General rule, for me, is:

Grade school - basic skills to warrant advance to Middle school.
Middle school - basic skills to warrant advance to Hight school.
High school - basic skills to warrant advance to college/uni.
Bachelor’s - expansion of one’s knowledge base and worldview, etc.
Master’s - acquisition of specialty skills needed in some types of work.
Doctoral - acquisition of advance skills, usually in specialty area, w/ or w/o societal approval to do certain work - health care, lega, etc.

Problem seems to be failure at multiple levels (if not all) on both the part of the educational institutions and the individuals.  For instance, seeking educational advances to make more money is a fool’s errand.  Institutions, at all levels, thinking they are producing an educated populace a sham.

As a result, we encounter entrenched neoliberalism, its poster boy, the maladaptive society in which we struggle, a a planet in meltdown.
Ugh!
So much maintenance and repair to be done so quickly!

Best regards,

Waldemar

Waldemar A Schmidt, PhD, MD
(Perseveret et Percipiunt)
Sent from my iPad

On Sep 12, 2020, at 10:51 AM, Peter Lloyd Jones <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Hi Cole and all,
I agree with the prognostication that today’s events will result in a permanent impact on higher education. But I disagree with the thought that universities are becoming irrelevant for because, “...several courses deemed required may pose no actual utility to the student's desired goals, resulting in payment for unnecessary information and a painstaking, and potentially harmful, student experience.” My concept of "unnecessary information” is limited. 

My goals in higher education were to learn, not to qualify for any specific employment. I do not work in the field of either of my Bachelor degrees. I also was in welding school for five months, learning the difficult art of overhead welding, and have not pursued that as a career. The university experience is unique in many ways, but is prohibitively expensive for many people. But one of my goals in college was to learn as much unnecessary information as possible and never did potential after-college earnings motive me. 

A boss of mine told me that Edwin H. Land was the only person he had ever met who something about everything. That’s a nice educational goal. A philosopher professor of mine thought of me as a stupid art student, until midterms. The professor who taught the graduate-level psych course I took was far more encouraging. My thought is that negative feedback from professors might be more of a downfall for universities than unnecessary information. It’s what made my student experience more painful than it needed to be. 

But one professor did point out to me that my reasons for higher schooling were unusual. 
I wish you the best in your studies, wherever however they may be or take you.
Peter

Peter Lloyd Jones
[log in to unmask]
562-209-4080

Sent by determined causes that no amount of will is able to thwart. 



On Sep 12, 2020, at 9:56 AM, Cole Butler <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

resulting in payment for unnescessary information and a painstaking, and potentially harmful, student experience. 

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