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One of the parents in the article complained about an anti-intellectual movement taking off. Yet he would do well to consider the scientific method: there is lo

• superuser2 11y ago
  The more interesting and powerful kind of anti-intellectualism is STEM-centrism. The same people who complain about lack of academic rigor demand that we gut the study of literature, art, music, theater, social sciences, etc. so that students can use the time to factor more equations and compute more integrals instead. This is also down to value systems: I was raised in one that says education is meant to produce well-rounded intellectuals and good citizens, and "they" say it begins and ends with increasing the price of your labor in the marketplace.
  • marktangotango 11y ago
    That's a bit of a mischaracterization, my understanding of that position isn't that the arts don't have value, but that the "general Ed" requirements tack an extra year onto an undergrad degree, and have little more purpose than to enrich the university. There are many countries, without extensive general Ed requirements, where the norm is three years for a Bachelors degree. My experience was; returning to undergrad to get a cs degree, and completing the course work for q double major in math. Then being denied the bs in math due to unsatisfied gen Ed requirements. I appealed asking to use previous courses from a previous degree as substitutes, but was denied. So I got a minor instead. The decision to not allow the subs was completely arbitrary and buracratic.
    • superuser2 11y ago
      In the US, the job training program that doesn't "waste" your time with general education is an associate's degree. Where bachelor's degrees are required, it should be because the additional requirements (like critical thinking and communication skills, command of English, breadth of knowledge outside your chosen field) are actually important. Perhaps it isn't, but it should be.
      • marktangotango 11y ago
        In my personal example, the requirements were 4 auditorium style humanities electives. Where is the value to the student or anyone BUT the university in those? I'm pretty sure honors grads from England or Australia would be offended by your equating they're degrees to AS degrees.
        • superuser2 11y ago
          Indeed, auditorium lectures are a terrible way to teach humanities, that's why expensive and highly selective private schools have a claim to providing a higher quality education. Those classes are taught in discussions of 18 kids and a professor around a conference table. This is expensive, but there's no reason it should be restricted to the wealth or intellectual top-10% as it currently is. Just public opposition, driven in large part by the STEM crowd. Germany at least has a 13th grade. I expect the burden of general education is simply shifted to high schools. You can make a C average and graduate high school in the US while barely literate; I expect that's not the same in England and Australia. I know that in Germany, smart kids fail Gymnasium classes routinely: like college, to pass you have to have actually learned something. In my experience at a very good public high school in the US you had to be brain dead or not trying to make less than a C+ in most things.
        • deleted 11y ago
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