The evils of a 'balanced' education...

[mdwh]

Nah, I assume that somebody who takes classes from various disciplines will be less ignorant than somebody who takes no such classes.

But we're not comparing "going to classes" versus "not going to classes" - that's a different debate altogether.

The issue here is "going to classes to study a vast range of subjects to some degree" versus "going to classes to study a more specific range of subjects to a greater degree".

 

[Enkidu Warrior]

Again, that's the party line of liberal educators, who seem to believe that the "right" society is nurtured by a liberal education. This attitude may be relevant in high school, where the students are children and just don't know any better, but it's hardly the same in higher education, where the students are adults. It essentially boils down to the attitude that "you don't know any better, so we'll make you study what we want you to, for your own good." By the time you're in college, you should've had some idea of what you want to do in life, and not sample a little of everything in the hopes of figuring it out later. And I say this as someone who received a very liberal arts education, from a very liberal school, NYU, and with a major in Classics. It gained me nothing but a speed bump on my way to medical school.

Once again, I'm not saying anybody should be forced to do "a little bit of everything" or to study in any particular subject. Just that they study something outside their main field. I humbly submit that 99% of people wouldn't have a problem choosing at least one course outside their speciality that interested them.

What other system did you think existed in universities?

Huh? Once again, I'm not sure you're really responding to my post. I went to uni in the UK and wasn't required to study any non-physics courses at all. I said from the beginning that I didn't support the system newfangle was describing. I think a university that turned out students who specialized 100% would be inferior to one that encouraged wider study, while leaving the details to the students. You don't have to force students to take social studies to acheive a bit more balance at university.

 

[blackheart]

There would probably be a lot less complaining if most of the profesors in the other area of studies could actually teach. Actually, this applies to all professors in general.

 

[warpus]

But we're not comparing "going to classes" versus "not going to classes" - that's a different debate altogether.

The issue here is "going to classes to study a vast range of subjects to some degree" versus "going to classes to study a more specific range of subjects to a greater degree".

Doesn't matter - I still stand by my point. Narrowing your education to 1 subject only is a likely path to ignorance.

 

[Enkidu Warrior]

Doesn't matter - I still stand by my point. Narrowing your education to 1 subject only is a likely path to ignorance.

I completely agree.

 

[mdwh]

Doesn't matter - I still stand by my point. Narrowing your education to 1 subject only is a likely path to ignorance.

But we're not talking about that either - people in the UK study a broad range of subjects at school up until 18, and that's good.

But when people choose to study in a particular group of subjects after that, I fail to see how that makes you ignorant just because they don't study both science and arts. I'd start with worrying about the people who don't go to University at all - is that bad?

 

[Neonanocyborgasm]

Once again, I'm not saying anybody should be forced to do "a little bit of everything" or to study in any particular subject. Just that they study something outside their main field. I humbly submit that 99% of people wouldn't have a problem choosing at least one course outside their speciality that interested them.

If only it was just 1 little thing, but it's not. At NYU, there was a whole bureaucracy dedicated to enforcing a liberal education for everyone. I remember that there was something like 10 subject areas that one had to satisfy in order to graduate. It was very tedious and everyone complained because tuition was high enough as it was without being forced to take classes that you had no use for.

PS: I just looked at the latest bulletin on-line and noticed that they've simplified things a lot, and now there are only 4 areas of study required. That's a big change from my era.