[xmca] Is it a university or just a factory?

Oh, no. Don't get me started on the deterioration of standards in undergraduate education!
This is obviously not a concern of a few of us worrywarts alone. I was eager to read the letter
Gordon Wells sent to his uni on this issue but whatever he attached didn't seem to stick for long.
Probably better for my blood pressure that I don't read it.... ;-]
 
Maybe we can't change the institution, but we may be able to change a student. And that is our first
responsibility, isn't it?
 
 
Keep your stick on the ice, gentlemen,
 
A. Radowick
Inha University
Incheon, Korea

> From: xmca-request who-is-at weber.ucsd.edu> Subject: xmca Digest, Vol 36, Issue 57> To: xmca@weber.ucsd.edu> Date: Tue, 27 May 2008 12:00:09 -0700> > Send xmca mailing list submissions to> xmca@weber.ucsd.edu> > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit> http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca> or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to> xmca-request@weber.ucsd.edu> > You can reach the person managing the list at> xmca-owner@weber.ucsd.edu> > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific> than "Re: Contents of xmca digest..."> > > Today's Topics:> > 1. Re: Translation help again (Mike Cole)> 2. Re: University & Conformity (David Preiss)> 3. Re: Translation help again (Michalis Kontopodis)> 4. Re: University & Conformity (Andy Jocuns)> > > ----------------------------------------------------------------------> > Message: 1> Date: Mon, 26 May 2008 19:24:30 -0700> From: "Mike Cole" <lchcmike@gmail.com>> Subject: Re: [xmca] Translation help again> To: "Margaret Woodruff-Wieding" <mwieding@austin.rr.com>> Cc: "eXtended Mind, Culture,Activity" <xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>> Message-ID:> <30364f990805261924p229c1164u28645713a48dda46@mail.gmail.com>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1> > Thanks very much, Margaret. The context is a marvelous article by Dwight> Conquergood on communication> as performance and he is quoting Victor Turner. One of the great things> about teaching in the UCSD comm> department is that we get to read and teach this kind of material.> mike> > On Mon, May 26, 2008 at 5:20 PM, Margaret Woodruff-Wieding <> mwieding@austin.rr.com> wrote:> > > Yes. Selbstverstaendnis vs. Fremdverstaendnis, out of context, would> > normally be translated as you suggest. In fact, those terms might be used> > for two of the eight kinds of emotional intelligence of which popular> > psychology speaks: intrapersonal intelligence vs. interpersonal> > intelligence. Can you give me the context?> > Margaret Woodruff-Wieding> >> > -----Original Message-----> > From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu] On> > Behalf Of Mike Cole> > Sent: Monday, May 26, 2008 6:43 PM> > To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity> > Subject: [xmca] Translation help again> >> > Can anyone help with this. I am betting my students will not understand> > these terms> > and I sure don't.> >> > selbstverstandnis versus fremverstandnis???> >> > selfunderstanding versus understanding of the other??> >> > mike> > _______________________________________________> > xmca mailing list> > xmca@weber.ucsd.edu> > http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca> >> >> > > ------------------------------> > Message: 2> Date: Tue, 27 May 2008 00:51:00 -0400> From: David Preiss <davidpreiss@uc.cl>> Subject: Re: [xmca] University & Conformity> To: "eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity" <xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>> Message-ID: <5D2FB6EC-4E90-4E4F-A7E5-30442265E423@uc.cl>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; delsp=yes; format=flowed> > What surprises me more of this thread is the universal crisis of > universities as intellectual entities and, in particular, of > undergraduate education: it is interesting to notice, through this > thread, how the same issues arise in very different contexts, very > different times, very different political environments. But, I > wonder, did it ever exist a university such as that as we dream of? > How would that university look like? I empathize with many of the > quotations and comments, however I teach in a very different > institutions than those already mentioned.> > Universities are placed in a space of conflicting demands: on the one > hand, they exist to reproduce cultural capital (like it or not) and, > consequently, they are essentially conservative institutions; on the > other hand, they are supposed to protect thinking & free speech, to > produce innovation, to act as a critical agent in society. On a > different dimension, universities are asked to promote > internationalization at the same time they are asked to protect > national values. Or religious ones.