tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18902745.post6240662699909464230..comments2024-03-24T15:19:06.377-04:00Comments on The Continuum: ...with all thy mindFr. Robert Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05892141425033196616noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18902745.post-19516270528530571112011-02-10T10:23:11.869-05:002011-02-10T10:23:11.869-05:00When I was a Freshman in college 22 years ago at a...When I was a Freshman in college 22 years ago at a small Lutheran supported college in NJ (that sadly closed in 1995) I had professor who lamented the lack of basic knowledge among students. It was a core Western Civ class( yes they had one) <br />I was his pet because I knew what should be common knowledge for anyone in college( Greek Myths, Basic history etc) <br />I feel blessed to have a great education. I am 40 and have a Doctorate in Chiropractic and I was shocked that those in school with me, all with at least a Bachelors degree having a blank stare when someone mentioned Martin Luther... we have a day off in January for himJosephhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17821199057003585343noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18902745.post-42228132485295125022007-09-18T12:18:00.000-04:002007-09-18T12:18:00.000-04:00Going to UC Davis, I thought there was going to be...Going to UC Davis, I thought there was going to be "talks" amongst my friends and classmates akin to something from "This Side of Paradise". In fact, I was really taken by Amory Blaine's character who was well read and mused on many subjects of the social sciences. Such things do exist, but its unfortunate that so many students (friends included) that I've met just go to school, read the text, memorize it for the test and that's if. <BR/><BR/>I love having the University library at my hands, I've found all sorts of interesting books that are now out of print. The university used to be a place of "learning" for the student, a place to become learned, and now it's just a route to get a decent job. And the crackpot research that goes on amongst the liberal arts is rather sad. My best friend who (no surprise) is a religious studies major, is infuriated and frustrated with his professors in his department. Most have some neo-feminist, or spiritualist agenda and it seems more and more, that in order to get tenured, you have to come up with the most bizare interpretation of history or religion, and defend it. If you can do that, you are in. I don't think that's right. Besides History (which is my major), I've had very few liberal arts classes I've enjoyed. Anthropology and Sociology seem almost a joke now. It really discourages me sometimes, and unfortunately, has lowered my opinion of the humanities in public universities. <BR/><BR/>On a side note, I was looking at the APCK parishes in California, and I noticed an unusually high number in College Towns and wasn't sure if it was coincidence or not: Palo Alto, Chico, Arcata, Berkeley, Santa Barbara. It's unfortunate there is nothing near or in Davis...Carloshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03670360109098788884noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18902745.post-46152696215470124322007-09-13T12:13:00.000-04:002007-09-13T12:13:00.000-04:00I received a catalog from the The Teaching Company...I received a catalog from the The Teaching Company a few days ago:<BR/><BR/>http://www.teach12.com/teach12.asp?ai=16281<BR/><BR/>Seems like an interesting way of expanding one's mind, maybe to "unlearn" the things one "learned" in college.<BR/><BR/><BR/>KenKenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05218434053331256206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18902745.post-16329025684696275712007-09-13T10:52:00.000-04:002007-09-13T10:52:00.000-04:00I share your concern about education. I have been...I share your concern about education. I have been a teacher and adminsitrator for ten years. Last year I was principal of a Catholic school (and have since switched to cleaning houses where I make twice as much money, but that's another story).<BR/><BR/>I remmeber someone being disappointed about their life as a teacher because, when he was young and idealistic, he imagined teachers in the lounge on break discussing Plato and great works of art. He learned that they just sat around griping about their classes and their pay. <BR/><BR/>But that is not the real problem. The problem is this: They don't sit around discussing Plato because they don't know who he is. I assure you, the average teacher today is very poorly educated. Master's degree or not, I have yet, in ten years, to meet more than two fellow teachers who knew anything about history, literature, art, etc. <BR/><BR/>Oh, the others knew enough to teach their subject from a textbook, sure. But the average college graduate today knows almost nothing. When you gave your example about the young woman who had learned to detect "white male bias" in Shakespeare (Go figure) I thought, "Well, at least she paid attention in class!"<BR/><BR/>Most people don't bother. It's not that they are learning PC. It's that they aren't learning anything at all.Odysseushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00028190531437571201noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18902745.post-26815552764425980072007-09-13T09:49:00.000-04:002007-09-13T09:49:00.000-04:00Father Hart,Superb comments. I used to observe to...Father Hart,<BR/><BR/>Superb comments. I used to observe to my students that Nature in her motherly care had provided each of us with a certain fund of dullness which, with hard work and assiduous reading, we could deepen into downright stupidity; and that it was the object of a college education to assist us in this endeavor. Hence the foolishness of those people who insist that colleges are vastly overpriced and deliver an inferior product. It is exactly what we are paying for and what we want. I mean, if people were really to think about schooling, politics, law, raising children, buying groceries and furniture and houses, watching television, and so forth, with a Christian mind, what would happen to the economy? Why, you'd have a kind of universal jaywalking -- everybody crossing everything all wrong. Mustn't have that, say our lemmings in the avant-garde.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18902745.post-81646998121857149722007-09-13T07:55:00.000-04:002007-09-13T07:55:00.000-04:00As a failed academic, but the possessor of a prett...As a failed academic, but the possessor of a pretty good emperor's new clothes detector, I quite agree. Think I might listen to a little white male music (yes, they make that, too) before saying my prayers and going to bed.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com