Well stated, Suzanne. Thanks for that.
> At the same time, many employers are looking to
> college graduates because a high school diploma
> no longer guarantees a minimal level of ability and
> cultural knowledge.
Indeed ; far from it. And I am sad to say that even
many a completed course of study at college these
days, crowned with a bachelor's degree, will be found
to have made a pretty miserable showing when it comes
to instilling "a minimal level of cultural knowledge" --
even if it manages to get that "ability" part right. And
I'll furthermore mercifully refrain from any assessment
of LIS curricula on this count.
- Laval Hunsucker
________________________________
From: Suzanne Stauffer <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Sat, November 20, 2010 2:40:29 PM
Subject: Re: Enrollment in Online Courses Increases at the Highest Rate Ever
Thank you, Karen! It's sad when even we accept the too-common equivalence of
higher education with vocational training.
At the same time, many employers are looking to college graduates because a high
school diploma no longer guarantees a minimal level of ability and cultural
knowledge. My mother did not attend college, and in high school she concentrated
on "secretarial" courses. She knew more about grammar than I do to this day. She
also knew more basic facts about history and literature than many of my MLIS
students. She could do basic math -- add, subtract, multiply and divide -- in
her head, and could convert weights and measurements, as well.
Even an undergraduate degree no longer guarantees that. I have too many students
in cataloging who do not recognize Greek tragedians such as Euripides,
presidents other than the two or three they remember from their own life time,
and basic works of Western culture. I shudder (not "shutter," as so many of them
would have it) to think what their math skills are like.
Suzanne M. Stauffer, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
School of Library and Information Science
Louisiana State University
275 Coates Hall
Baton Rouge, LA 70803
(225)578-1461
Fax: (225)578-4581
[log in to unmask]
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?
--T.S. Eliot, "Choruses from The Rock"
