Re: Door Slamming/Question

[Stephen Newmann <newmann@msmary.edu>]

Jim,	
	You are probably right that higher ed. is tied to career
advancement.  But probably not in the way you are thinking.  I believe
that it is not so much the specific career training (the nuts and bolts
stuff that employers are far better equiped to dish out) part of our
liberal educations that makes us more employable and pushes us up thru the
ranks toward the top places.  I think it is far more the skill we acquire
in thinking...the enhanced ability to think things thru and to be flexible
that folks without our sort of education usually have developed to a
lesser degree.  So, even if we agree that education is tied to career i
would not be willing to suggest that we orient our teaching (and our
students) toward a particular path that is tied to a particular major.
--stephen
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 |   Stephen Newmann                                                  |
 |   Department of Rhetoric & Writing     VOICE: (301) 447-5367       |
 |   Mount Saint Mary's College           E-MAIL: NEWMANN@MSMARY.EDU  |
 |   Emmitsburg, Maryland USA 21727-7799                              |
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On Wed, 5 Jul 1995, McDonald James C wrote:

> I can't agree with you, Steve.  Higher education went from serving around
> 2% of the population in the 19th century to over 50% today because a college
> education began promising access to careers and to a higher standard of living.
> Most of our students wouldn't be here or couldn't get the money to come
> without that promise.  Most of us wouldn't have our jobs and most of our
> schools wouldn't exist if higher education wasn't tied to career advancement.
> And those who would have jobs would be teaching mainly those from rich enough
> families that they didn't have to worry about their careers.
>   Higher education isn't just about career preparation and certification, but
> that's been a crucial purpose for it for over a century.  And that has meant
> that millions of people have had a liberal education who otherwise wouldn't
> have.
>   Jim McDonald