the value of the liberal arts

Franklin College embodies a liberal arts tradition that is too often forgotten in higher education and our increasingly digital world. The liberal arts, further, provide an important foundation for any journalist. In my three years as a professional reporter, editor, and newsroom leader, my life as a liberal arts student added several important dimensions to how I understand the stories I cover each day. Three of these dimensions, however, will continue to impact my professional career: The importance of applying empathy, embracing curiosity and valuing creativity and craft in all endeavors. 

Shirk Hall, home to the Pulliam School of Journalism at Franklin College. Photo provided by The Franklin, the student-led news magazine of Franklin College.

When executed correctly, learning topics that make us uncomfortable is the only way to build true empathy. At Franklin College, empathy is a core tenet of its diverse classes and immersive learning experiences, which give students like me direct exposure to the conversations, people, and cultural awareness needed to appreciate the world outside Indiana – and the world within Indiana, too.

As a student, I made my first study abroad trip to perhaps the last place I would have expected: Japan. In January 2020, I spent 17 days in the country, some 14 hours away from the home I’ve always known, traveling by foot and shinkansen. Our class visited three cities, including the revolutionary Tokyo; Kyoto, the country’s ancient capital; and Hiroshima, the western city that survived an atomic bomb attack by the United States in World War II. While the experience as a whole reminded our class of an important feeling — that the world is so much larger and more complex than the United States — it was our experience in Hiroshima that taught me the most about exploring empathy. It was in Hiroshima our group met with a hibakusha, a woman who had survived the atomic bombing, which happened when she was a school girl no older than age 7. She recounted losing her young brother in the attack, and the near lifetime of hatred she bore towards Americans as a result.

The Hiroshima Peace Memorial offers a stark reminder of the many who died in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan in World War II. Through the memorial, visitors can see the Genbaku Dome, the remains of the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Hall building that withstood the attack.

This immersive experience, combined with additional coursework, lectures, and background reading before and during the trip, served as a pivotal lesson in the power of empathy. Of course, one does not need to cross oceans to learn important lessons in empathy; at Franklin College, the value is embedded in many other experiences, including in courses on history, religion and philosophy, law, and even statistics, where students are instructed in the importance of ethical research and pitfalls like confirmation bias. Understanding these traits as a natural part of being human and coming from a privileged upbringing offered important guidance to my work as a journalist, where one is expected to speak with people of all backgrounds, experiences, and motivations. 

As a journalist, no two days are the same. That’s why the liberal arts’ ability to imbue students with curiosity and a love for lifelong learning is essential to an aspiring reporter. While completing my immersion semester in 2019 reporting for TheStatehouseFile.com, my days jumped from topic to topic. On some days, I would cover the writing of the state’s two-year budget; on others, I would cover the debate around predatory loans, mental health in schools, and assisted reproduction. I was prepared for this fast-paced environment thanks to the many exploratory and liberal arts courses embedded in Franklin College’s curriculum, The Pursuit. From learning about the history of religion in America as a secular (but curious) individual, to studying the influence of privilege and bias on critical studies in a statistics course, my time as a liberal arts student exposed me to new, bold, and necessary ideas about the world that better equipped me to understand the stories I encountered as a journalist. More important, though, is how the curriculum encouraged students like me to always ask questions, and to never be satisfied with the first set of answers. As a student in the college’s Intercultural Honors Experience, for example, I had the opportunity as a freshman to embark on my first major research project. The course and its instructors pushed me beyond my boundaries to study immigration policies in foreign countries and to understand them not just on their face, but as active decisions that affect real people.

Finally, my liberal arts education also encouraged my creativity. It sharpened my eye for artistry and confirmed the importance of mastering a craft through careful reflection and diligent work. As part of the arts requirement of the curriculum, for instance, I chose to take an introduction to creative writing class. The course served as a workshop, in which our writing was regularly reviewed and discussed in small groups or in a collective seminar. The course instructor often encouraged us to embrace “radical change,” and to offer the same to the writers we counseled each day. This philosophy made me see — perhaps for the first time — the power of constructive feedback, and how mastering a craft is tied to a conscious process of practice and revision.

Old Main, the primary academic and administrative building at Franklin College. Photo provided by The Franklin, the student-led news magazine of Franklin College.