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... from a teacher at open university, apparently. I'm sure I'm biased as a college drop out myself, but I've never been impressed by abstract ('learn how to h

• pavel_lishin 17y ago
  Understanding what you read on the news, being able to communicate clearly and effectively, and being able to spot bullshit and faulty arguments when you see it - great reasons to go to college. But 90% of people won't be using what they learn to "improve their community" and whatnot, not unless they're specifically going to school to learn that.
  • hughprime 17y ago
    Understanding what you read on the news, being able to communicate clearly and effectively, and being able to spot bullshit and faulty arguments when you see it - great reasons to go to college. It's a pity, then, that these skills aren't very well taught in university (at least on the humanities side). Indeed, if you do a course on, say, Foucault or Derrida then you'll need to unlearn how to spot bullshit and faulty arguments if you want to pass the course since a final essay which says "Derrida in this book says a whole bunch of vague bullshit that doesn't make any real sense" will get low marks. Interestingly, I don't think spotting bullshit or faulty arguments is that difficult a skill -- relatively uneducated people can easily spot a BS argument when it's used to argue for something they don't want to believe. The really hard part is developing the discipline to be able to spot a BS argument even when it's arguing for something you do want to believe. I don't think this skill is very well taught, either.