hmm
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/points/stories/DN-hibbs_20edi.ART0.State.Edition1.3e4888b.html
Seeing as I'm working at one of the universities mentioned in this article, and a graduate of one of its rivals, and a student of everything, I had a lot of different thoughts while reading this article.
One thought was that if people/academics/parents/whatever are expecting universities to teach kids how to think, then it's quite a bit too late. Kids should be taught to think as early as possible, preferably by kindergarten. I rather suspect (and fear) that public school beats thinking OUT of kids, instead of teaching them how to do it. Universities should be places where kids are sent BECAUSE they think.
Another thought was about the sexual revolution and the end to chaperoning in dormitories - it used to be that most universities (and even boarding houses for single women) had chaperones who knew the residents' names, had curfews, and so on. Even when I was a randy college student, I kind of wondered who was keeping tabs on me, and saw all kinds of people having trouble because they didn't have anyone to keep tabs on them. Dunno if that's an answer or what, but maybe it bears some thinking about. Complete freedom + lack of sexual education = all kind of big problems.
Gee, I oughtta write a book.
Seeing as I'm working at one of the universities mentioned in this article, and a graduate of one of its rivals, and a student of everything, I had a lot of different thoughts while reading this article.
One thought was that if people/academics/parents/whatever are expecting universities to teach kids how to think, then it's quite a bit too late. Kids should be taught to think as early as possible, preferably by kindergarten. I rather suspect (and fear) that public school beats thinking OUT of kids, instead of teaching them how to do it. Universities should be places where kids are sent BECAUSE they think.
Another thought was about the sexual revolution and the end to chaperoning in dormitories - it used to be that most universities (and even boarding houses for single women) had chaperones who knew the residents' names, had curfews, and so on. Even when I was a randy college student, I kind of wondered who was keeping tabs on me, and saw all kinds of people having trouble because they didn't have anyone to keep tabs on them. Dunno if that's an answer or what, but maybe it bears some thinking about. Complete freedom + lack of sexual education = all kind of big problems.
Gee, I oughtta write a book.