One of our goals as business educators is to help students master the tools for determining and resolving personal/business challenges---including ethical issues. Views that business education is “vocational” or fails to provide critical life skills to students are based on myths about the content and depth of requirements in contemporary business school curricula. The analytical skills requisite to interpret Shakespeare, Plato, or Milton are not superior to those needed to interpret economist Friedman, financial theorist Modigliani, decision scientist Kahneman, or management scientist Simon—all winners of the Nobel Prize. In fact, as you will soon learn, business students in AACSB accredited programs are also required to study the great minds such as Milton or Plato.
Myth 1: Colleges of Arts and Sciences hold a monopoly on the production of liberally educated (however defined) students. This position often focuses on excessive specialization and holds that specialization is synonymous with professional education.
Fact: Specialization is present within the curriculum of every school in a university. Course programs in music, communications, journalism, or math can be as narrowly focused (or not) as classes in strength of materials or business policy.
Myth 2: Business students are not liberally educated.
Fact: All AACSB accredited schools of business require that their students earn at least 40% of their total credit hours from outside the school of business. As an accredited business school, our students are essentially involved in extensive studies of the arts, humanities, math, and the sciences during their first two years of study. Some business majors (e.g. industrial distribution) also take engineering and/or pre-med classes. Furthermore, the analytical and behavioral content of the next two years of study is extensive as they apply quantitative and behavior lessons learned in the arts and sciences to business issues. They also must master communication skills as they work through group presentations/case analysis--- and the rigorous process of defending defined solutions to complex problems. Business education produces a combined liberal-professional background.
Myth 3: Management education produces no new or socially beneficial knowledge.
Fact: While often criticized (and not perfect), our nations business structure is the envy of the globe. Like it or not, the free enterprise commerce system makes our country go and management education and research deals with the ever changing complex technical, behavioral, and ethical issues of commerce.
Instead of debating the merits of professional vs. a liberal education, let us celebrate the role of both and work for balance. To that end, a growing number of business schools are hiring PhDs from math and the behavioral sciences---and providing post doctorate one-year bridge programs---followed by active careers as teacher-scholars in business leadership education. Just this year, our school hired two new faculty members with PhDs in quantitative/math disciplines (along with graduate work in business) and significant high quality published research on business issues. The combination of cross-discipline training will accelerate as students see career opportunities in the not-for-profit or public policy arena aided by business school matriculation.
