Celebrating "studenthood," not commercialism
I went last night to hear Lloyd Thacker, the nemesis of the bean-counting U.S. News & World Report college rankings, speak at Lick-Wilmerding High. I took a lot of notes and will post more about this soon.
Thacker is the enemy of the commercialization of the college admissions process — and what he calls for is "studenthood," his term for education with depth and values.
Here's one thought he started the audience with. With an audience of almost entirely adults (hey, our kids have homework — except that mine was at a band rehearsal at the Jazzschool in Berkeley), he asked if we ourselves had a rewarding college experience (I'm paraphrasing and not looking at my notes right now). Then he asked if we think we might have had just as good an experience at another college. It looked like everyone agreed with that — though in my less-driven public school world, I don't think the notion that there's only one right college and it must be the best is quite so deeply rooted.
That question did make me realize something, though. I went to College of Marin (a California community college) for two years, '73-'75 — for economic reasons — and then completed my B.A. at Sonoma State. This was respectable, but admittedly not terribly impressive or ambitious. But thinking even briefly about it last night, I realized that I actually got more out of the college experience at College of Marin. I did a lot more exploration and self-discovery there, for some reason, and just plain learned a lot. Just thought I'd share that for those who view community college as some kind of third-rate substitute for the real thing.
For more on Lloyd Thacker and his "studenthood" movement, see his Education Conservancy website and his book "College Unranked."
Thacker is the enemy of the commercialization of the college admissions process — and what he calls for is "studenthood," his term for education with depth and values.
Here's one thought he started the audience with. With an audience of almost entirely adults (hey, our kids have homework — except that mine was at a band rehearsal at the Jazzschool in Berkeley), he asked if we ourselves had a rewarding college experience (I'm paraphrasing and not looking at my notes right now). Then he asked if we think we might have had just as good an experience at another college. It looked like everyone agreed with that — though in my less-driven public school world, I don't think the notion that there's only one right college and it must be the best is quite so deeply rooted.
That question did make me realize something, though. I went to College of Marin (a California community college) for two years, '73-'75 — for economic reasons — and then completed my B.A. at Sonoma State. This was respectable, but admittedly not terribly impressive or ambitious. But thinking even briefly about it last night, I realized that I actually got more out of the college experience at College of Marin. I did a lot more exploration and self-discovery there, for some reason, and just plain learned a lot. Just thought I'd share that for those who view community college as some kind of third-rate substitute for the real thing.
For more on Lloyd Thacker and his "studenthood" movement, see his Education Conservancy website and his book "College Unranked."
posted by caroline at
4:25 PM
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