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Author Topic: Primary/Secondary Education VS. University Education  (Read 1089 times)

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Erin Jane

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Primary/Secondary Education VS. University Education
« on: September 28, 2012, 07:39:57 AM »

Hello Stephanie and  Mark (and anyone else),

I am a new listener (and a woman which I am gathering is rare for this show), and I wanted to make a comment on the 9/23 show. Unfortunately, I am only able to listen to the podcast of Sunday's show after the fact, so am unable to call in.

You had a caller from Honolulu who was dissatisfied with the practicality of his University education (in engineering which I thought was odd). 

I think it is important to differentiate between publicly mandated education at the primary and secondary level and higher education from state schools.  My reasoning behind this comment is that the former has a state mandated curriculum  while the latter does attempt to tailor degrees to occupations and practical use.

I have to say that after listening to (Mike's?) comment, I had never felt more satisfied with my university education.  I am completing a B.S.(the obvious pun has not escaped me) in Professional Writing and a B.A. in History so most of my work is done within the humanities. 

The professional writing degree is a very new college track, branching off from the typical creative writing degree due to the rising demand of technical writers within the science and technology fields.  Both theory and pragmatic skills are taught.  Because this subject is so new, professors are often doing their own work on _how_ to teach the practice professional writing, so students end up doing theory work on practice (which is great in my opinion bc isn't that how innovation and better practice evolves). 

Mark made a comment about schools (the level was unspecified) not teaching critical thinking and also kind of scoffed at the useless of degrees and the inevitable waste of money as one can self teach online.

I do a fair amount of self-teaching, but I also value my in class instruction and my professors greatly.  Mark's comment implies that critical thinking can be taught, and that is exactly what the teaching of theory does.  Those students coming out of humanities degrees that they may not use are also leaving with improved critical thinking skills, and I think this is a quality that employers recognize in their potential employees, even if their degree is a Bachelor in History. 

The less specifically used degrees also offer better communication and analytical skills (that could be lumped in with critical thinking), as well as work ethic, research skills, etc. 

Though education is certainly too expensive (the student loan bubble is a conversation for another day) and at inflated cost while students and scholars alike suffer the burden of delegated debt, I maintain that there is real as well as intangible value in higher education in a chosen field.

Public education at the primary and secondary level is a joke as the curriculum is dictated by the government to different degrees depending on the state, but higher education (with all of its flaws) tends to rely on its own tailoring of programs with employment or further education the primary goal.

Sorry.  I ramble.  I hope that you guys can bring this up again on your show and respond.  I will be listening the very next morning!  :)
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dalebert

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Re: Primary/Secondary Education VS. University Education
« Reply #1 on: September 28, 2012, 01:06:43 PM »

You'd probably reach them faster by emailing. I know Stephanie doesn't check this BBS and Mark checks it rarely. However, since you put his name in the post, that helps a little because I've heard he searches posts to see if he's mentioned occasionally. Yes, he's a bit narcissist. Doesn't even deny it.
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