Quote:
Originally Posted by Davis Webb
One of my contentions is that there has been a shift from teaching how to think and be a good citizen, learning philosophy, art, history, literature, politics, basic science, law and psychology toward a career-focused path.
I am not certain that people who know nothing of the above mentioned subjects should even be allowed to vote, much less command our businesses and institutions.
Without a fundamental knowledge of history, it is hard to make sense of the present. Without philosophy one cannot critique ideas without passion. Without art and literature, one is reduced to memes and what mass media presents. Without science, law and psychology we cannot make sense of justice, illness, crime or punishment.
My fear is that we are educating people now to do a job, not to live the life of the mind. The result would be a dumbing down of America and Canada (the only systems I have experienced), so that we have a gullible population who can hate as easily as they love.
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This topic is interesting to me and I’ll try not to rant. I began my adult life in a trade. I ran a construction company for over a decade, then went back to school and paid for my tuition (with loans) while raising a family. I paid for 3 of my kids college education with no financial aid, so I have a sense about cost/benefit as a consumer. —Then, I entered academia and served as a professor for 30 years at a large Land Grant University. As is often the case I was hired from within as a Department Head and ended my career as a Dean. So I understand cost/benefit from the administrative side too. I can tell you that making the sausage can get very messy. Budgets are constrained (especially when State budgets get cut halfway through a year as often happened in our case.) Demands are high. Overall, operational revenue and resources don’t match demand.
However, what I would like to emphasize is that the quality and breadth of the educational opportunities are plentiful. Students in general are thoughtful, critical, and well served. From my experience as a student, parent of students, instructor and as an administrator managing academic programs, while balancing institutional needs - I can assure you there is no shortage af skill, devotion and passion on either side of the desk. There are some bad actors and some institutions do a much better job than others. Speaking with colleagues throughout the country (and world), there are no shortage of common challenges. But it’s like anything else, there’s good, bad and ugly. A college experience is not and should not be for everyone, but everyone benefits from what Higher Education delivers IMO. There’s simply no cookie-cutter evaluation.