UNM
This morning I viewed a very interesting Ted Talk about higher education ~ mainly college education. About how the existing system is antiquated and hasn't changed since the 1900s. It was almost like someone was trying to put a message in front of me. I wasn't able to post the video here (mostly because I didn't want to spend one or two hours figuring out how), nor could I find the video on its own so that I could provide a link. Basically, the presenter voiced his concerns that higher education is still running the same model for the last 100 years.
Think about that for a moment.
Everything else ~ our computers, our cell phones, cars, television have all advanced incredibly in just the last 5 years. Gautam Khetrapal, the man who gives the speech on TedXU, describes the model as based on linearity, conformity, and "batching people". That what we learn is basically obsolete by the time we graduate. This isn't true in all fields......although history remains the same, there are different ways to interpret the stories of history, or a new discovery changes the status quo. Mathematics doesn't change, although the way we arrive at our answer may.
This is relevant to me because I'm in a program at a university attempting to earn a degree. I'm so close to graduation.....but now am running into problems finding the specific classes I need to complete my requirements. There is a possibility that the advisor can help me with substituting a class for one that I need, or even give me credit to meet a final requirement. I made my own mistakes.....like not meeting with an advisor every semester or at least twice a year. After my meeting yesterday, I discovered that I might be able to graduate at the end of next year. IF the substitutions and credits are accepted. But, what I wish is that, as Gautam mentions in his video, is that I could design my degree program based on my interests, especially once the junior and senior year are reached.
During one of my first advisor meetings at the community college I asked why I had to take a class like music appreciation, and was given the age-old "we want you to have a well-rounded education".
This is a fallacy.
It's all about money.
Money is the reason I need 128 hours of education to be awarded a degree.
I've understood this for awhile, and understand that meaningful change takes a very long time. I do hope that someday education will be for everyone that wants it, and that we will be allowed to choose our own path.......
Love, 365
I'd like to take it a step further... allow anyone who wants to take the CLEP test for any class offered do so, free of charge. If the ubiquitous 'they' really wanted people to be educated, that would already be available.
ReplyDeleteBut it is only about money.
Well-rounded is a lie, of course.
Schooling and education are two vastly different critters. Being intelligent really doesn't have a lot to do with either one.
Strange world we live in.
Guantam points out that there are tons (literally!) of free classes available online....classes from MIT, Yale, etc. There are also others available for MUCH less than attending college. This is what excites me, that once I have the degree I've worked and sacrificed so much for, I will be able to pick and choose and class based on my interests instead of what I "need" to satisfy a "requirement".
DeleteThe truth is, that unless you need the sheepskin (haha) there are many options out there.
I did the night class routine with CU in Denver, attending the downtown campus that was there primarily for non-traditional students - those of us that worked full time. There were 2 history classes required by the business school, no substitutions, and the professor refused to offer them at night. I ended up doing them as a correspondence classes. That was my affirmation that you get a degree in spite of the school, not because of it.
ReplyDeleteI wish I could do that ~ I know there are many colleges that offer online history classes. But I'm currently at the mercy of UNM. I can't graduate until I have that 128 hours. I need only 16 more hours, so I will have to dance the dance.
Delete~ What's with history anyway? I did write a letter to the head of the history department, and this spring there are two classes that start at 5:30, so that's something.
Being forced to take classes that have nothing to do with your degree never made sense to me either, like you said it's more about the money than the education.
ReplyDeleteIt's a contradiction ~ they are there to educate. But with parking, books, tuition....it's all about $. I recently found that the UNM parking police ticketed me although I had paid for my time. Sent up a big flag, that they have been given orders to go out and ticket cars to increase revenue. Recently "Arts & Science" minors are not to pay $30 more for a 3 credit course...they called it "differential tuition". Who do they think they're fooling?
DeleteSorry, I meant to say Arts & Science undergrads will now have to pay $30 more. Looks like college hasn't improved my writing or grammmar, hahaha
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