I've not studied this, but my guess is that the liberal arts education as the foundation is necessary to allow young people a chance to figure out who they are. I certainly found this to be true for me and would guess for my closest college friends.

If a young person is exceptional, do we force them into a liberal arts box? Surely there is value in literature and history. But this one young woman had found her passion. I have to believe that is she found out about something else, she would take that on.

Maybe. What interested me at 17 certainly does not interest me now.