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To: originalbuckeye
Gov Brewer (R-AZ) wants to appoint a Regent to the ASU board who believes that we should eliminate all College majors that will not reasonably allow the student to find a job

Like English and Philosophy?

I'm an English major with a minor in Philosophy. I've been a physician for >30 years and I would say that's a reasonable job.

Actually, my major-minor prepared me very well for the work I do. Medical school is for the nuts and bolts stuff.

The issue isn't liberal arts (of course, it goes without saying that any "discipline" invented since 1968 should be eliminated) - the issue is way, way too many "students" going to college.

Liberal arts, properly done, makes smart people better people. Liberal arts are not ABOUT finding you a job.

13 posted on 05/09/2012 5:29:11 AM PDT by Jim Noble ("The Germans: At your feet, or at your throat" - Winston Churchill)
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To: Jim Noble

I thought that’s what trade school was for.


14 posted on 05/09/2012 5:31:12 AM PDT by BykrBayb (Somewhere, my flower is there. ~ Þ)
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To: Jim Noble

I have a liberal arts degree with a major in foreign language (Spanish). That degree allowed me to support my 4 children when their father decided he couldn’t handle the situation and left. I added a few hours of education courses from Baylor University, and we survived. They, all 4, are tax-paying citizens, and I’m retiring.


19 posted on 05/09/2012 5:42:39 AM PDT by Clara Lou
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To: Jim Noble

I won’t disagree with you about too many people going to college but the unemployment rate differential for college no college is stark.
I have always felt as you do but the world is changing and it’s more difficult to find work without.


20 posted on 05/09/2012 5:43:17 AM PDT by wiggen (The teacher card. When the racism card just won't work.)
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To: Jim Noble
"liberal arts"

I tend to agree. Universities were originally designed to educate the whole person. They weren't necessarily set up to get someone a job. It's certainly nice if your major is likely to get you a good job, but an all around education is still important. People talking strictly about their jobs and little else are pretty boring to be around. My dentist can disport on a wide variety of subjects...and usually does. It makes the dental experience a lot easier to tolerate.

24 posted on 05/09/2012 5:56:24 AM PDT by driftless2
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To: Jim Noble
it goes without saying that any "discipline" invented since 1968 should be eliminated)

Like nanoscience? LOL

39 posted on 05/09/2012 6:42:05 AM PDT by ladyjane
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To: Jim Noble
Liberal arts, properly done, makes smart people better people.
Back in the day perhaps ... the operative word being "smart."
Today's college students can't even read or write.
43 posted on 05/09/2012 7:16:31 AM PDT by oh8eleven (RVN '67-'68)
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To: Jim Noble

Thank you, Doctor. I am sick of the anti-cultural philistinism of so many on the right - let’s remember that Arthur Conan Doyle was a doctor AND an important writer...the liberal arts are a valuable asset to emotional and intellectual development, with countless possible applications.


47 posted on 05/09/2012 7:51:03 AM PDT by kabumpo (Kabumpo)
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To: Jim Noble

I’ve got a liberal arts degree myself, with lots of English and philosophy included in it.

The value of said degree, let alone its utility, is debatable.

What I would suggest is that with a little effort you and I could have read what we read and learned what we learned without sitting in a classroom, living in a dorm, and paying through the nose for the (literal) privilege.

I loved college, had a great time and pulled down a 3.86 gpa. But a lot of what I did, and what the curriculum required me to do, really only got in the way of my acquiring knowledge, let alone wisdom.


48 posted on 05/09/2012 8:01:17 AM PDT by Fightin Whitey
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To: Jim Noble

I had a major in Theater with a minor in Political Science.
All it really qualified me to do was to stage a coup.


51 posted on 05/09/2012 8:23:52 AM PDT by Wordkraft (Remember who the Collaborators are.)
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