The Future of American Colleges May Lie, Literally, in Students' Hands - Google Groups - 0 views
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Although most people imagine that the future depends on sci-fi technologies, most of the technologies that make our lives possible today are fundamentally very old.
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Kevin Gardner on 01 Mar 12Playing off of Robert Forrant's conclusion, Carlson positions those who imagine that the future depends on sci-fi technologies as naysayers to his more rounded and thoughtful analysis. He advances his argument by pointing out that most of the technologies that make our lives possible today stem from very old technology.
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Anna Lappé's Diet for a Hot Planet
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some people question the practical value of a college degree
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The author is injecting a naysayer into his argument here by giving some attention to those who question the value of a college degree. Rather that searching out something fundamentally different from what higher education has to offer, Carlson explains, we aught to look with a fresh pair of eyes at what is already present and can be enhanced in the current system.
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The book's treatment of the topic held few surprises, and the solutions offered were equally well-worn and deceptively simple: Buy fruits, vegetables, and meats locally, and cook them at home.
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Instead of viewing the physical campus as a burden, why not see it as an asset, even beyond the aesthetic attractions of the quad? With some imagination, couldn't these colleges use their campuses and rural settings to train students in valuable hands-on skills?
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Lawmakers say colleges need to make students employable and to create jobs. Some critics say colleges should use technology to scale up; others go so far as to bemoan the physical campus as an unnecessary, expensive burden in an online world.
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the chorus of complaints about the state of higher education
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People complaining about the state of higher education and saying colleges need to make students employable, use technology to scale up, or view large campuses as an unnecessary burden in an online world, are naysayers to Carlson's argument in that they are proposing that we re-invent the wheel of higher education instead of optimizing the utility of what already exists by being creative.
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Compare that with the American system, which is "geared up for a service economy, where the idea is that people are going to prosper by getting farther and farther away from the world of skilled craftsmanship," he says. The higher-education elite doesn't value it.