[rant]Contact Hour Billing

[--Pete]

Hi,

I've worked with entirely too many people who have had degrees ranging from associate to doctorate and who didn't have a clue in any field other than their narrow specialty. It is not that they didn't have an opinion on history, literature, arts, etc. It's that they didn't even seem to know that those fields existed.

The continuing trend to applicability in the present educational system is generating well programmed robots who cannot think because they have nothing to think with or about. But, of course, there is a flip side to this as well. I've never met an engineer who couldn't read or write (though few do the latter well). I've met many a liberal arts type that couldn't add and wouldn't recognize poor logic if it bit them (which it often does).

--Pete

[Nicodemus Phaulkon]

The continuing trend to applicability in the present educational system is generating well programmed robots who cannot think because they have nothing to think with or about. But, of course, there is a flip side to this as well. I've never met an engineer who couldn't read or write (though few do the latter well). I've met many a liberal arts type that couldn't add and wouldn't recognize poor logic if it bit them (which it often does).

...why there is no such thing as a "Renaissance Man" in this day and age.

One would think with the availability of travel, education and experience... such an epitome of humanity would have become a far more common occurrence than when the actual term was coined. Surely it seems that to be such a person would benefit one's career (How many times have we filled out that "Other Interests" section of a job application or personal resume), but the opposite seems true. They don't want someone who's active in the outdoors, who's pursuing several different experiences, who's invested into their extended family and community. What they DO want is someone who'll kick in 14 hour days and not blink at being requested to give up their weekends for the latest "project".

It would seem that the term "Renaissance Man", in today's context, is equally labeled as "Eminently Unemployable".

[--Pete]

Hi,

I've often wondered why there is no such thing as a "Renaissance Man" in this day and age.

'Cause the Renaissance has been over for some centuries? After all, a true Renaissance Man would be over 400 years old ;)

Kidding aside. If by "Renaissance Man" you mean someone who knows all the knowledge that there is available, then that hasn't been possible for quite some time. It's a rare field in which the workers can keep up with the publications. It's physically impossible for anyone to keep up with everything.

If you mean "a person who has wide interests and is expert in several areas" as M-W defines the term, then I submit that there are many such alive -- probably more than in the Renaissance, given the greater population and greater opportunities. One such who comes to mind immediately is the late Issac Asimov. I've met a few others, though few were young.

--Pete

[whyBish]

Under the new system, the cost for attending a course will be determined by the course’s billing hours, instead of credit hours. A billing hour represents an amount of time that a student spends in direct contact with an instructor or with laboratory equipment.

Hehe, I would love that, my courses would be free, I am an extramural :P

[Lady Vashj]

No they won't. Classes with no contact with an instructor will be billed based on credits earned. Nothing is free but the sauce packets at Taco Bell.

*walks up to Taco Bell counter*

*sees sign saying "Ask for Sauce Packets! Extra 25-cent charge per packet requested.*

[whyBish]

Ah well, at least courses here are ~75-85% govt. funded. Good way to get some of my tax $$ back :P

[Bob]

TA was originally from Ireland ("fee"="phi", "aluminium"="aluminum")

I can't vouch for the first word (well, the Greek letter, obviously, as far as I'm concerned, it's pronounced phi), but the metal is called "Aluminium" - as far as I can gather from my encyclopedia, America is the only country to use "Aluminum" - having said that, if he's teaching in the US, he should be using the American terms.

I had a similar issue a few weeks ago when I went to visit a university, and was given ~ 10 minutes to talk, 1-to-1 with a lecturer if I had any questions. Unfortunately, I was left with a lecturer with a thick Russian accent, I could only understand about 50% of what he said. I then enede up forgetting my questions because I was concentrating so hard on trying to decipher what he was saying. Eventually It finished and I put my questions to the admissions tutor instead. Wait, what's that got to do with the topic at hand? Blech!

-Bob