tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27946614.post689045531851217604..comments2024-03-07T14:43:21.888-08:00Comments on Whatever I want to write about: Neither higher nor educationSriram Khéhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06907731254833435446noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27946614.post-57919047984193427852016-01-14T06:42:14.184-08:002016-01-14T06:42:14.184-08:00It is not inevitable by any means. We need to sto...It is not inevitable by any means. We need to stop engage in false advertisement that an undergrad degree in, say, chemistry is going to bring an awesome job and salary for the graduate compared to an undergrad in art history. For the very reason that you write: "the explosion of knowledge". A mere undergrad in chem is not going to be helpful--the explosion of knowledge means that it takes years of studying chem to be successful in that field. We therefore need to separate out the graduate school specialization from the undergraduate generalist broad education--which is what a rapidly shrinking minority, including me, refer to as "liberal education."Sriram Khéhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06724218458246880137noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27946614.post-52007759713052804952016-01-13T17:04:35.117-08:002016-01-13T17:04:35.117-08:00Yes, the super specialisation that happens far too...Yes, the super specialisation that happens far too early in formal education is an issue as you have so eloquently said.But perhaps given the explosion of knowledge and information, it is somewhat inevitable. It would simply be impossible to be a "generalist" with substantial enough knowledge and understanding in every field to be useful.<br /><br />Your point about cultivating the ability to think, to seek, to analyse, etc is of course a powerful one. One that has been strongly supported by Anne. In her distinguished company of Ivy PhD, OSU engineer, Honors College, ... and this blogger , I am feeling completely out of place :)Rameshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11782192840421019943noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27946614.post-91127092764811046922016-01-13T06:57:19.495-08:002016-01-13T06:57:19.495-08:00That's some strong credentials all around--Ivy...That's some strong credentials all around--Ivy PhD, OSU engineer, Honors College, ... and this blogger (hehehe)<br /><br />Yes, thinking is something that ought to happen all the time. In a short essay that I authored a decade ago, I wrote about "a way of life": http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1178&context=nchcjournal Sriram Khéhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06724218458246880137noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27946614.post-39167214936669732132016-01-12T20:28:28.326-08:002016-01-12T20:28:28.326-08:00Several years ago, I was talking to a friend about...Several years ago, I was talking to a friend about his son's inability to complete math problems correctly. The boy understood the process of, the idea behind, finding the solution but didn't want to be bothered with the pesky little details of using the actual numbers the teacher gave. The father was unfazed. He said, "I'd rather hire someone who can think. Crunching the numbers is easy; anyone can do that. It's the thinking that matters." The father is a civE from OSU.<br /><br />The longer I work, the more I appreciate coworkers who think about what is needed rather than simply churn out "what we did the last time." <br /><br />My daughter's course load: Politics of Development (of countries), Science and Culture (in the Honors College, the effect of each on the other) and calculus. Calculus is the easy one for her. The others are lots of reading, lots of discussion. The science and culture class has already sparked an interesting conversation between my daughter and my father (a Ivy League PhD chemE). <br /><br />I'm surrounded by thinkers!<br />Anne in Salemnoreply@blogger.com