> > At the same time, academics are supposed to act as free thinkers but > they are always constrained by the multiple demands of the academic > life, social conformity, pledge to the methods of a discipline, > subordination to an academic career. And students are asked to think > freely at the same time they are supposed to abide to the requisites > of a curriculum. Truly intellectual life is elsewhere, so it seems. > (Maybe in the life of a "flaneur" a la Benjamin? That is, in total > dispossession? )> > And so it goes. It makes me think of what Mike has said about the > fact that schooling has not changed in centuries, from Sumerian time > through modern mass education.> > Thus, the issue, the crisis is universal, permanent, repetitive. > Undergrads do not learn the way we want they learn, teachers do not > or cannot teach as we want them to teach. Same cry everywhere: in > public universities, but also in private ones (however what Mike just > said); in universities enrolling elite overachieving students; and in > universities enrolling students that drop.> > How can such different contexts produce such similar dynamics? Where > are the origins of this crisis? Can this crisis be solved at all? > Were not the guys at the 60s protesting against the same thing? > Universities supposedly changed after the 60s. Did they, really?> > David> > > On May 26, 2008, at 9:31 PM, Gordon Wells wrote:> > >> I really doubt that this is a sensitive or delicate issue for > >> participants> >> in XMCA, Eric;> >> it would be sad if you were correct.> >> > I am sufficiently stung by the suggestion that the state of our > > universities and colleges is too sensitive for university teachers > > on xmca to get involved in the discussion to post a brief reply. I > > am in fact leaving tomorrow morning for a small conference on > > "Learning in Higher Education" and at the forthcoming ISCAR > > conference I have organized a symposium on CHAT and Higher > > Education, which I hope some of you will attend.> >> > Just over a year ago there was a meeting on the UCSC campus to > > discuss the long-range development plan (DSAP). At that meeting > > both the acting chancellor and the executive vice-chancellor spoke > > proudly about the high quality of our undergraduate program, as > > demonstrated by the high rank of our campus in getting > > undergraduates into postgraduate programs. I took the opportunity > > to suggest that there was equally cause for concern at the high > > dropout rate and the lack of serious interest in really engaging > > with the ideas presented in their courses shown by many students. > > At the EVC's invitation, I put my comments in writing and sent them > > to him. I received no reply. For those who are interested, I am > > attaching a copy of the letter that I sent to the EVC.> >> > Gordon> > -- > > Gordon Wells> > Department of Education> > University of California, Santa Cruz http://people.ucsc.edu/ > > ~gwells<Response to > > DSAP.doc>_______________________________________________> > xmca mailing list> > xmca@weber.ucsd.edu> > http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca> > David Preiss, Ph.D.> Subdirector de Extensión y Comunicaciones> Escuela de Psicología> Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile> Av Vicuña Mackenna - 4860> 7820436 Macul> Santiago, Chile> > Fono: 3544605> Fax: 3544844> e-mail: davidpreiss@uc.cl> web personal: http://web.mac.com/ddpreiss/> web institucional: http://www.epuc.cl/profesores/dpreiss> > > > > > ------------------------------> > Message: 3> Date: Tue, 27 May 2008 09:58:03 +0200> From: Michalis Kontopodis <michalis.kontopodis@staff.hu-berlin.de>> Subject: Re: [xmca] Translation help again> To: mcole@weber.ucsd.edu, "eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity"> <xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>> Message-ID: <8201ABF3-CFF3-4DA9-B474-CAC3134E4491@staff.hu-berlin.de>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes> > Mike, probably: self-conception vs. conception of the other> > greetings,> > m.> > > On May 27, 2008, at 1:43 AM, Mike Cole wrote:> > > Can anyone help with this. I am betting my students will not > > understand> > these terms> > and I sure don't.> >> > selbstverstandnis versus fremverstandnis???> >> > selfunderstanding versus understanding of the other??> >> > mike> > _______________________________________________> > xmca mailing list> > xmca@weber.ucsd.edu> > http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca> > > > ------------------------------> > Message: 4> Date: Tue, 27 May 2008 08:51:27 -0700> From: "Andy Jocuns" <jocunsa@gmail.com>> Subject: Re: [xmca] University & Conformity> To: "eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity" <xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>> Message-ID:> <43c4db160805270851s7bc84fadm3ff4951f30b9d370@mail.gmail.com>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1> > 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> > > End of xmca Digest, Vol 36, Issue 57> ************************************
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Received on Tue May 27 23:28 PDT 2008