I think you're missing the point I was trying to make.
The point comes out of an argument I've heard a lot that the Liberal Arts are the way to critical thinking, to understanding, and to deeper knowledge, and that without a stronger liberal arts curriculum, students won't pick it up. This goes around in circles a lot; students won't learn valuable life skills unless we strengthen the liberal arts curriculum, the current liberal arts curriculum doesn't teach students life skills because there's not enough of it. It's an argument without logical end; the reason why some students don't learn the valuable life skills in some of the liberal arts Core classes they have to take is assumed to be because they haven't taken enough of those classes.
My counter would be that there is not just one place to learn those life skills, and that the automatic reaction to students lacking those skills should not be to just strengthen one piece of the curriculum that has failed them so far. Perhaps its time for an overhaul, and an increased synchronization between departments in the interest of strengthening the lessons we teach.
Just so as you know, ethics is most commonly taught to scientists by people with a scientific background, primarily because they're the ones who are most likely to understand the particular problems involved. Really, ethics for a particular department should be handled at a departmental level, because they are the people who know firsthand what the effects are, and how best to reach their students. The best ethics courses should give you a foundation for what's already decided, and, for the sciences, an idea about how common ethics are going to change in the next few years.
After all, human cloning is looking more and more plausible, if we can figure out how to just clone certain parts.
" Science and math give us a way to do things; the liberal arts give us a reason to care. "
I've never believed in this particular argument, and I never will, because it boils down to essentially an absurdity. I believe that it's possible to find meaning and purpose in your life or your work in a number of ways, and that it's possible to garner wisdom from all across the map. To make such a cavalier statement that essentially means that you can't care about how the universe acts until you've taken Lit 101 is a bit narrow.
People have been wondering how the universe works, and why, ever since someone discovered that you could drop rocks on the heads of other people. It's just as much part of being human as the urge for artistic expression, and is a pursuit in and of itself.
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Date: 2005-12-08 04:09 am (UTC)The point comes out of an argument I've heard a lot that the Liberal Arts are the way to critical thinking, to understanding, and to deeper knowledge, and that without a stronger liberal arts curriculum, students won't pick it up. This goes around in circles a lot; students won't learn valuable life skills unless we strengthen the liberal arts curriculum, the current liberal arts curriculum doesn't teach students life skills because there's not enough of it. It's an argument without logical end; the reason why some students don't learn the valuable life skills in some of the liberal arts Core classes they have to take is assumed to be because they haven't taken enough of those classes.
My counter would be that there is not just one place to learn those life skills, and that the automatic reaction to students lacking those skills should not be to just strengthen one piece of the curriculum that has failed them so far. Perhaps its time for an overhaul, and an increased synchronization between departments in the interest of strengthening the lessons we teach.
Just so as you know, ethics is most commonly taught to scientists by people with a scientific background, primarily because they're the ones who are most likely to understand the particular problems involved. Really, ethics for a particular department should be handled at a departmental level, because they are the people who know firsthand what the effects are, and how best to reach their students. The best ethics courses should give you a foundation for what's already decided, and, for the sciences, an idea about how common ethics are going to change in the next few years.
After all, human cloning is looking more and more plausible, if we can figure out how to just clone certain parts.
" Science and math give us a way to do things; the liberal arts give us a reason to care. "
I've never believed in this particular argument, and I never will, because it boils down to essentially an absurdity. I believe that it's possible to find meaning and purpose in your life or your work in a number of ways, and that it's possible to garner wisdom from all across the map. To make such a cavalier statement that essentially means that you can't care about how the universe acts until you've taken Lit 101 is a bit narrow.
People have been wondering how the universe works, and why, ever since someone discovered that you could drop rocks on the heads of other people. It's just as much part of being human as the urge for artistic expression, and is a pursuit in and of itself.