2008 - Marketing Educators' Association

• recognizing that ideas and human life are
complex and not easily explainable.
By reading and analyzing texts, the students engage
in collaborative dialogue, develop awareness of
diverse kinds of human knowledge, their uses, and
their fundamental unity; and appreciation for the
process of discovery and the search for meaning.
Isn’t this what we have to do when we are making
decisions in group settings, like the ones that we find
in corporate marketing departments? Doesn’t it
resonate as an ideal client-vendor conversation
exchange?
The Great Books Program helps lay the foundation
for a successful training of marketers. It is not a
substitute for a functional emphasis, but rather it
gives marketers the skills necessary to make better
decisions, be more creative, continuously learn, and
be more open to external ideas while at the same
time being more fluent and persuasive in their
communications.
CONCLUSION AND FUTURE RESEARCH
We have shown that a classical liberal arts education
can be an excellent base for a marketing education.
It gives students a set of skills that are uniquely
useful not only as they continue their studies but also
as professionals either in the corporate world,
government or the not-for-profit sector. These skills,
including the formation of abstract concepts,
analytical skills, independent thinking, leadership
ability, mature social and emotional judgment,
appreciation of cultural experiences, and oral and
written communication skills are precisely those often
reported by corporate leaders as lacking in business
education today.
A liberal arts education, based on the Great Books
Program, serves as a solid bridge to clear the gap
between the needs of companies and the skills
university graduates typically have to offer. In
addition, it prepares students for a more rigorous and
comprehensive marketing curriculum.
We have taken a relatively high view of the
connection between marketing education and liberal
arts curriculum. Future research avenues could focus
on a closer look at specific skills to be gained from it
or the specific connections between classical
readings and marketing concepts.
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