My response to this earlier post was too long to put in a comment:
Mooch, I'll take your Brooklyn Bridge and raise you one Hagia Sophia! Granted there are many examples like this from throughout the centuries, but my personal experience of standing inside it's great dome and imagining, this place was built in the early 6th century, is quite inspiring; it's a magnificent achievement and a beautiful place. They employed new building theories, new building materials, they were operating on the cutting edge of engineering. Oh and they didn't compromise on making it beautiful! According to my guide when I was there (though not documented on wikipedia per se) the dome did initially collapse -- it was the largest span anyone had ever built -- but they went back to the drawing board and tried again. (There are a number of other documented collapses, though these were do to natural disasters -- earthquakes, fires.)
When I was 9 I started taking art classes at The National Academy of Design (they have a nice museum a block from the Guggenheim in a beautiful old mansion -- overlooked, but highly recommended). Every Saturday morning from 9 - 12 I would draw and paint. Once I started in Highschool I started taking one of the adult figure drawing classes -- the human body is one of the most challenging, beautiful "objects" to draw. It was a wonderful outlet. For highschool, I applied and was accepted to one of the best performing and visual art schools in the country, Laguardia and always wonder who I would be today had I attended, versus staying at the school I did. The other day, I noticed Tim Booher sketching in our branch meeting and it motived me a bit; I haven't drawn in years but am motivated to start again, to exercise that other half of my brain...
Anyway, I think Mooch touched on a touchy point for me: I think our universities and colleges are doing a great diservice in regards to creating diverse graduates. When I went to The Johns Hopkins University I was looking forward to not only studying math and science, but history and philosophy as well. I was in for a rude awakening: the curriculum was just not geared for cross-disciplinary study. Of course there were a number of cookie-cutter humanities classes we were expected to take in order to get our "H" credits, but none of them were particularly interesting, challenging or rigorous -- the humanities equivalent of "rocks for jocks". Hopkins is a great school and there are some amazing intelligent people there, but I don't think I fit in well there (or did well there) because there seemed to be very little cross-over, academically. When I approached my advisor about taking a mid-level Philosophy class she balked. The course would be too competitive, she said, I would not have the background. Granted she did have a point -- I didn't have the background a lot of other students had in Philosophy, but why did that matter I asked her? Well, you wont do on the exams she said. I'm not interested in taking the class just to get a grade and pass go! I'm taking the class to learn, to expand my knowledge!
Luckily, not all Universities are so myopic. Take Columbia for instance, where they have a core curriculum -- irregardless of whether you are a Physics or Philosophy major, you will take a core series of proven, interesting, non-fluffly courses, across the disciplines. One of my best friends from highschool, David attended and spent his time not only on studying harmonic functions, but reading Plato and Homer. And I know for a fact that this has helped in his career: he obtained his Doctorate in Physics from this school across the pond - Cambridge. Oh and got to sit down with Dr. Hawkin's a few times. He is currently working on cutting edge string theory with one of it's "creators", Brian Greene. (And to think, I was better at math than him back in junior high...) I believe that without studying art, history, literature, in addition to mathematics and science, his research would not have been as successful. (He has told me so much over the years.)
This is why I am a major advocate of inter-disciplinary study; I just wish I had more of it in undergrad...
I just picked up a copy of Dr. Ken Robinson's book, The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything" -- I've watched a number of his TED talks and I highly recommend them as I think he has a lot to say on how we are educating (or in this case, mis-educating) our kids. Changing Education Paradigms has been wonderfully illustrated by RSA and I think is quite brilliant.
I couldn't agree more. At Texas A&M it was very difficult to take additional courses outside the engineering curriculum. Of more practical importance the liberal arts program was run out of the Training & Administrative building, T&A for short. What made matters worse was that since I was heading into the Air Force the single elective we were allowed required that we take the Air Power courses -- at total of 20 hours throughout the degree program. I was only ever able to sneak in a course on Shakespeare and a course on the history of technology. In the history course we read a book called the "Existential Pleasures of Engineering", by Samuel C. Florman. After that I knew my engineering degree would never be complete.
ReplyDeleteSo once in the Air Force I enrolled in a Masters of Liberal Arts program at Texas Christian University. Although a graduate program I feel it completed my undergraduate education. It also sparked my life long love affair with books.
Obviously we can't pack everything into a four year curriculum but it is important to expose students to just a little bit more...so at least they can run with it if they so desire.
Are you familiar with St. Johns College in Annapolis, MD? They are known for their great books program and every year I say this, that I'm going to start reading the list, but I never do. Maybe this year will be different! Anyway, there's a good video about the program. I think this ties in nicely with what Dr. Ken Robinson is discussing in his TED talks and in his book, The Element. Granted he is talking predominately about primary education, but his ideas and comments easily extend to the undergraduate world - we have an industrial revolution view of how to educate - it's the factory model. St. Johns has completely done away with that. Everyone takes every class. All the tutors teach all subjects. There are no exams, no grades, but you write papers. You learn how to think. In hindsight, I should have listened more to my father about applying here...
ReplyDeleteOn their Graduate program FAQ, there is a wonderful answer to a probably quite common concern for many liberal arts majors:
Q: What if I am not good at math and science? Can I still get through the Liberal Arts program?
A: At St. Johns' College mathematics and natural science are regarded as liberal arts, which are capable of being understood and questioned by any inquiring mind. For more than 60 years we have been using classic texts to make mathematics and science accessible to non-specialists. Many Graduate Institute students who begin with a fear of math find their tutorial in Euclid and Lobachevsky to be one of their most rewarding experiences.