Liberal arts colleges add classes to prepare students for jobs : College : Ventura County Star

Liberal arts colleges add classes to prepare students for jobs : College : Ventura County Star: “Longtime Middlebury College economics professor Michael Claudon should have been ecstatic. More and more students at the quintessential Vermont liberal arts school — nearly 1 in 6 — had picked his department as a major.

“But Claudon could tell many students weren’t taking his classes because they loved economics. They just thought it would help them get jobs.

“When he asked students once what they would do if there were some other way to get the kinds of experiences they thought employers wanted, one piped up: ‘I sure as hell wouldn’t be here.’

“That comment was the genesis of a new class Claudon developed with alumni in business, designed to give students intense experiences that mimic real-world problem-solving.”