[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Door Slamming/Question

And I would add, Steve and Beth, that I hear folks advising students 
to compromise. Pick a major you love--who knows where it will take 
you--but pick minors that will both enhance the major and/or provide 
practical skills. 

It may seem, at times, like the world is divided into distinct 
categories, and we sure spend a lot of time labeling each other and 
attempting to do just that, but it ain't necessarily so. When you get 
people where they live, in the backyards of their lives, things 
tend to blur more than we might expect. 

And the study of literature, Steve, while certainly an end in itself 
and a singular joy to many of us, can also be viewed as a practical 
skill which not only teaches students to think critically, but enables 
them to meet characters and situations that they would otherwise not 
meet, thus improving their interpersonal skills and making them more 
accepting of those around them. Surely you've seen students begin to 
consider the worlds outside of themselves and relate it to their own? 
I think there is much to say about crashing the barriers people create 
among themselves, and no finer way to teach it than through 
literature, and I think it's a skill that many hard-case practical 
employers wish fervently more graduates possessed!

jennifer jordan-henley
jordan_jj@a1.rscc.cc.tn.us