1. I have received several replies to my comments under consideration in this post by Kolb...only one reply accorded with my own views. 2. Since I was expressing personal perspectives, others are, it goes without saying, equally free to express their own, including any counterpoints. 3. Because of #2, I have little to say except to make the following personal disclosure: *on balance*, I do not think highly of American students (including many graduate students, post-docs, and early-stage faculty) or their advocates. I have found too many of them to be a grandiose, narcissistic, self-absorbed, complaining, "bratty" lot, compared to many young people in other technological societies of which I am aware. 4. I am in favor of, say, high school seniors taking a Special Forces Survival Training course for many of the same reasons that young males and females are required to serve a designated period of time in the Israeli Army...for integrity-, sensitivity-, resilience-, preparedness-, problem-solving, character-, and related training. *Rambo effects* pale in comparison with (generalizable, life-changing, and task-ready) tactical- and strategic-skills and all that these achievement-sets imply.
On Fri, Mar 2, 2012 at 2:58 PM, Suzanne Kolb <sk...@antioch.edu> wrote: > I couldn't agree more with what Jason Hernandez had to say in reaction to > Clara Jones' piece on experiential education and study abroad programs. The > following is my response to Clara's statements: > > Antioch University's Brazilian Ecosystems program does not cater > exclusively to financially privileged students. Yes, some students can > write a single check to cover all program costs, but that is rare. The > average student funds the program by stitching together federal financial > aid, aid from their home institution, and summer job paychecks. We are also > often able to provide tuition aid to the neediest applicants. Concerning > your complaint about the questionable value of environmental education > abroad programs, I can understand your disappointment with some of the > less than academically credible programs on offer in this particular arena > of education. They can be considered offensive given the urgency of the > current biodiversity crisis. Perhaps you can understand how frustrating it > is to be mistakenly included in that group. In fact, wrongful allegations > in this regard can work against the power that strong education abroad > programs have in transforming young students into professionals with > important contributions to make towards biological conservation. > > Over the past fourteen years directing the Brazil program, I have learned > that serious students are savvy consumers when deciding on a study abroad > program. They ask for course syllabi, they contact past participants. The > fingerprints of my education at Stony Brook University, the University of > Georgia's Institute of Ecology (Odum School of Ecology), and my own > participation in an Organization for Tropical Studies field course, are all > over my development of the Brazilian Ecosystems program. And, in published > descriptions, students easily identify this program as one that can > effectively advance their post-graduate career goals in ecology and > conservation. > > Antioch's 16-credit Brazilian Ecosystems program is a fully accredited > university program that undergoes annual external and internal review and > assessment. Schools such as Bard College, Amherst College, University of > Wisconsin-Madison, Swarthmore College, Goucher College, among others, > regularly enroll their students and continuously monitor the quality of the > program. > > I posted your message on our Brazil program alumni listserv, asking them to > reflect on the value of their semester of experiential learning. Their > replies came streaming in within only an hour or so. They gave strong > personal testimonies to the way in which their program experience uniquely > catalyzed their post-graduate work in the fields of ecological research, > environmental policy, natural resource management, environmental law, and > science education. Almost all of them blanched at the thought of undergoing > Special Forces Survival Training in order to potentially come into contact > with environmental criminals, who are capable of armed violence. But you > may be pleased to know that the Rambo route to habitat protection was > tentatively appealing to two former students. > > I most definately support the idea that we find some way to quantitatively > measure the impact of all environmental study abroad programs on the issues > you list, as representing an environmental "payoff". I would gladly welcome > any information on how this might be done. We would all benefit from that. > > Suzanne Kolb > Associate Professor of Environmental Science > Director, Brazilian Ecosystems Program > sk...@antioch.edu > Antioch University > -- clara b. jones Blog: http://vertebratesocialbehavior.blogspot.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/cbjones1943
