While browsing my Google reader, I ran across this blog entry from Stanley Fish, who laments the decline of the university from (as Aristotle would put it) cultivating people for leisure. An interesting reply can be found here, at DeanDad.
Who do you think Dewey would agree with?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
I'm siding with deandad in thinking that his post would agree with Dewey suggested in his piece about liberal vs. mechanical education. But, that would be a hard choice to make.
I like deandad's comment about the undecided major who kept switching from English-History-Business. Is not what nearly everyone does, during their freshman year, in college anyway?
Then there is the point that Fish makes in his article about what Andrew Carnegie once told a university about being able to produce typists and machinists more than professors (or teachers, even). While some professionals would agree here, I have always argued the need for a liberal foundation in fields like History, English, Mathematics and/or Science. Then again, that could always change during an economic crisis, like the one we are all in right now!
I graduated from a liberal arts college and was required to take a lot of classes that I believe now were not practical but they did provide an educational foundation to build on. Twenty-five years later I believe that there should be balance in education. A balance between "leisure" pursuits and the practical. I think that Dewey would side with DeanDad. Dewey believed that we can't separate the workers from the leisure. While most community colleges and a majority of universities focus on the practical they still provide opportunities for "leisure" by offering elective courses. Dewey would approve of this balance. During these difficult economic times it seems logical to side with the mechanical rather than the leisure. However, do we need to draw a line in the sand? Do we have to choose one side (Leisure or mechanical) or the other? Dewey would say let's find a compromise, a balance. While the liberal arts education may be fading into the background I don't believe that it will cease to exist as long as there are Stanley Fishes in the world.
I believe that Dewey would agree with Deandad. There is a need for both "liberal and mechanical" education in our world today. People who attend institutions of higher education want to be able to get a job and "live the American dream" but they also have the desire to study the humanities. That is what a higher education is about right, learning about many different studies that you would not other wise be exposed to?
Dewey would want balance in education, allow students to study the subjects that expand their mind, while also teaching them how to be professionals.
I am partial to the idea of encouraging the humanities as part of a wholesome education, but then I was an Art History major. I also took an extra elective each semester because I was interested in many subjects, not because I thought they would help me get a job. As it turns out I am well educated and know alot about many different and wonderful things, but I did not get a job as a result of my education. I am confident that my broad range of knowledge will help me to be a better teacher.
I agree with deandad that a combination of studies produces the most knowledgeable results, "the most interesting work in the social sciences today comes from the intersection of economics, psychology, and business." I would like to think that as long as we remain curious about our world and interested in life, the humanities will remain a part of higher education.
Post a Comment