On Fri, 26 Apr 1996, Dr. Ivan Blanco wrote:
> > Date: 24 Apr 96 17:17:23 EDT
> > From: "Roxanne S. Abbas" <75263.3305@CompuServe.COM>
> >
> > If Price wrote:
> >
> > >I read an article today about a man who gave a paper to a UK conference
> > about considering why not abolish universities. ....Do we need
> > universities any more than we need temples to the delphic oracle?
[snip]
> > Roxanne Abbas
Ivan replies...
> I believe that universities, an especially some programs such as
> Buisiness programs, are losing their own future in a very slow process
> filled with arrogance and lack of "true awarness" of what is goiong here!
> I have said it so many times that the structured classes, class materials
> (textbooks), the classroom, the 3 hour-credit course, etc., have become so
> universally accepted as necessary for education to take place that we
> failed to recognize and accept the fact that learning is not constrained
> to any of those factors or dimensions. We have failed to reciognize how
> meaningles the whole thing has become. It is possible that in some fields
> of knowledge the traditional univeristy environment is the most
> appropriate way of learning. But I am sure that there are many other
> fields of knowledge where the traditional structure has served as a
> deterrent to advancement. This list is much dynamic, meaningful, rich in
> terms of the diversity of views, etc.
> -- Ivan,
Could it be said, Roxanne and Ivan, that, in any case, graduate
universities are the best setting for learning about how to get through
graduate programs? Often, it seems, that the trappings are primarily for
the "certification" aspects ("Oh, you made it through, too!), and the
learning that takes place is quite apart from--and sometimes in spite
of--those constraints.
I learned a great deal from and thoroughly enjoyed the experience of my
masters degree program in counseling pyschology, but almost all of it was
from the community of learners (faculty included) who participated in the
process. It was also a very unconventional program, I am grateful to say,
which allowed me a great deal of leeway in choosing the directions and
extent of the learning in which I was interested. I guess the key is to
notice in which ways the structure and setting support or impinge upon the
quality of the learning that takes place.
And as I type that last sentence I see that, once again, we are back to
organizational learning issues!
Tobin Quereau
Austin Community College
quereau@austin.cc.tx.us
--Tobin Quereau <quereau@austin.cc.tx.us>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>