liberal students reported valuing intellectual freedom, creativity, and the chance to write original work and make a theoretical contribution to science. They outnumbered conservative students two to one in the humanities and social sciences — which are among the fields most likely to produce interest in doctoral study. Conservative students, however, put more value on personal achievement and orderliness, and on practical professions, like accounting and computer science, that could earn them lots of money.
- Conservatives Just Aren't Into Academe, Study Finds by Robin Wilson, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 02.22.08
“We cling to handwriting out of a romantic sense that script expresses identity.”
I'm not sure I agree with that but I think we should be focusing on typing ahead of handwriting with kids.
At one time justification of the arts and humanities was unnecessary because, as Anthony Kronman puts it in a new book, “Education’s End: Why Our Colleges and Universities Have Given Up on the Meaning of Life,” it was assumed that “a college was above all a place for the training of character, for the nurturing of those intellectual and moral habits that together form the basis for living the best life one can.”
- Will the Humanities Save Us? by Stanley Fish, Think Again (NY Times Blog), 01.06.08
Considering I have a Sociology degree with a minor in Creative Writing, I can't say that my college classes prepared me exceptionally well for my current career but that freshman year focused on The Roots of Western Civilization and Philosophy definitely have informed who I am and the choices I make. I consider Morality and Ethics and Truth and big ticket concepts like them in my every day life. I cycle through those words and ideas that resonated in class in real world scenarios all the time. I learned, perhaps more than anything, to continue to acquire knowledge. I don't believe I know everything or learned it all in kindergarten. My classes may not have taught me how to put together a great power point deck or excel at project and people management but I've acquired those skills and I use those character-enhancing handouts and discussions and microfiche sessions and trips to museums as constant reference points in my quest to be a good human being.
Goodness, I hope we still value our universities as those kinds of training grounds.
update: edited for grammar, 01.13.08