In the Basement of the Ivory Tower
theatlantic.com
In the Basement of the Ivory Tower
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Re: In the Basement of the Ivory Tower
#2At my old school they tested incoming freshmen and sent many of them to a pass / fail English 050 class. It seems odd that most schools don't have such programs.
Re: In the Basement of the Ivory Tower
#3The most helpful grade I ever received on an essay was an 'F'.
It was in my first year of university. I knew the course and knew the material but couldn't have been arsed to put together a paper which adequately addressed the subject.
The comments the professor wrote were scathing and it was a wonderful full slap on the face that I'd better get my act together and actually deliver what was expected of me if I ever wanted to accomplish something of value.
I did. Thanks for that 'F'.
Re: In the Basement of the Ivory Tower
#4Will having read Invisible Man make a police officer less likely to indulge in racial profiling? Will a familiarity with Steinbeck make him more sympathetic to the plight of the poor, so that he might understand the lives of those who simply cannot get their taillights fixed? Will it benefit the correctional officer to have read The Autobiography of Malcolm X?
The author seems to think one aspect of education is to propagandize a certain political view, and that the success of the same would validate forcing education on people. If it makes him feel better, then...yes, of course reading such things will have an effect. Where did you get your ideas from? Obviously, a brain not so capable of absorbing information tends to stick to its instincts. That's why not every human quality is curable.
I do wonder if the author realizes that many police officers come from a poor background, probably much unlike his own. Maybe they don't need Steinbeck to learn about the subject.
Re: In the Basement of the Ivory Tower
#5"America, ever-idealistic, seems wary of the vocational-education track. We are not comfortable limiting anyone’s options. Telling someone that college is not for him seems harsh and classist and British, as though we were sentencing him to a life in the coal mines. I sympathize with this stance; I subscribe to the American ideal. Unfortunately, it is with me and my red pen that that ideal crashes and burns."
We tend to never look at the underbelly of academia, particularly those who are well served post-college in a world of newly minted bonus checks and corporate perks. Discussion exists as to where the process went wrong, a process that favors the inevitable elite and rich, but I have yet to see one solid and compelling reason why education (on average) fails compared to our European counterparts.
Excellent article.
Re: In the Basement of the Ivory Tower
#6Thanks crocus for posting this.
When I made the parent submission to HN ~2hr ago which contained this article, I was going to post to the original source shortly but good to see you do it. That is what it is all about, helping each other :)
(I deleted the submission as it linked to this article in reference rather than the original, and did not follow the “Please submit the original source. If a blog post reports on something they found on another site, submit the latter” in http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)
Anyway, if you find the article interesting you may enjoy some of the other ones I was reading at the time (also with good links) that were useful...
Which Universities Have No Chance at Entrepreneurship?: http://campusentrepreneurship.wordpress.com/2008/06/24/which...
As Textbooks Go 'Custom,' Students Pay: http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB121565135185141235.ht...
The latest National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship newsletter shares a great new paper by Block and Keller called “Where do Innovations Come from?: http://www.publicforuminstitute.org/nde/news/2008/enews-08-0...
Re: In the Basement of the Ivory Tower
#7At my old school they tested incoming freshmen and sent many of them to a pass / fail English 050 class. It seems odd that most schools don't have such programs.
Agree.
I, too, taught "literature" to people that could barely read. It sucked.
If you can't read, you should learn the mechanics of how to read before dealing with things like "foreshadowing" "theme" "denouement."
Just, basic stuff.Otherwise, it's just ridiculous.
That's what these colleges should be doing, if they're taking student's money. Not raping them in their vulnerability, naivete, and ability to get a loan.
Re: In the Basement of the Ivory Tower
#8Excellent submission. That was an extremely well-written and particularly trenchant piece of writing.
It is interesting to compare the experiences of Ms. L to various people in their 40s returning to school when I was in undergrad. They too had difficulty with very basic (to us youngsters, anyway) methods of computer use. Many viewed computers with either outright terror or blatant suspicion.
I have often thought of volunteering my time to a college or tech school locally to teach computer-illiterate people the basics of computer use. It would be such a simple thing for me and judging by Ms. L's plight, it could make all the difference in the world to some people.
Re: In the Basement of the Ivory Tower
#9Will having read Invisible Man make a police officer less likely to indulge in racial profiling? Will a familiarity with Steinbeck make him more sympathetic to the plight of the poor, so that he might understand the lives of those who simply cannot get their taillights fixed? Will it benefit the correctional officer to have read The Autobiography of Malcolm X? The author seems to think one aspect of education is to p…
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Re: In the Basement of the Ivory Tower
#10Very insightful view into the mind of an essay marker. I've always loathed the subjectiveness of English courses, that's why I took computer science :)
I agree with the author, not everyone is cut out for English classes, but I think an alternative to these "trying help you an write essay" classes should be some kind of "just read a book and enjoy it" class. It would be a start anyway. In school, any hope of loving English literature is usually destroyed by some kind of forced book dissection or compare and contrast garbage.