What is it about public speaking?

Public Speaking is a widely offered skills course at the college and university level, yet not among the course offerings at many of the most prestigious liberal arts schools. Why is that? Public speaking is one of the original seven liberal arts, under the rubric of rhetoric, and closely tied to two others -- logic and grammar. Its skills are fundamental to the goals of higher education (cogent presentation of ideas and information) and to enacting citizenship, community, and even  family. (Of course, if you're reading this blog, I probably don't have to convince you about the importance of enacting public speaking at the college level.)

This blog will explore questions that arise from the presence -- and absence -- of public speaking courses in higher education, more specifically the connections between public speaking and a liberal arts curriculum.

As an opening (and rather basic) premise, perhaps a standard public speaking class is too skills based for inclusion in the course offerings at elite liberal arts school--although the skills are clearly valued. When I looked up US News and World Report's first-ranked liberal arts college, Williams, I received one "hit" for public speaking in their "Online Catalog 2011-2012" (which is unusual -- other school websites that I've investigated typically yield many more). The mention is part of a description for "Museum Associates":

 "The Museum Associates Program of the Williams College Museum of Art provides students an opportunity to broaden their knowledge of art and art history, to learn about the field of museum education, and to develop valuable communication and public speaking skills while working with the public. The only academic requirement is the completion of ArtH 101-102."

Similarly, at other highly-ranked liberal arts schools, public speaking is an outcome (formal and informal) for academic programs, but often not a dedicated class. Bates College (#21) offered (the last time seemed to be 2009) Geology majors an "Arctic Workshop," founded in part to give graduate students "an opportunity to present their ongoing research, gain experience in public speaking, and obtain feedback from more senior researchers." Other schools cheerfully point to public speaking as part of a program experience. Bryn Mawr's (#25) May 2010 Alumnae Bulletin described a student's internship with the China Youth Climate Action Network:

Zhang founded a program to train 130 students and young professionals to deliver public talks that spread the message about climate change in their communities. The effort involved soliciting funding, selecting and training speakers, and obtaining media coverage.

It’s no surprise the internship greatly improved her skills in a number of areas, including public speaking and event organizing. 

In addition to academic programs, public speaking is often linked to career skills, which I'll explore in a future entry, and to broader, capstone-type goals. At my alma mater, Kenyon College (#33), public speaking is one of the goals for the Senior Exercise: "Develop and demonstrate speaking ability--through public presentations, roundtable discussions or symposia with peers, or through oral exams, etc."   

My starting questions for this blog, then, will be: How do liberal arts institutions convey this clearly-valued skill?  Other questions, and hopefully a few answers, to follow.