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Subject:RE: A suspected can of worms - knowing the future From:"Dick Margulis " <margulis -at- mail -dot- fiam -dot- net> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Thu, 26 Jun 2003 12:00:27 -0400
Chiming in on what France, Richard, and others have said, because it bears frequent repetition:
The purpose of a liberal education is to prepare you to encounter the ever-changing world.
If you go to college to become a [fill-in-the-blank occupational category], you may succeed in that field for as long as it is on the ascendent and then find yourself at sea, bitter and resentful, when it goes into a decline.
If you go to college to become an educated person, on the other hand, you may not have the exact credentials some particular recruiter is looking for in March of your senior year; but in the long run you will be better adapted to economic and personal vicissitudes.
Someone (Mark Baker, maybe?) was arguing a month or two ago that "any educated person" should have the non-industry-specific skills that make someone a good tech writer. For the minority of students who attend college to become educated persons, that is true. For the majority who treat universities as trade schools, alas, it is not true.
Dick
France Baril <France -dot- Baril -at- ixiasoft -dot- com>
>
>Richard Lippincott said:
>
>But the question there is "While you're still in school, how do you know
>what you'll be documenting when you get a job?" What you end up documenting
>may not even -exist- when you're in school....
>
>
>---
>
>I feel you have just made a very important point...
>
>I guess this is why most university programs try to open up people's mind and teach students how to think instead of trying to teach students specific knowledge. Developing programs specific to each profession or job title is somewhat dangerous as no one really knows what the future holds.
>
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