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My Beliefs About Higher Education
Sep. 2nd, 2003 01:12 pm(1) Big-Time college sports represent a serious departure from the mission of higher education. Yes, I enjoy rooting for the wolverines, but I don't see why U-M needs to be in the business of entertaining millions of people on TV every saturday in the fall. The "arms race" for better teams, facilities, coaches, and equipment have turned the enterprise into a fucking joke (but an expensive one).
(2) Historically black colleges and universities deserve a lot of credit and support. Sometimes separate IS equal--or even better than. I wouldn't want to see campuses resegregate as minority students flocked to HBCUs, but I think they're an important choice and I hope enough of them can stay healthy in the coming decades to remain an option for many students.
(3) Ditto womens' colleges.
(4) College can still be useful, even if you don't graduate or take a long time to get the degree. You learn a lot, and not just in the classroom. It's a fairly safe place to do some growing up, if you need to.
(5) Some people go to college with no good reason for going, other than the fact that it's "what people do." I think higher education is a bigger sector than it needs to be, because of these folk. I can't decide if I think this is a waste of resources or an acceptable way to keep young people occupied while keeping professors and staff employed. Probably more the former.
(6) A lot of traditional-age students would be better off if they'd take a year off to work, travel, fuck around, or whatever, between high school and college.
(7) Study abroad ought to be a requirement for getting a bachelor's degree (and no, I didn't participate myself)
(8) The quality of a school ought to be measured in large part by what it does with the students it gets. Oftentimes schools are evaluated by the students who enroll, not what happens to them once they get there.
(9) That's it for now.
(2) Historically black colleges and universities deserve a lot of credit and support. Sometimes separate IS equal--or even better than. I wouldn't want to see campuses resegregate as minority students flocked to HBCUs, but I think they're an important choice and I hope enough of them can stay healthy in the coming decades to remain an option for many students.
(3) Ditto womens' colleges.
(4) College can still be useful, even if you don't graduate or take a long time to get the degree. You learn a lot, and not just in the classroom. It's a fairly safe place to do some growing up, if you need to.
(5) Some people go to college with no good reason for going, other than the fact that it's "what people do." I think higher education is a bigger sector than it needs to be, because of these folk. I can't decide if I think this is a waste of resources or an acceptable way to keep young people occupied while keeping professors and staff employed. Probably more the former.
(6) A lot of traditional-age students would be better off if they'd take a year off to work, travel, fuck around, or whatever, between high school and college.
(7) Study abroad ought to be a requirement for getting a bachelor's degree (and no, I didn't participate myself)
(8) The quality of a school ought to be measured in large part by what it does with the students it gets. Oftentimes schools are evaluated by the students who enroll, not what happens to them once they get there.
(9) That's it for now.
