Quote:
Originally Posted by RIROCKHOUND
Easy answer. Send your kids to RPI, WPI etc., they will be great engineers. OR to school in Taiwan.
But bash away on liberal arts. There are a number of studies (two are below) that show that broad based liberal arts students, are very desirable in the job market. They ability to think, brainstorm and problem solve (beyond engineering calculations) tend to do well training managers, not just drones. Not well articulated in these two, but others I have read, is that the benefit is higher for liberal arts students in a STEM field (which is what I happen to do).
http://www.usnews.com/news/college-o...-employers-say
https://www.aacu.org/press/press-rel...ates-long-term
And as a prof, your friend clearly does the bear minimum and is lucky to survive. Between teaching and research, I average over 50hr a week, including summers and breaks. Maybe it is different in the sciences where we right proposals, generate data and publish. |
"bash away on liberal arts"
Do you follow the news? Students at Mizzou demand that the president renounce his "white male priviledge". These kids want college to be "free", and they want all existing student loan debt wiped out. Abu Mumia Jamal gets welcomed with open arms to speak at colleges, but Condaleeza Rice isn't welcome. Spence cannot answer when I ask him why Hilary's lies don't make her a liar. That's thinking logically? Sorry, I don't see it.
Is every liberal arts major wasting his time? Of course not.
Is it fair to demand that every engineering and accounting major extend college by 3 semesters, and go tens of thousands of dollars deeper into debt, and get forced to take this crap? Maybe not.
"They ability to think"
Right, kids in these classes are taught to think for themselves, as opposed to simply regurgitating whatever the professor says. In my experience, these liberal academics just love getting challenged on their beliefs. Like that media professor at Missouri who tried to have a student manhandled away from the protest. I'm sure she gives equally good grades to conservative students and liberal students, no question. Half the regular guests at MSNBC are college professors, I am sure they welcome opposing points of view with an open mind.
Make it optional. If a science major wants to take these things (and go deeper into debt as a result) let him. If he just wants to take classes pertinent to his major, let him do that. Isn't that "choice"? I thought liberals were in favor of "choice". I know I heard that somewhere.
"not just drones"
OK, so everyone who doesn't take these classes and fawn all over their professors, is "just a drone". How very tolerant.
You want to make college significantly cheaper? That's a way to do it. You can also learn history, philosophy, critical thinking, by reading on your own.
"your friend clearly does the bear minimum " How the hell would you know that? He's very highly regarded on campus. The fact is, and it's a secret those in academia guard very closely, is that it's just not demanding. He teaches no more than 3 classes a semester. He has told me he does everything he can think of doing, and he can't get it to work out to 1,000 hours a year. I am certain he works harder than most of his colleagues, his students would certainly say so. He's just honest. I'm sorry if you don't like that. That you don't like it, doesn't make it false.
If a group of professors can't bring themselves to say out loud "boys should go to the boys' bathroom", then just perhaps, they don't have as much to teach as they think they do.
It's awfully presumptuous to assume that everyone is better off taking these classes. Even if they are better off, is it worth going that much deeper into debt? Why not leave that up to the consumer...the student? Why does that stuff have to be mandatory? Again, what's wrong with "choice"?