GreenDeac
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Interesting collection of opinion articles on the NY Times today. One of them is written by a Wake economics professor.
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/03/20/career-counselor-bill-gates-or-steve-jobs?ref=opinion
The debate really centers on what the purpose of education, especially higher education, actually is. Is the purpose of higher education to teach you how to think or is the purpose to teach you a set of skills that will enable you to be productive in a career? If its that latter, schools like Wake are in big trouble.
I am of the belief that there is a place for all types of majors to be productive members of society. I was a history major in college mostly because it was a subject that appealed to me and I did not have a clue what I wanted to do with my life. I ultimately decided I wanted to go into a different field than history, one that does not necessarily have its own discipline. I'm not sure if I would have figured out what I was passionate about had I not been exposed to the diverse nature of courses I was able to take. If I had gone to a school where you declare your major when you go in and mostly take classes in that discipline, I probably would have been a business major and I still wouldn't know what I was truly passionate about.
I do think it is important for schools with a liberal arts focus like Wake to continue to develop dynamic curriculum and programs for students that will prepare them to compete in a global society. I don't think there is currently a model out there for this, but education is likely to be vastly different toward the end of the next twenty years than it has been over the last fifty years.
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/03/20/career-counselor-bill-gates-or-steve-jobs?ref=opinion
The debate really centers on what the purpose of education, especially higher education, actually is. Is the purpose of higher education to teach you how to think or is the purpose to teach you a set of skills that will enable you to be productive in a career? If its that latter, schools like Wake are in big trouble.
I am of the belief that there is a place for all types of majors to be productive members of society. I was a history major in college mostly because it was a subject that appealed to me and I did not have a clue what I wanted to do with my life. I ultimately decided I wanted to go into a different field than history, one that does not necessarily have its own discipline. I'm not sure if I would have figured out what I was passionate about had I not been exposed to the diverse nature of courses I was able to take. If I had gone to a school where you declare your major when you go in and mostly take classes in that discipline, I probably would have been a business major and I still wouldn't know what I was truly passionate about.
I do think it is important for schools with a liberal arts focus like Wake to continue to develop dynamic curriculum and programs for students that will prepare them to compete in a global society. I don't think there is currently a model out there for this, but education is likely to be vastly different toward the end of the next twenty years than it has been over the last fifty years.