LAST EDITED ON May-22-00 AT 12:38PM (EST)[p]Very interesting question, Rod.
As someone who has a very strong bias in favor of the liberal arts, both from a philosophical (I like the idea) and a pragmatic (to survive today, people really NEED to have a wide-ranging background) point of view, I prefer guys with broad backgrounds.
But, expanding upon the traditional definition of liberal arts, to be an educated man today I would include a rigorous education in the fundamentals of science and mathematics in the mix. I would also include at least a familiarity with the social sciences, including economics. And I think that acquiring at least a working familiarity with at least one foreign language should be considered fundamental to an appreciation of other cultures.
I am sometimes saddened and sometimes appalled by new college grads who tell me they were too busy to take arts courses or music or language. When asked last December by a soon-to-graduate senior what he should take in his final semester, I discovered he had none of these; his whole course of study had been in his major in the sciences and in closely related fields. I advised him to take a music course, an art history course, a semester of language, a history course and a class in English composition -- advice he took. The last I heard, he was enjoying his semester immensely.
Of course, a more fundamental error many of us make is to view learning as something that stops at college or grad school. In a world that is changing as fast as this one, if you aren't learning you are slipping behind -- quickly.
So, to answer your questions, I personally find people who have taken a liberal arts approach to life most interesting: learn the fundamentals of as many fundamental disciplines as possible, learn a great deal about at least one subject (the purpose of a major is, after all, to develop the ability to acquire and utilize strong knowledge and expertise in a field), and keep on learning.
Folks who have concentrated all of their learning on one area are often too focused to be much fun.