tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27946614.post3958540534811151374..comments2024-03-07T14:43:21.888-08:00Comments on Whatever I want to write about: The purpose of college education is ...Sriram Khéhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06907731254833435446noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27946614.post-18055206704598213142015-08-29T21:54:02.858-07:002015-08-29T21:54:02.858-07:00Ramesh has perhaps forgotten the number of posts--...Ramesh has perhaps forgotten the number of posts--and even newspaper opeds--in which I have critiqued the marginalization of "skills" training through the high school years. There is a place for skills, indeed. But, we will be one messed up society if we thought that higher education ought to be tilted in favor of skills training. Unfortunately, that's the trend. Of course, the more "skilled" labor there are but the less capable they are to think for themselves will work fine for everybody from the Chinese Communist Party to the rich in "democracies."<br /><br />I, too, find "little value in the parchment" anymore. The loss of value has been compensated by credential inflation :(Sriram Khéhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06724218458246880137noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27946614.post-14853243804650263272015-08-29T18:54:49.165-07:002015-08-29T18:54:49.165-07:00The problem with your question in the title of you...The problem with your question in the title of your post is the word "college". I take it to mean any formal education higher after a school , as any Indian would do. Whether it is a degree, a diploma or whatever. I think, you mean grad and post grad as you in the US would understand it .<br /><br />As I interpret "higher education" I would completely disagree with you that it is purely about thinking. Yes, that is important and it should be a feature of any level of education - school, nursery, kindergarten, whatever. But to look down on learning skills isn't appropriate either. All of us need to learn skills - otherwise we would not survive. And imparting skills is one of the roles of a place of "higher learning".<br /><br />I know where you are coming from - that the balance has been so tilted in favour of skills that fundamental concepts of thinking and learning are being dangerously sidelined. I agree. But in making that argument, I am afraid you are debunking skills completely and I submit that you will never win the argument that way.Rameshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11782192840421019943noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27946614.post-27332712368694096762015-08-29T12:42:50.432-07:002015-08-29T12:42:50.432-07:00The purpose of a college education is to learn. N...The purpose of a college education is to learn. Nice broad answer. Students need to learn what they enjoy and don't enjoy so they don't end up engineers when they should be geography professors. Students need to learn why things happen. They need to learn there are multiple answers to most questions. They need to learn that different people think differently based on their backgrounds, beliefs, outlooks, etc. They need to learn to think creatively, that the straight line is not necessarily the shortest, fastest or best.<br /><br />I recall a conversation with a financially successful entrepreneur about hiring. He conducted interviews that were conversations rather than reiterations of resumes. He said he didn't care if a person could remember all the rules of math if he could think. Could he see the problems? Could he develop potential solutions? Could he prevent them? Could he see possibilities? Those are the people he wanted to hire for the big jobs. Number crunching and typing skills were minor, easily taught to those who lacked the creativity to answer the big questions. He did not graduate college and didn't care if his employees did. He saw little value in the parchment.Anne in Salemnoreply@blogger.com