End The University as we Know It

My Ecoleadership Professor, Mary McBride, told me about this Op Ed in the New York Times by Mark Taylor.  Great piece about the flaws of the higher-education system and six recommendations on how to reform it.

A couple of the ones I liked: have students work on theses and projects rather than papers; abolish tenure; abolish permanent departments and have universities focus on problems (like water or energy) because the study of these problems is multi-disciplinary; and stop training our graduate students to be academics because there are few who will be able to get academic jobs.

He also criticizes the university’s business model and says that the only way they can operate is to use cheap graduate labor to do research and teach classes.  Very true.

Taylor echoes my own feelings and trepidation about taking on massive NYU debt.  Although I have thoroughly enjoyed my semester at NYU (the past 6 weeks aside), I always wonder how practical any of this knowledge is.  My first job in the Navy taught me that even government managers who oversee nuclear engineering projects don’t actually need a degree in it, they can learn it on the job just like everyone else.  So, if your job teaches you what you need to know, and the university education system fails to give you even the basic work-place skills (like conflict resolution, negotiation, how to run effective meetings), what is the point of the education system?

Although I am not an academic and haven’t fully experienced his critique of the tenure system, my initial reaction to his piece is that he hits the nail on the head.  I believe the reason my professor, McBride, liked it is because she advocates a similar, non-tradition classroom experience.  My final group project was a skit that spoofed America’s Next Top Model, replacing Model with Cell Phone because we want to educate younger folks (14-21 year olds) that their decisions to buy cell phones has an impact on the world around them.

Taylor ends with this quote:

For many years, I have told students, “Do not do what I do; rather, take whatever I have to offer and do with it what I could never imagine doing and then come back and tell me about it.” My hope is that colleges and universities will be shaken out of their complacency and will open academia to a future we cannot conceive.

So will I.  You can read the full article, here.

The One Year Degree

Already I’ve run into a bit of a problem with earning my degree in one year.  Apparently, if you start in the Spring of 2009 and you want to focus on international development, there is no way to complete your one year masters degree in one year.  Why?  Because two required classes – one required for the degree and one required as a prerequisite for higher-level development courses – are offered at the same time on Monday.  Ugh.  

That’s fine.  It costs a little more money, but perhaps it’s not so bad to have a little more time to learn something about the field.  The other unfortunate situation I’ve run into is finding the courses I want to take already full.  This happened with two courses, so one more year might give me the opportunity to take it again.

So far, I’ve registered for the following:

• Microeconomics
• Financial Management
• Institutions, Governance, and International Development – this is the intro course to development that is a prerequisite for others
• Organizational and Managerial Development
• I am wait listed on Ecoleadership.  From the syllabus:

This course will explore economic globalization and focus on the impact of the private sector on decisions that shape global society and influence the design, development and delivery of public goods.

The Ecoleadership course’s syllabus looks absolutely fascinating and everything I want to study.  Ah well, perhaps the five people ahead of me on the waitlist will drop or, or some other five people signed up to take the class.  We’ll see.

The alternative – Organizational & Managerial Development – does also interest me.  This course – taught by the same instructor as Ecoleadership – will look at organizational development theory and require us, the students, to apply the theory to real life situations in building a more efficient organization.  This process always fascinates me – the mechanics behind making an organization tick – and it’s something I had to spend a lot of time doing with Hands On Gulf Coast.  It would be interesting to learn what the ‘pros’ see and how they might navigate tricky waters.

All in all, I am excited about my course load for next semester and being in school.  Next step – financing the investment in higher learning.