One person’s comfort is another’s challenge. And vice-versa. Do we really want to molly -coddle our minds according to the whims of political humbug? Paradoxically, censoring, itself provokes the mind to question, “why is that being withheld from me?”
College education is becoming more and more a credentialing process, a degree being but a symbol to others, particularly to prospective employers, that the recipient has been vetted by someone else, relieving the employer from having to invest time in determining whether a job applicant may have some skills or proclivities, if nothing more than the stick-to-itiveness to spend 4 or 5 years in quest of something even though the doing may be difficult or unpleasant, and therefore the applicant might have a greater probability of being suitable for the employer’s intended purpose. It is becoming more and more simply a means to an end rather than the pursuit of knowledge simply for the love of knowledge, which I believe is the etymological source of the English word “philosophy” itself (through Latin from Greek “philosophia”-love of wisdom).
But just as the military once used 20/20 vision and a college degree as screening criteria to immediately make the first cut among applicants for pilot and aviator positions, as the shortage in manpower has arisen the screening barriers have fallen, so that now applicants with LASIK-corrected vision to 20/20 can be considered. So, too, the news sources report lately that the military and other employers are reconsidering whether they really need their job candidates to possess a college degree. The “market” therefore will act; Adam Smith’s “invisible hand” will come into play.
So while the solution proposed that colleges simply advertise whether they are in the “comfort camp” or the “camp of edginess,” allowing their customers, prospective students and parents, to choose with their checkbooks in paying admission application fees and tuition, and their donors to do likewise in their tax deductible charitable contributions, the “invisible hand” may offer yet a third solution to potential members of student bodies, perhaps unintended by the colleges themselves: to go directly into the work pool and bypass the institutions.
To quote Professor Brands quoting Mao Zedong: “Let a hundred flowers bloom; let a hundred schools contend.“ Might the new University of Austin (UTAX: uaustin.org) be one of those blooming flowers contending in the higher education business? Might the The Promiseland Project’s Make It Movement (www.makeitmovement.org) be the unintended third alternative offered by the “invisible hand?”
The problem is when an institution’s self-concept is of one and they seek authenticity from others who tell them what they want to hear about themselves and, to use Prof. Brands’ term, the “camp” they believe they are (or want to be) in (i.e., edginess camp), when the reality is that they really are more in the other (i.e., comfort camp). And this is where we now find ourselves.
One great virtue of America is that there are CHOICES; different states different schools. With online classes and self-education more choices than ever are possible. So in that sense it is good that "a hundred schools contend." The problem is prestige schools are seen as the path to elite jobs. So people scramble to belong and those who can pay buy degrees.
One person’s comfort is another’s challenge. And vice-versa. Do we really want to molly -coddle our minds according to the whims of political humbug? Paradoxically, censoring, itself provokes the mind to question, “why is that being withheld from me?”
College education is becoming more and more a credentialing process, a degree being but a symbol to others, particularly to prospective employers, that the recipient has been vetted by someone else, relieving the employer from having to invest time in determining whether a job applicant may have some skills or proclivities, if nothing more than the stick-to-itiveness to spend 4 or 5 years in quest of something even though the doing may be difficult or unpleasant, and therefore the applicant might have a greater probability of being suitable for the employer’s intended purpose. It is becoming more and more simply a means to an end rather than the pursuit of knowledge simply for the love of knowledge, which I believe is the etymological source of the English word “philosophy” itself (through Latin from Greek “philosophia”-love of wisdom).
But just as the military once used 20/20 vision and a college degree as screening criteria to immediately make the first cut among applicants for pilot and aviator positions, as the shortage in manpower has arisen the screening barriers have fallen, so that now applicants with LASIK-corrected vision to 20/20 can be considered. So, too, the news sources report lately that the military and other employers are reconsidering whether they really need their job candidates to possess a college degree. The “market” therefore will act; Adam Smith’s “invisible hand” will come into play.
So while the solution proposed that colleges simply advertise whether they are in the “comfort camp” or the “camp of edginess,” allowing their customers, prospective students and parents, to choose with their checkbooks in paying admission application fees and tuition, and their donors to do likewise in their tax deductible charitable contributions, the “invisible hand” may offer yet a third solution to potential members of student bodies, perhaps unintended by the colleges themselves: to go directly into the work pool and bypass the institutions.
To quote Professor Brands quoting Mao Zedong: “Let a hundred flowers bloom; let a hundred schools contend.“ Might the new University of Austin (UTAX: uaustin.org) be one of those blooming flowers contending in the higher education business? Might the The Promiseland Project’s Make It Movement (www.makeitmovement.org) be the unintended third alternative offered by the “invisible hand?”
The problem is when an institution’s self-concept is of one and they seek authenticity from others who tell them what they want to hear about themselves and, to use Prof. Brands’ term, the “camp” they believe they are (or want to be) in (i.e., edginess camp), when the reality is that they really are more in the other (i.e., comfort camp). And this is where we now find ourselves.
As a retired college prof, I agree with what Dr. Brands says. Another great editorial!
One great virtue of America is that there are CHOICES; different states different schools. With online classes and self-education more choices than ever are possible. So in that sense it is good that "a hundred schools contend." The problem is prestige schools are seen as the path to elite jobs. So people scramble to belong and those who can pay buy degrees.