Edward Weick wrote, in a small part:
>
> >Welcome to the world of the arts. Out of 5,650 graduates a year in vocal
> performing >arts programs there are about 300 full time jobs......
>
> It would seem that there has been a change of emphasis from specialization
> to flexibility; from the application of skill and knowledge in depth to the
> provision of "just in time" solutions. To know a little bit about a lot of
> things, as MBA's do, is more valuable than knowing a lot about one thing, as
> microbiologists do. One can visualize a world in which everything the
> microbiologist knows can be stored in a computer, and in which the
> generalist (perhaps an MBA with a microbiology background) who knows how to
> organize it, store it, retrieve it and apply it is the really important guy.
> As for the performing arts, turning on our TVs, renting videos, and buying
> CDs does seem to have disposed of the need to get dressed, get in the car,
> and go to the theater, all at considerably greater expense. Think of it --
> with a good CD player you can now hear the best voices and orchestras, and
> you can even shut your eyes and use earphones if you want to be alone.
> There are still things that you have to go and see or hear because there is
> no other satisfactory way of accessing them -- stage plays for example --
> but they are diminishing in type and number.
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Ed raises some interesting points, of which the above is a snippet. here
are some:
1) what is the function of a university? what was it and what will it
be. The University of Culture and Reason, the traditional university of
von Humbopldt and Kant was not about providing skills that would get
folks employed- it was the creation of citizens some of which would have
aslo obtained skills for the world of emplyment. In fact, academics get
very stuffy when, even in areas like microbiology,ilt is suggested that
they are preparing folks for the job market anywhere. And then there is
the phrase art for arts sake
what indeed is the role(S) of the university and what is the
responsibility of the university- even if it were to train folks for
"jobs" does it have to guarantee that the person with the training, just
because they have been trained, should have the right to a job?
2) the business world has stated time and again that the grads are not
prepared. Not only are they weak in conten areas but they lack critical
skills such as communication, working with others, acritical thinking
and creativity- the very skills that the humanities profess to offer.
And yet the humanities have rolled over like a whipped dog and bared
their throats to the sciences and technologies, whimpering for a crumb
such as Engineering English--
3) Jeremy Rifkin has written about the end of work- there is a growing
body of literature on this concept and yet we are talking about finding
jobs for folks rather than trying to puzzle through the change and then
we talk about universities being responsible for jobs because students
have forked over 40,000-160,000 usd for a degree-- rather than asking
the universities to explore these shifting issues on work- again a
humanities issue more than a science/technology issue
4) Yes, Ed, the cost for storing facts has become so cheap and will
become cheaper and the rate of creation has increased so much that value
is really not in the knowledge of the facts but knowing where to find
'em and use 'em---a subject of much thinking of folks in the science
fiction arena- hmmm, is that the humanities?
cheers
tom
