Pinson, Zachary: Paglia

The current college education concentrates too highly on the business aspects of today’s workforce. Paglia expresses her concerns over this issue in her article. She explains that a resolution for our economy’s recession is for modern education to focus on teaching students in an apprentice-master type setting again. In the old days when people chose their trade they went and learned from a master so that they would be fully prepared to do their job. Nowadays people sit in a classroom listening to a professor teach them everything they need to know to be a professor. They aren’t taught all the hands-on skills required to do the tasks that will be expected of them. They are taught the basics and the theory behind the job and sent into the world to be outdone by those who have learned by working alongside the men and women who have been doing these jobs all their lives, rather than learning from books and professors for four to seven years after high school. If the schools would not only teach their students the math, science, English, and critical thinking aspects of a job but also have them work with their hands to learn the physical aspect of the job, graduates would be more qualified and also more likely to get a job in our shrinking economy. 

Willis, Rob: Paglia

Camille Paglia published an article, “Revalorizing the Trades,” in the Chronicle of Higher Education.  Paglia decries the state of higher education, stating, “The idea that college is a contemplative realm of humanistic inquiry, removed from vulgar material needs, is nonsense.”  Paglia contrasts humanistic teachings with her art students who are possessed of a “Zen-like engagement with the physical world....”  Paglia's observations could not be further from the truth.

Paglia argues that in order for students to escape the cubicle farm of corporate culture, universities should focus on tangible skills at the expense of more intellectual course offerings.  Paglia is correct in as much as our society places little value on what it cannot physically possess.  Knowledge is only valued as much as the monetary compensation it can provide.  Trade-skills are valued because they produce tangible items we can hold, admire, and, ultimately, sell.

Individual perspective may be all we have left in this increasingly globalized economy.  Paglia alludes to an earlier age when young men were apprenticed to guilds to learn the trades that would support them throughout their lives.  As idyllic a return as this may be, these days are gone; we now live in a world where hundreds, if not thousands, of other people possess the same skills as their peers.  We must now define ourselves in other ways:  how we look at the world; how we interact with others; where do we go from here?

These questions are the proverbial “big questions,” and the only way to provide meaningful answers is to utilize our own unique perspectives.  The most valuable tools I have been provided to tackle these questions in my own life came from a foundation in philosophy.  The first day I sat down in a college classroom, I was confronted by a challenge – how does one know that he exists?  This line of questioning was reinforced later in the day when I was confronted with a language puzzle – if one states that “nothing” is in a desk drawer, can one then remove “nothing” from the drawer?  This may seem frivolous, but these were defining moments in my life because they planted a seed which continues to grow questions daily.

To be more specific, I see that we have two choices – allow higher education to continue unchanged, or accept Paglia's proposal and “revalorize” the trades by disposing of all parts which do not provide a tangible benefit.  The first to go should be philosophy; it is polluted by “pretentious postmodernist theory,” anyway.  Next, let's be done with creative writing of any sort -  no one need think further along than the next strike of the hammer.  In fact, we can simplify the whole process.  We could institute a caste-based system where trade-skills (highly valued, of course) are assigned from birth. 

I value the material work as much as any other.  I could not live my life without a veritable army of plumbers, electricians, carpenters, welders, roughnecks, policemen, firemen, and soldiers providing products and services I need.  But there will always be a division – a choice made by young men and women as they become adults.  Will they work with their hands, or work with their minds?  I see neither as less important than the other, but they are separate sets of skills.  As such, they require separate places of learning.  Leave things as they are, lest we lose what little perspective we have left in an increasingly homogenous society.

Wisinger, Amber: Paglia

 As an older student who has already been in the workplace and had to be in the real world, I can plainly see that college doesn’t really prepare young people for the workplace. I have been in many classes that only want students to memorize things and then answer questions correctly on a test. Afterwards, the subjects aren’t thought of again until the final. The only classes that really prepare their students for the workplace are classes in vocational or technical schools, such as welding and some nursing classes.

I personally have worked a few different jobs during my adult life. I have worked in a “super store,” a department store, a gas station, a restaurant, and as a babysitter. These jobs may not take much education, but they do require social skills. Something that does happen with most of these jobs, however, is on-the-job training. Professional jobs do not have much training because the education needed to get the job is considered the training, but the problem is that when new college graduates get into the professions of their choice they are expected to just jump in and know exactly what to do. That is not the case most of the time.

Another problem that I have noticed as an older student is the maturity level of most of my classmates. While the older students like me are more focused on their studies, the younger students, who are usually between the ages of 18 and 22, are more concerned with their social lives than with their education. From what I have seen, the traditional college student is less serious about their assignments. I know that when I have a lab or a group assignment in a class, I look around to partner up with the older students because we are usually more focused and serious about getting their work done.

I propose a solution. It may be a simple or it may be complicated, depending upon who you ask, but I have an idea of what may help. I propose that volunteer work be required during college. I believe that it should be counted as a class, as credit toward degrees, but that time should be spent in the community, perhaps helping less fortunate people or doing something as simple as litter patrol. This will not only help the community as a whole, but it will give the traditional college student a chance to see how fortunate they really are. Most types of community service will give the person doing it real experience of some kind, giving them an opportunity to work with people of all ages, races, and professions; preparing them for life in the real world. The physical and emotional experiences in some community service jobs could also do wonders to help mature those who participate.

As an older, some-what more mature student, I have an idea of what I will be facing after I graduate from college. Many of my classmates have no idea what they will be facing when it is time to start their professional lives because college alone does not prepare them for what is to come. I believe that my proposal of volunteer work could help in many ways to prepare them, maybe not completely, but it would be a stepping stone.