Posts

What could you accomplish without going to college?

By Fletcher Glancy
  This summer (ending of May. beginning of June), I had the opportunity to attend a flameworking class at Penland, NC. My instructor, Darren, was a very accomplished flameworker and an outstanding teacher. He was invited by Penland to teach the class. He has been flameworking for 18 years since graduating from high school. Talking with him, I found out that he had just purchased the building housing his studio and three other businesses from his landlord. He is in the process of renovating the building for his studio and a gallery. He is 36, married with three children and another on the way. He owns his home in Arlington, TX. Darren expressed regret at not attending college because he could not afford it. I told Darren that it was silly and he should not regret it. If he needs to learn something to run his business, he could hire the expertise or take a class at a local college or junior college. The only thing he missed by not attending college was accumulating debt. Darren shoul...
Post a Comment
Read more

How could elimination of General Ed requirements be achieved.

By Fletcher Glancy
  I have been thinking about how to implement a three-year university program in a country that is accustomed to thinking that it takes four years to obtain an undergraduate degree. Also, the Law of Unintended Consequences needs to be considered. For example, some certifications are tied to the number of college course hours, such as a CPA. Suppose instead of waiving the general education requirements, the university awarded all high school graduates 30 credit hours that would not go into the GPA calculation. In that case, the CPA requirements for 150 hours could be met. One consequence of reducing college to three years is that the enrollment would go up. Why go for four years when you can get the same degree in three? The enrollment would stay up until most universities adopted the three-year program. With the ingrained reluctance of academia to adapt to anything new, it could take decades for universal adoption of the three-year program.
Post a Comment
Read more

Andragogy vs. Pedagogy and online education

By Fletcher Glancy
  Most of us have heard of pedagogy and think we know what it is. However, what is Andragogy? First, let us consider the origin of the word pedagogy. Almost everyone connected in any way with education uses the term, but it is often misused. The root is Greek. It combines “ped (paid)” or boy and “ago” or guide and initially indicated that a slave took children to school. It has evolved to mean the teaching of children, which many think it indicates the study of teaching. Many educators take issue with this generalization, which leads to the term andragogy. The origin of andragogy is also Greek, combining “andras” meaning man and “ago” or guide. It is currently understood to refer to the study of how adults learn. Adults do learn differently from children; therefore, there is a distinction between pedagogy and andragogy. Children depend on teachers to direct their learning, evaluate their learning, and decide the content of their learning. Adults are self-directed and want to contro...
Post a Comment
Read more

General Education Requirements in Colleges, an Anachronism?

By Fletcher Glancy
  In the 1880s, universities instituted general education requirements. There was little consistency in education in the first 12 years of schooling. Many students only went through the 8 th  grade. The only constant was that students entered college in their late teenage years. Colleges needed to provide a base of general education that they could build on. Here we are, 130+ years later, and still imposing general education requirements on all students. Public education in the USA is remarkably consistent across all states. Many students complain that they are required to repeat classes that they had in high school, classes that provide no new information or knowledge. These classes are typically taught in large classes (200 or more students), often by Ph.D. students. There is little to no faculty contact because of the class size. Required general education classes keep the student at the university for another year and increase the income from the tuition and fees. Eliminat...
Post a Comment
Read more

Diversity

By Fletcher Glancy
  We keep hearing that we need more diversity in just about everywhere, colleges, businesses, government, congress, and our lives. So what are we doing about it? At my university, they named a chief diversity officer. We have approximately 30 people in the office of institutional diversity. My college recently named a chief diversity officer. Personally, I think this is a cop-out. My dean can say, “I’m doing a lot for diversity. I have a diversity officer. All of my faculty and staff are required to take a diversity course.” (By the way, all of these diversity office staff are minorities. See what a great job we have done.) Having a diversity officer does nothing for diversity. It is all talk and no action. People that genuinely lead don’t need someone to do diversity for them. They promote diversity through their actions. It is not diversity that is needed in society. It is inclusion. We do not need token minorities; we need minorities included to benefit from all points of view. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Should you go to college?

By Fletcher Glancy
  “In recent years, the average college graduate with just a bachelor’s degree earned about $78,000, compared to $45,000 for the average worker with only a high school diploma. This means a typical college graduate earns a premium of well over $30,000, or nearly 75 percent.” https://libertystreeteconomics.newyorkfed.org/2019/06/despite-rising-costs-college-is-still-a-good-investment.html Does this mean that you need to go to college? First, what is essential to understand about this statement? Second, what word(s) needs to be looked at carefully? Can you see it? To what time period does this refer? Is it an average over time, such as the 20 years after high school graduation? Or is it the individual’s income in the 20 th year after graduation from high school? How many people were in the sample? Did the survey consider the college graduate’s debt from attending college? Were Bill Gates, Rhianna, and Mark Zuckerburg in the sample group of those not graduating from college? Were...
1 comment
Read more

What will the university of the future look like?

By Fletcher Glancy
  What will the University of the future look like (post pandemic)? It will probably not look like today’s university. The universities that do not change will be in danger of disappearing, having priced themselves out of the market. A few will remain, the Ferrari’s of academia, schools like Harvard, Princeton, and Johns Hopkins. I think there will be different university models. I can see two models based on the end goal. One will be a liberal education university. The goal of this university would be to produce a well-rounded individual with a bachelor's degree. Included within this university would be the soft subjects like philosophy, social sciences, literature, and history. Included in social sciences are sociology, psychology, and economics. The cost of liberal education will have to decrease relative to current tuition and fees. This means that there will be fewer services, fewer numbers of staff, and educators will be paid less, likely in line with public K – 12 teachers. ...
Post a Comment
Read more