I'm not sure what "college-as-we-know-it" means. Professors were
heeralding the doom of academia when the G.I.Bill was passed; many were
doing likewise during the civil rights movement; now some are doing it
with special students. Do we go back to the segregated days, to the days
when women weren't admitted or respected, to the days when only 15% of
high school graduates went on to college, to the days when.....? If
students have changed, shouldn't we have to make adjustments? The more we
learn about learning would seem to mean that we should be applying that
new information which in turn means in developing new attitudes, new
techniques, new methods. Change does not automatically mean watering down
or dumbing down or reduced rigor. It can just means change: doing things
differently. I wonder if some of this response is a mask for not wanting
to be inconvenience by having to make accommodation. Trust me when I say
no great cosmic catstrophe will occur if we display some empathy and
sensitivity to the needs of special students.
Make it a good day.
--Louis--
Louis Schmier www.therandomthoughts.com
Department of History www.halcyon.com/arborhts/louis.html
Valdosta State University
Valdosta, Georgia 31698 /~\ /\ /\
(229-333-5947) /^\ / \ / /~ \ /~\__/\
/ \__/ \/ / /\ /~ \
/\/\-/ /^\___\______\_______/__/_______/^\
-_~ / "If you want to climb mountains, \ /^\
_ _ / don't practice on mole hills" -\____
On Thu, 13 Nov 2003, Paul Brandon wrote:
> At 11:20 AM -0800 11/13/03, Marte Fallshore wrote:
> >I just sent the message below. I should have talked with the DSS
> >director first, b/c he says he may have suggested the student ask me
> >about using notes, but that he would not suggest it as an
> >accomodation. I think it says a lot about our pc times that we (at
> >least some of us) believed that DSS would make that suggestion.
> >I do still wonder what others think of someone with that sort of
> >brain disorder being in college in the first place. Are we doing him
> >a service or should he be getting some other training?
>
> There's a broader issue here.
> As the demographics of students attending post-secondary institutions
> shift we find a wide range of capabilities, of which students who are
> categorized as having some sort of learning disability are at one end
> of a continuum.
> I think that we are continually faced with the question of whether
> college-as-we-know-it is appropriate for all of our students (and
> vice versa).
> Further, what changes in the nature of what we are pleased to call
> higher education are being driven by these demographic changes?
> --
> * PAUL K. BRANDON [EMAIL PROTECTED] *
> * Psychology Dept Minnesota State University *
> * 23 Armstrong Hall, Mankato, MN 56001 ph 507-389-6217 *
> * http://www.mankato.msus.edu/dept/psych/welcome.html *
>
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