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A Response to the Cynical Student. When are you ever gonna use this? Often.
James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal ^ | March 10, 2023 | Art Carden

Posted on 03/12/2023 8:44:13 AM PDT by karpov

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To: whitney69
In addition to my professor's jocular comment, he went on to say that a university targets "the whole man". It is more than a trade school. A well rounded individual cultivates a better self and then makes a better society. Perhaps a fully educated person will even cast his vote thoughtfully...

It was a good lecture, much like the one in Second Hand Lions.

21 posted on 03/12/2023 9:27:01 AM PDT by GingisK
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To: Renfrew

> But if you know only STEM you will never be more than a worker drone. <

I’m a STEM guy, and I agree. That’s why the old “distribution of studies” idea was so good. I majored in chemistry. But I was forced to take credits in the humanities. I’m better off for it.

The problem, of course, is with majoring in the humanities. I saw college is a trade school. Go there to learn a way to make a living. You can’t make much of a living as a History of Ancient Greece major.


22 posted on 03/12/2023 9:29:54 AM PDT by Leaning Right (The steal is real.)
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To: Reily

Haven’t donated in decades.

After 1st-woke president Sullivan (IIRC) had the Christian cross removed from the W&M chapel so that “no one would be offended,” I wrote a blistering letter to the alumni association condemning the policy, informing them to NEVER contact me again.

My class Baccalaureate service was held in that chapel. It was active as a church once a month.

“They” hate us. Face it.


23 posted on 03/12/2023 9:31:11 AM PDT by Blueflag (Res ipsa loquitur: ad ferre non, velit esse sine defensione)
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To: Leaning Right

You need a “Knowledge Portfolio”, be knowledgeable in several unrelated things so that as times change, you can adapt.


24 posted on 03/12/2023 9:32:48 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: karpov

Colleges are pricing themselves out of the market. I don’t blame students for asking why they need to pay for stuff they don’t value. Plus, wokeness has ruined the liberal arts anyway.


25 posted on 03/12/2023 9:35:24 AM PDT by Ford4000
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To: ConservativeInPA

Perfect tagline for the times.


26 posted on 03/12/2023 9:40:20 AM PDT by FamiliarFace (I got my own way of livin' But everything gets done With a southern accent Where I come from. TP)
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To: GingisK

Hubby is a Physicist. Our very first conversation was long — about the danger of China and their stealing of tech, etc. It wasn’t a party, though — church. That was in 1994.


27 posted on 03/12/2023 9:42:45 AM PDT by MayflowerMadam (Stupid is supposed to hurt.)
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28 posted on 03/12/2023 9:45:59 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: FamiliarFace

There’s going to be a lot of suddenly this week and this year.


29 posted on 03/12/2023 9:51:21 AM PDT by ConservativeInPA ("How did you go bankrupt?" Bill asked. "Two ways," Mike said. "Gradually and then suddenly." )
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To: karpov

Yeah... I recall those days in high school and university where it was the same discussion... “how on earth is ____ relevant to my future life?” or “how will this help me to get a job in the field I want?”

I have a friend who went to high school in the 1960s.... a really bright dude who had great self-learning skills and he was always ahead of the teachers. In grade 9 high school, a ‘typing course’ was mandatory for anyone in the arts and science programs. As things unfolded, my friend became an independent computer specialist and as he often says, his grade 9 typing course became the most valuable thing he learned in high school.


30 posted on 03/12/2023 10:04:45 AM PDT by hecticskeptic
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To: ConservativeInPA

Probably the most memorable line Hemingway ever published.


31 posted on 03/12/2023 10:06:26 AM PDT by Steely Tom ([Voter Fraud] == [Civil War])
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To: karpov

Student: “I’m never going to need to use this math and physics stuff”

Teacher: “True, but the smart kids will”.


32 posted on 03/12/2023 10:34:06 AM PDT by Aeneas2112 (YOU are your own first responder)
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To: karpov
"Liberal education is not about helping you sound impressive at snooty parties. It’s about you becoming a particular kind of person: reflective, analytical, and capable of sound evaluation and sound judgment."

Nothing could be FARTHER from reality or reason

33 posted on 03/12/2023 10:37:11 AM PDT by Gaffer
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To: KarlInOhio

I the book on the Trivium, by Sister Mary Joseph.

It is something that every serious student should read, and every interested adult.

Check it out and see if you’d like it.


34 posted on 03/12/2023 10:39:41 AM PDT by Loud Mime ("The Real Constitution and its Real Enemies" now available on Amazon. Check it out!)
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To: TalBlack

Was a chemistry prof for 42 years. It is possible to get a good education at most colleges, but it is not necessary in order to get the diploma. A savvy student can learn and enjoy a lot. For most paying customers, the best rationale I have heard recently came from Sylvester Stallone as Dwight Manfredi in Tulsa King:

The whole point of a college degree is to show a potential employer that you showed up someplace four years in a row, completed a series of tasks reasonably well, and on time. So if he hires you, there’s a semi-decent chance that you’ll show up there every day and not **** his business up.


35 posted on 03/12/2023 10:55:02 AM PDT by organicchemist (Without the second amendment, the first amendment is just talk)
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To: karpov

Movies are terrible these days because all the current writers know about are comic books and video games. They are literary imbeciles.


36 posted on 03/12/2023 10:57:48 AM PDT by Spok
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I’m a stem and I am like the totally bestliest talker


37 posted on 03/12/2023 11:12:40 AM PDT by dsrtsage ( Complexity is just simple lacking imagination)
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To: karpov

Today we have virtuous students graduating who are not educated to know their virtue is a sham.


38 posted on 03/12/2023 11:21:56 AM PDT by BEJ
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To: Aeneas2112

Classic academic rigor, when exercised through traditional rote memory and critical thinking curriculum, builds a solid foundation of disciplines to develop
High level vocational skills. A well rounded and alert citizen is also the product of such discipline.


39 posted on 03/12/2023 11:34:26 AM PDT by Theophilus 7
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To: hecticskeptic

I successfully resisted typing class, and still became a software engineer. I am incredibly fast and hunting-and-pecking.


40 posted on 03/12/2023 12:41:51 PM PDT by GingisK
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