kinds of degree programs have often not been valued within our universities and liberal arts colleges, Rigolino questions their supposed lack of rigor and prestige and challenges readers to rethink such critiques and consider their potential:
“Despite their ubiquity (almost 500 campuses now offer GS degrees), general-studies programs have often been viewed as less prestigious than traditional majors, a fallback option rather than a deliberate academic choice. Critics point to their lack of disciplinary focus, perceived lower academic rigor, and unclear career pathways. Yet these very features — breadth, flexibility, and adaptability — are precisely what make them so valuable in today’s shifting educational and professional landscapes.”
Ultimately, the stories Rigolino tells about her students’ integrative learning and accomplishments illustrate well why more of us might consider such degree programs in our own contexts, especially for the ways in which they have the potential to center vocational growth and professional development.
To access Carlson’s post, you can go to his column on the Chronicle’s website, which does require you to have an account and login.
Geoffrey W. Bateman is the editor of Vocation Matters.