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Monday, June 23, 2014

Correct

Michael Roth.

2 comments:

  1. Mostly.

    I actually have some criticism to deliver to the modern version of liberal education, my own college experience notwithstanding. It WAS a lot of money, and though I received a much more balanced and contextualized perspective on my chosen field of study than I could ever have achieved by studying on my own, I don't really see (15 years later) how the investment has materially helped anyone, though that may be my own fault. My main issue with it, though, is that while the liberal side of the argument clings to--for lack of a better word--traditional standards in terms of liberality of education, we (yes, I am on the SAME side) have grossly neglected any system of guidance for students in terms of matching aptitudes to directions. On that level, I think a little more vocationalism would be a very good thing, and not just in college. Treating everyone as if they are the same, with exactly the same potentials partitioned only by their own interest or inclinations, is horse pucky of the most naive kind. That sort of freedom is hugely more attractive to affluent twenty-somethings than to working class people with their college years half a generation behind them, to whom total educational liberalism in no way seems sustainable. I don't want total vocationalism, but I think a bit of it would be of some use.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nick Guetti writes (not sure why he can't post!)
    Mostly.

    I actually have some criticism to deliver to the modern version of liberal
    education, my own college experience notwithstanding. It WAS a lot of
    money, and though I received a much more balanced and contextualized
    perspective on my chosen field of study than I could ever have achieved by
    studying on my own, I don't really see (15 years later) how the investment
    has materially helped anyone, though that may be my own fault. My main
    issue with it, though, is that while the liberal side of the argument
    clings to--for lack of a better word--traditional standards in terms of
    liberality of education, we (yes, I am on the SAME side) have grossly
    neglected any system of guidance for students in terms of matching
    aptitudes to directions. On that level, I think a little more vocationalism
    would be a very good thing, and not just in college. Treating everyone as
    if they are the same, with exactly the same potentials partitioned only by
    their own interest or inclinations, is horse pucky of the most naive kind.
    That sort of freedom is hugely more attractive to affluent
    twenty-somethings than to working class people with their college years
    half a generation behind them, to whom total educational liberalism in no
    way seems sustainable. I don't want total vocationalism, but I think a bit
    of it would be of some use.

    ReplyDelete