This column sures gives us something to chew on.
The author is "Mark C. Taylor, the chairman of the religion department at Columbia, is the author of the forthcoming 'Field Notes From Elsewhere: Reflections on Dying and Living.'"
His premise is that "If American higher education is to thrive in the 21st century, colleges and universities, like Wall Street and Detroit, must be rigorously regulated and completely restructured. The long process to make higher learning more agile, adaptive and imaginative can begin with six major steps."
I'm especially fascinated by the idea that traditional majors be restructured as problem focuses, i.e. water.
A thing that I love about teaching literature & writing is the cross curriculum nature of our discussions and lessons. In composition, we also study politics and social problems rather extensively (or as extensively as one can get in such a class at such a college) because students have to tackle social problems in their research papers. In my lit classes, we also discuss history, sociology, emotions, human experiences and anything else found in the stories, poems and plays we're covering.
I thought his comments on the dirty little secret of graduate schools was also interesting. Yikes.
6 comments:
Not a comment on this post but an earlier one. Someone else liked that fabric hoop idea too. http://adayinthelifeofthechristensons.blogspot.com/2009/04/things-i-love.html
I know that when Ricks College was changed to BYU-Idaho, the whole concept of tenure went out the door. The focus at that school is completely on teaching, with very little research done by the faculty. I think that the end result is that students are getting a top-notch education and educators can really focus on teaching, instead of securing their position or prestige. I'm all for it.
I just finished the New Yorker article on how labor and the American automotive industry together, locked in a combat that started generations ago, have almost brought down the American auto industry. Sometimes, "the way we've always done things" is not nearly good enough --- and tenure might be one of those things. Also, my mom left the tenure track entirely and taught at Houston Community College because she loved to teach but hated research ... surely there are others like her.
See tinyurl.com/c3mxv7 for what I think is a more accurate description of the situation.
Hmmm. I like the review after 7 years business, three is too short really. I can see this somehow upping the already freakish tendency to hyperproduce, which sometimes can rest after tenure, but I see his point.
I like the multi-disciplinary stuff. Dissertation changes, interesting.........
It will be interesting to see how it stumbles toward fruition. Just like in the public schools " No child left behind" hasn't been a success despite best efforts.
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