[Vision2020] NYTimes: The Uneducated American

[Kenneth Marcy]

On Friday 09 October 2009 14:53:23 Wayne Price wrote:
> I also think we are loosing a great opportunity here on the Palouse to
> offer "education" to adult learners by not opening up the Universities
> at night. We could very easily put together a night faculty and offer
> quality education to those that want it at night, and not just in what
> are considered "traditional" studies.

First things first. Offering courses in the evening is a good idea, first, for 
the students already enrolled in the University. Evening sections of courses 
already taught in the day time would give more scheduling flexibility for 
students, and allow them better opportunities to work during the day and go 
to school in the evening.

If you doubt the efficacy of this idea, just take a look at the enrollment of 
Bellevue College east of Lake Washington (more than 35,000 per year), or the 
evening class enrollments of that blue-turf outfit somewhere south of here. 
Yes, it must be said right away that both of those organizations have a lot 
more people living in their near proximity than does our local school. That 
does not negate the value of the core idea, however.

And it must be said that evening classes may likely lead to a need for more 
faculty, if only for the very practical reason that not many professors will 
be willing to teach a course at eight in the morning, and another at eight in 
the evening the same day. On the flip side, it may be that offering evening 
classes may be the only way to get some teachers to profess at a podium, 
given they have no desire to give up their day jobs outside the university.

> I myself would love to learn how to weld.

University of Idaho catalog, part six, Agricultural Systems Management
ASM 107 Beginning Welding (2 cr) -- Principles of operation, use, and care of 
arc and acetylene welding equipment. One lec., one 2-hr. lab, and two hrs of 
individual practice a wk. Enrollment is limited to 12 per section.

> I've already got a doctorate and really don't need another one, but on the  
> academic side of the house would love to go back for a masters in history, 
> which I don't have. So, if I want to learn welding, I either have to travel 
> south to LCSC and get into a "trades" class, or if I want the Masters in   
> History, I have to enroll in day classes.

I have heard the snooty, snobbish attitude toward classes that are supposed to 
be considered trade school material from University professors in both the 
Business and the Engineering colleges. In both cases the skills disdained to 
be taught were the details of the technical skills and practical professional 
practices used by computer programmers to code and test real programs as 
opposed to idea-illustrating examples for academic classroom uses.

Exactly how this attitude aligns and squares-up with welding classes in the 
Agriculture college I'll leave for you to ponder.


Ken