Re: [xmca] University & Conformity

Hope I am not replying to this one too late, but Mike's observations really
strike a chord with me. Particularily observation #1 which sums up my
undergrad experience @ Penn State. I have to say that I feel like I did not
learn how to learn until I got grad school. Yeah there were things that
interested me that I retained for my own purposes but the assessments in
general were pretty bad. My lack of interest in memorizing random tidbits of
a textbook reminded me too much of basic training, which when i was
undergrad i was trying to forget. Sadly I remember more from my military
experience -- though that's a different story.

Right now I am on a project which is studying engineering undergrads, and I
am often struck by how engineering educators suggest that an engineering
degree is the "new liberal arts degree". There seems to be a few meanings
attached to this phrase, but it gets under my skin how much the "old liberal
arts degree" means little of anything anymore. In order to do anything with
such a degree, you need to have some graduate degree. So how and when did
the bachelor's degree become so proletarian? It seems you can say the same
about a master's degree as well now.

andy
_______________________________________________
xmca mailing list
xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
Received on Tue May 27 08:53 PDT 2008