Middlebury or Bowdoin?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I posted the link, and I have never posted about free speech or the lack thereof at Swarthmore. I haven't read the study. But facts are facts, and there is no getting around that Bowdoin offered a course on "queer gardening." Some parents expect more for $50k.

Well, it's a good thing Queer Gardening isn't the only course on offer, then! Like you, I too know little about the place, but at least I can google that it's $58K. Also unlike you, I'm not going to rely on this hatchet job to fill the gaps in my Bowdoin knowledge.

The report (not read in entirety) appears to address curriculum and other related issues concerning the named school. Not sure how in the world that constitutes an attack on free speech? A few of the posters on this thread are incredibly defensive about posters noting the decline in the liberal arts schools. Instead of attacking the messenger (an old Clinton trick), why not offer constructive suggestions to the school on how to bring back the true liberal arts school as it was originally designed!

Perhaps because many of us don't believe that the school has strayed from providing a true liberal arts education? And your assumption, based on an "analysis" in a conservative rag comissioned by a person with a grudge against the school president, is also an old debating trick called assuming facts not in evidence. That's not attackign the messenger, by the way - it's pointing out that just because you swallowed that drivel, it's wrong to assume all of us are so gullible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I posted the link, and I have never posted about free speech or the lack thereof at Swarthmore. I haven't read the study. But facts are facts, and there is no getting around that Bowdoin offered a course on "queer gardening." Some parents expect more for $50k.

Well, it's a good thing Queer Gardening isn't the only course on offer, then! Like you, I too know little about the place, but at least I can google that it's $58K. Also unlike you, I'm not going to rely on this hatchet job to fill the gaps in my Bowdoin knowledge.

The report (not read in entirety) appears to address curriculum and other related issues concerning the named school. Not sure how in the world that constitutes an attack on free speech? A few of the posters on this thread are incredibly defensive about posters noting the decline in the liberal arts schools. Instead of attacking the messenger (an old Clinton trick), why not offer constructive suggestions to the school on how to bring back the true liberal arts school as it was originally designed!

Perhaps because many of us don't believe that the school has strayed from providing a true liberal arts education? And your assumption, based on an "analysis" in a conservative rag comissioned by a person with a grudge against the school president, is also an old debating trick called assuming facts not in evidence. That's not attackign the messenger, by the way - it's pointing out that just because you swallowed that drivel, it's wrong to assume all of us are so gullible.

I wonder if the hatchet job poster went to a liberal arts college. S/he completely misses the distinction between an "elective" and a "major." Nobody is spending $58K to major in queer gardens. You can't major in queer gardens, because Bowdoin only offers one course in queer gardening.

[Anonymous]

Colby.

[Anonymous]

My own garden could use a little queer eye for the straight guy, LOL.

[Anonymous]

"Hatchet job" pp here. Yep, I went to one of the crunchiest SLACs of all, and loved it. If my parents had known about some of what went on there, they never would have helped me pay for it! Not saying you can't get a great education at these schools. Just that it pays to look closely. My school, like Bowdoin, had done away with core requirements, and as a result there are big gaps in my general education, and substantial gaps in my knowledge of my major, because I wasn't required to take courses in some areas. Allowing kids to design their own courses of study sounds great, but 18-21 year olds don't always have the greatest judgment and can really piss away opportunity and money when offered a cornucopia of courses on random topics that happen to interest the professors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Hatchet job" pp here. Yep, I went to one of the crunchiest SLACs of all, and loved it. If my parents had known about some of what went on there, they never would have helped me pay for it! Not saying you can't get a great education at these schools. Just that it pays to look closely. My school, like Bowdoin, had done away with core requirements, and as a result there are big gaps in my general education, and substantial gaps in my knowledge of my major, because I wasn't required to take courses in some areas. Allowing kids to design their own courses of study sounds great, but 18-21 year olds don't always have the greatest judgment and can really piss away opportunity and money when offered a cornucopia of courses on random topics that happen to interest the professors.

Hatchet Job...this is actually a good useful bit of information. DD is actually looking for a good SLACs as DD is later contemplating a legal career (yes, we know all about present of affiars in law...hopefully it will turn around down the road). For now, DD seeks a SCLAC because of the intesntive writing and classes that spur thoughtful processes along with insight. Small classes also are a real plus especially since they promote the use socratic teaching methods. The pps have been caught up wtih right wing v. left wing double talk.

Can someone provide insight into the state of todays' SLCAs notwithstanding the somewhat troubling thought that core curriculums have been all but abandoned?

TIA

[Anonymous]

OP here....

Can we get back to the original comparison between Middlebury and Bowdoin?

[Anonymous]

OP here....

Can we get back to the original comparison between Middlebury and Bowdoin?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Hatchet job" pp here. Yep, I went to one of the crunchiest SLACs of all, and loved it. If my parents had known about some of what went on there, they never would have helped me pay for it! Not saying you can't get a great education at these schools. Just that it pays to look closely. My school, like Bowdoin, had done away with core requirements, and as a result there are big gaps in my general education, and substantial gaps in my knowledge of my major, because I wasn't required to take courses in some areas. Allowing kids to design their own courses of study sounds great, but 18-21 year olds don't always have the greatest judgment and can really piss away opportunity and money when offered a cornucopia of courses on random topics that happen to interest the professors.

Hampshire grad?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Hatchet job" pp here. Yep, I went to one of the crunchiest SLACs of all, and loved it. If my parents had known about some of what went on there, they never would have helped me pay for it! Not saying you can't get a great education at these schools. Just that it pays to look closely. My school, like Bowdoin, had done away with core requirements, and as a result there are big gaps in my general education, and substantial gaps in my knowledge of my major, because I wasn't required to take courses in some areas. Allowing kids to design their own courses of study sounds great, but 18-21 year olds don't always have the greatest judgment and can really piss away opportunity and money when offered a cornucopia of courses on random topics that happen to interest the professors.

Hampshire grad?

Brown, although that seems pretty unlikely.

[Anonymous]

^^^ that was a guess, I'm not Hatchet Job poster.

[Anonymous]

Hatchet job poster here. Oberlin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hatchet job poster here. Oberlin.

Well that's certainly crunchy!

I don't see a clear solution though. What are you asking for here? Some colleges do still have a core where everyone reads Plato, Virgil and the like. But I can't see a federal mandate that all college kids must read Plato and Virgil. Democracy and choice are great things, right? The best you can do is insist your own kid attend Columbia (has a common core) but not Oberlin, or if he goes to Oberlin you need to approve his course list. But don't expect the govt or academia to stand in for this parental guidance.