Re:The Day the Purpose of College Changed
by graycat on Wednesday January 28, 2015 @07:26PM
(#8963561)
The OP seems to say that education
for jobs, e.g., as in the Obama
quote about manufacturing and trades,
is one case and
that the other is a "liberal"
education, which usually means
heavily the humanities of
literature, art, history,
philosophy, and maybe some religion.
But, this dichotomy seems to have
omitted mathematics, physical science,
social science, engineering, and technology.
And the purpose of some of these might
be not just jobs but beneficial
research results and new
companies that create new
products/services and jobs.
It appears that the OP has
set up a straw man, education for jobs
as something to knock down
in order to praise his
favorite "liberal" education.
I'd say: "Liberal" education, that's
about the humanities, right?
And the main purpose of the humanities
is to better the lives of humans, right?
Well, what else has so far bettered the lives of
humans, say, compared with a few hundred or
a few thousand or a few tens of thousands
of years ago?
For bettering the lives of humans,
how about
agriculture, domestication of animals,
textiles,
writing, arithmetic, geometry,
the wheel,
work with wood,
stone, and metals
for tools, construction, etc.,
open ocean sailing,
steam power,
other heat engines,
chemistry, physics,
medicine,
electricity,
electronics,
mathematics,
engineering,
materials,
computing,
telecommunications?
Have these been good for
humans and, thus,
helped achieved the main
goal of the humanities?
Are the classic topics in the
humanities and a liberal education
really the sole,
best help for humans?
We can help humans by helping
them to be happy, and
one way is with some art, say,
some Bach
but also some math, say,
Lebesgue and von Neumann as in
Rudin, Real and Complex Analysis --
gorgeous stuff and with, e.g.,
a lot of beautifully done Fourier
theory of crucial importance
across the STEM fields. So,
such math can make humans
both happy and productive!
Some of the prerequisites
for the crucial, core technology
for my start up are in Rudin;
so I expect that that material
is productive;
if my start up works, then I
will thank Rudin, von Neumann,
etc.; but
if my start up flops, I won't blame
them!
But, this dichotomy seems to have omitted mathematics, physical science, social science, engineering, and technology. And the purpose of some of these might be not just jobs but beneficial research results and new companies that create new products/services and jobs.
It appears that the OP has set up a straw man, education for jobs as something to knock down in order to praise his favorite "liberal" education.
I'd say: "Liberal" education, that's about the humanities, right? And the main purpose of the humanities is to better the lives of humans, right? Well, what else has so far bettered the lives of humans, say, compared with a few hundred or a few thousand or a few tens of thousands of years ago?
For bettering the lives of humans, how about agriculture, domestication of animals, textiles, writing, arithmetic, geometry, the wheel, work with wood, stone, and metals for tools, construction, etc., open ocean sailing, steam power, other heat engines, chemistry, physics, medicine, electricity, electronics, mathematics, engineering, materials, computing, telecommunications? Have these been good for humans and, thus, helped achieved the main goal of the humanities?
Are the classic topics in the humanities and a liberal education really the sole, best help for humans?
We can help humans by helping them to be happy, and one way is with some art, say, some Bach
http://grooveshark.com/s/Cello+Suite+No+1+Bach/3seBIM?src=5
some Vitali
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4B1ifcWa9o
some Camille Saint Saens
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X79OkSayPSw
but also some math, say, Lebesgue and von Neumann as in Rudin, Real and Complex Analysis -- gorgeous stuff and with, e.g., a lot of beautifully done Fourier theory of crucial importance across the STEM fields. So, such math can make humans both happy and productive!
Some of the prerequisites for the crucial, core technology for my start up are in Rudin; so I expect that that material is productive; if my start up works, then I will thank Rudin, von Neumann, etc.; but if my start up flops, I won't blame them!