The saying ‘knowledge is power’ is an old adage, that must transform into ‘critical thinking is power.’ Living in a day and age where anything you could want to learn is as close as a google search away, it becomes no longer a question of knowledge, but of understanding—of the way we view and interact with the world and the other people in it.
A liberal arts education seeks to expand our way of thinking about and understanding the world. It has its necessary components of learning concrete ‘knowledge,’ but where the true power of a liberal arts education is the opportunity to develop the ability to decipher fact from fiction, to acknowledge biases, to view life from another person’s eyes, and to collaborate across disciplines and backgrounds.
Inside of a commitment to ‘be the change you wish to see in the world,’ there is no room for the righteousness that is the human-trap of knowledge. We have to instead be open to being told we are wrong, that we have a skewed view, or that we may be missing the point. However, I don’t say that to mean we should give up on what we are committed to, it’s actually quite the opposite case. We have to be the courageous ones willing to put ourselves on the line for the things we care about.
As someone who has a liberal arts education with emphases on biomedical engineering and gender and women’s studies, it’s my job to put myself first into the intersection of these fields. Any fears I have yield to my conviction that the world needs the love and compassion I have to offer. Although, I’m not the first, nor the last to put myself into this arena. In this sense, it is silly to think that sitting back and waiting for someone to make the contribution or be the change I want to see in the world is a better plan of action. It is clear to me that the study of gender and women’s studies with no application to other fields is completely counter to the study of it at all. The concepts of sex and gender and sexuality can’t remain as academic definitions used only in feminist-based fields; they must be brought to historically sexist or divided fields. It’s in this melding of disciplines that we can make a difference for those who are historically left behind or disadvantaged.
An ethnic studies counseling psychology class I took in 2016 opened my eyes to all the ways my identity intersects—from the places I have privilege to the places I myself am disadvantaged. It gave me a chance to reflect on my identity in more ways than I had ever thought of it before—from my race, socioeconomic status, gender, sex, sexuality, education-level, and many more. More importantly, however, it gave me a chance to see where these intersect: where my status as a woman interacts with my male-dominated engineering education or where my whiteness affects the perspective I have on money. I had never had a place to see and acknowledge my biases and privilege so freely than in this class. By gaining an understanding of the perspective I naturally have on the world, I got that the world wasn’t necessarily that way or any one way at all. And if the world isn’t the one way I see it, I have more power to interact with people and see things from their perspective.
That is just one example of the contribution that I want to be in the world, but I see this all over my life. It’s in the kind of friend I am for people—the one that they can say anything to and be unconditionally accepted and loved—but mostly the one that stands for their greatness expressed in the world. It’s in the way I spend my time promoting innovation and entrepreneurship on campus through my networking and group work, but also in putting my ideas up for scrutiny by distinguished faculty and entrepreneurs. It’s in the way I am constantly looking for the connection and relation of one class’s concepts to another that is indicative of my well-rounded liberal arts education.
Without the support of gracious mentors on campus and a liberal arts perspective on education, I wouldn’t have developed into the critical thinking, passionate, and resilient change agent I am now. Through coursework, projects, and simple conversations, I have experienced the heartbreak of not achieving a goal and the wave of power and excitement that comes with finding a partner that is just as passionately invested in what I’m up to. The charge from Ghandi “be the change you wish to see in the world” is really the opportunity to play full out in your life, because why not?
“This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.
I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community, and as long as I live it is a privilege to do for it whatever I can.
I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no “brief candle” for me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.”
George Bernard shaw
As one of my favorite quotes by George Bernard Shaw goes, my life isn’t just for me, and isn’t just for my comfort. It is the opportunity of a lifetime; the opportunity to be the possibility I see the world as—one of freedom, fulfillment, connection, and love. The realization of this future is grounded on the education of the citizens of our world in what it means to be human, as well as the realization of the power of understanding the world in a broader sense and creating their unique purpose and role in it.
[This essay was adapted from a version I wrote in February of 2017]