Stephan: At one level this movement away from the traditional four-year college, masters, doctorate structure of higher education, would seem like progressive trend. But I am not so sure because what I see increasingly is people trained in some technical skill who have never been trained to think, and who have no real comprehension of American history, or even how the government is set up to run. One of the things that so turned me off about Trump and his MAGAts is their deep willful ignorance. A Washington Post survey discovered:
Among the findings:
"Nearly 4 in 10 (39 percent) incorrectly said that the Constitution gives the president the power to declare war. Just more than half (54 percent) knew that the Constitution gives Congress the power to declare war.
"A vast majority (83 percent) correctly said that the Constitution gives Congress the power to raise taxes.
"A majority (77 percent) know that the Constitution says that Congress cannot establish an official religion — though almost 1 in 10 agreed with the statement that the Constitution says, “Congress can outlaw atheism because the United States is one country under God.”
Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center said in a statement, “Lack of basic civics knowledge is worrisome and an argument for an increased focus on civics education in the schools.”
If colleges are changing the need for well-grounded primary and secondary public education has never been greater. But that is not what is happening. As a result we will have an easily manipulated ignorant population. That is not a way to get democracy to thrive.
Georgia College and State University freshmen Ashlynn Anglin, right, and Meghan Murphy, second from right, wear face masks as they talk while walking through the campus in Milledgeville, Georgia on August 21, 2020. Credit: Alyssa Pointer/Atlanta Journal-Constitution/AP
The four-year, full-time college experience remains a rite of passage. In 2019, some 11 million students were enrolled in the nation’s four-year colleges, roughly three-quarters of them attending full-time.
But an eye-opening new survey finds that many Americans would like to see college become something very different: flexibly scheduled, available online, career oriented, and even linked to specific jobs or companies. As higher education struggles to redefine itself in an era of rising costs, explosive student debt, and a COVID-19 epidemic to boot, schools would do well to heed these findings.
The poll, which sampled 1,000 American adults in August, comes from the London-based global public opinion firm YouGov and was commissioned by the conservative-leaning Charles Koch Foundation. (The survey’s margin of error is +/– 3.3 percent.) It found that Americans are taking an increasingly transactional view of higher education, […]
My European friends have complained in recent years that so many of our business-oriented people can only talk business and demonstrate a lack of knowledge about the arts or music or literature, so American business folk have the reputation of being boring and clueless at European business conference luncheons and dinners where the business culture has wider horizons. Chipping away at the humanities—or as the article suggests, eliminating the humanities entirely—produces narrow minds and dull souls, in my opinion.
Rev. Dean
on Sunday, September 5, 2021 at 2:26 pm
I own over hundreds on every subject one could imagine and a box full of college lectures from the “Great Courses” website which add to my many years of formal education in college. I think everyone should continue their education throughout their lives. I am 74 and still keep learning especially on this website; thanks to Stephan.
Rev. Dean
on Monday, September 6, 2021 at 5:16 am
P.S.: that should have said hundreds of books, but some advertisement jumped in while I was typing. That happens a lot.
Rev. Dean
on Monday, September 6, 2021 at 10:42 am
P.S.2: Microsoft Edge gives a person a lot of viruses and “pop-up” commercials as opposed to Internet Explorer. I would much rather stay with I.E. using “DuckDuckGo” because it does not let those cumbersome advertisements get in the way, and it blocks viruses better, too. Microsoft made a bad mistake making everyone switch, but that’s their Capitalist way!
My European friends have complained in recent years that so many of our business-oriented people can only talk business and demonstrate a lack of knowledge about the arts or music or literature, so American business folk have the reputation of being boring and clueless at European business conference luncheons and dinners where the business culture has wider horizons. Chipping away at the humanities—or as the article suggests, eliminating the humanities entirely—produces narrow minds and dull souls, in my opinion.
I own over hundreds on every subject one could imagine and a box full of college lectures from the “Great Courses” website which add to my many years of formal education in college. I think everyone should continue their education throughout their lives. I am 74 and still keep learning especially on this website; thanks to Stephan.
P.S.: that should have said hundreds of books, but some advertisement jumped in while I was typing. That happens a lot.
P.S.2: Microsoft Edge gives a person a lot of viruses and “pop-up” commercials as opposed to Internet Explorer. I would much rather stay with I.E. using “DuckDuckGo” because it does not let those cumbersome advertisements get in the way, and it blocks viruses better, too. Microsoft made a bad mistake making everyone switch, but that’s their Capitalist way!