on Mon, Nov 17, 2003 at 01:54:46PM -0500, M. Kirchhoff (moai@0ubliette.org) wrote:
> Don Werve <donw@examen.com> said:
> >>For those wealthy enough to attend college, many
> >>will attain near-useless English and Liberal Arts degrees, because >>they
> >>lack the impetus, drive, and determination to pursue a more difficult
> >>degree.
>
> Pigeon <jah.pigeon@ukonline.co.uk> said:
> >>which means that university entrance standards have to drop
> >>dramatically and
> >>the vast majority of students take useless degrees of which the
> >>canonical example is "media studies".
>
>
> I take great offense at both of these statements. That you assume I lack
> impetus, drive, and determination, simply because I hold a Bachelor of
> Arts in English, stuns me.
>
> In fact, I left my studies in Computer Engineering after two years at
> one of the top-rated science/engineering schools in the U.S., as I felt
> that a myopic education dedicated to study of engineering/science/math
> could not meet my desire for a wide breadth of study. Only when I began
> my degree in Liberal Arts did I find what I consider an important
> balance of theory and practice, of objective and subjective analysis.
>
> To continue on a path unfulfilling of my needs in order to fetch a
> high-paying position would have reflected a lack of determination and
> drive. Instead, I chose the difficult path.
>
> I can only assume that by "useless" you mean "will not earn as much
> money as one trained in a specific area of science/technology," and not
> "unworthy of study," as I have found my studies in the Arts just as
> applicable to my worldview as my studies in the Sciences, if not more
> so. If anything, the U.S. school system suffers from a dearth of Liberal
> Arts education (I speak of a truly "liberal" arts, including studies in
> the sciences).
>
> Perhaps I'm singular in this regard, but I did not attend college to be
> trained, but rather to develop and strengthen those skills essential to
> leading the most informed, conscious, "examined" life possible.
>
> The "holier than though" attitude of much of the technocentric
> population frustrates me endlessly. I'm offended both as a proponent of
> the Liberal Arts *and* as one who believes in the importance of science
> and technology; attacked on one side, flanked by disbelievers on the
> other...
>
> --
> M.
>
>
> --
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>
*plonk*
--
Karsten M. Self <kmself@ix.netcom.com> http://kmself.home.netcom.com/
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