Heather/education/job training.

[Susan McGee]

No: HPFGUIDX 5135

--- In HPforGrownups at egroups.com, "Denise Rogers" <gypsycaine at y...> 
wrote:
> Not certain about the others, but I think I absorbed the jist of 
your post.
> 
> In a traditional local 4-year college, we have to have what I was 
told is
> called a "well-rounded" education.  This means we are forced to 
take classes
> like "The History of China" when we're Engineering majors (a 
friend's
> courseload currently), or the "Physics of Light" when we're an 
education
> major.  These "extra" courses are supposed to give us a firm base 
for doing
> our job later.
> 
> I for one don't understand the reasoning behind this (where on 
earth in the
> computer field are you going to use the history of china unless you 
go
> there?) but I agreed to it when I was attending Akron U

it's the whole idea of a liberal arts education. Please forgive me;
I may not sound like myself. My father (gone ten years) felt
strongly about a liberal arts education, complete with European tour, 
even though he himself grew up working class. It's the idea that 
education is not about job training.

My parents were upper middle class wannabees even though they were 
both brought up working class. They brought us up middle class.

Part of this was the idea that we should get a broad based education.
Specialization would occur in graduate school, or law, medical school.
I almost became an attorney. My brother is  Ph.D. english professor.
I do have a master's degree, but it is irrelevant (mostly) to my work.

The liberal arts degree idea is that everyone should have a basic 
education. Engineers should know about Homer. Historians should have
a basic understanding of scientific and mathematical principles. 
Everyone should know something about art and music. (Uh, is it Mark 
Twain who talks about a basic education?. Usually, there was the 
expectation that people would learn a foreign language (although non-
U.S. people
take this as a given, most people in the U.S. know only English). 

The idea is that knowing the history of another country (China, for 
example) would broaden a person's horizons, help them think outside 
the box, expose them to different viewpoints about the world (same
idea as the European tour).

The "better" the university, the more that they subscribe to this 
concept, and require their students to be proficient in many 
different areas. I myself was a bit impatient with the college p.e.
requirement, but actually enjoyed what I ended up taking (fencing)

I like this idea (probably because it's the father within). I'd like
my kids to have basic skills (cooking, auto maintenance, sewing, 
word processing, basic computer skills, financial planning, swimming, 
first aid, drawing, reading music, -- you get the idea) and a good 
solid basic education that would include math, science, english 
(grammar, literature, and writing), languages and history.