[Vision2020] NYTimes: The Uneducated American

[Wayne Price]

The down side of this, IF it can be considered a down side is that  
students might finally get their degrees in four years!  WHAT a concept!


Wayne


On Oct 9, 2009, at 6:40 PM, Kenneth Marcy wrote:

> 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
>
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