On 6 Nov 98, Michael A. Stone wrote:
> if anyone wants to debate the additional values of staged curricula and
> interaction with an instructor, please prepare arguments which take
> bubble-form testing, 450-seat lectures, and grad-student TAs who don't
> speak english into account.
Mm. I have a B.A., and did a few post-grad courses as well that never led
anywhere... had a prof who was pushing me to do an M.A. in history, but I
wasn't really interested.
In terms of hard practical skills and learning that I may have acquired
during my four years in university... well, I'm hard-pressed to recall much
of lasting value. I imagine most Arts undergrads would say the same.
Honed my research skills a little, I suppose, but I was always a lad for the
books in any case.
However. Back in the days when I still filled out job applications and went
to interviews, that seemingly hollow B.A. did have real value. Though I
never had a single would-be employer ask me for transcripts, or any
details whatever of what I had actually studied, the simple fact of my
having *been* to university was frequently important.
It was, I suppose, reflective of Mike's discussion on "syntony" the other
day; it seemed to create a crucial bond of common ground with the
interviewer, an inference that, "Yes, I'm one of you. Good solid middle-
class stock, know what fork to use for the pie, have sensible values, can
sign my own name without help". It made me one of the blue-suits, as per
Mike's anecdote.
Whereas had I been exactly the same guy with the same clothes and the
same articulate speech, but *without* the official piece of paper
confirming that I had drunk beer and gone to the occasional class for four
years on the taxpayers' dime... well, I don't suppose the interviewers
would have been quite so chummy. Nor the job offers so frequently made.
I don't say it's right, but it's certainly how it was in my case.
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Brent Eades, Almonte, Ontario
E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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Town of Almonte site: http://www.almonte.com/
Business site: http://www.federalweb.com
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