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<p>That straw is all wet, UCB. Part of the mentoring process that is part and parcel of the LAC teaching model is that majors are gradually steered toward what their professors are interested in. There may not be a lot of breadth; a lot of the professors were chosen to teach where they are because of how their research dove-tailed with other senior faculty. But, the purpose of a liberal arts education isn’t to understand every niche of every academic discipline that exists anywhere in the world. Even a big research university wouldn’t promise that. Rather, the purpose is to acquire the tools to “learn how to learn” about any academic niche out there. And, you can do that in a small department just as well as with a large department. </p>
<p>Furthermore, assuming that person is fulfilling the liberal arts ideal, by spreading their course work outside the science division, that leaves room for about seven or eight courses that are truly elective in nature, over the space of about two and half years. I don’t care how big your science department is, no one is going to be able to take every course listed in the catalogue, and with the person who entered freshman year, truly naive as to their probable major, it is even less likely.</p>