BiddiesInMyBrain

What Should College Courses Teach?

I just finished reading Stanley Fish's most recent blog post, "What Should Colleges Teach?" and am pondering his response; I find that, while I have some areas of convergence, I disagree with much of what he says.

Yes, I agree that the level of writing skills in the average college freshman or sophomore sometimes seems to be at best, abysmal, and at worst, incomprehensible. I cannot tell you the number of papers through which I have muddled in which mangled syntax, assumed predicates, dangling participles, or simply bad grammar (not to mention anything in LOLCat) is the order of the day. 

But I think Fish is missing something core here.

Simply look at the Condition of Education - Special Analysis 2009 from the IES and you can see how woefully we are falling behind as a nation in all areas of education... not just history. But the purpose of a liberal arts education - a fully-rounded education in the humanities - is to hone these basic skills in every classroom. YES, the writing courses should absolutely be working on the fundamentals. But, I know in my classroom, every writing assignment brings with it additional opportunity for me to interact with each student at his or her level on that student's own skillset. We hone. We shape. We struggle. And we learn together not just about history, but how to put it into context, how to bring it out of our own minds and bring it forth into the world as fully formed ideas and actions which are not only part of the past, but impacts on the future.

Now, this brings up another issue with which I take some umbrage with Mr. Fish; incoming students cannot and do not, as a general rule, have the abilities to comp out of basic American History survey classes. Especially now, with No Child Left Behind and its reprehensible lack of mandated history education. And then there is the State of Tennessee and its woefully short-sighted passage of Public Chapter 204 sponsored by State Representative Joe Pitts and State Senator Tim Barnes, which lowered the requirements for history education for Tennessee Board of Regents students - and only for history education. We are doing our younger generations such disservices by saying "oh, only a class or two, here or there... and only one on the French Revolution, or the American Civil War is needed." No!! How is that going to help a student become a better civic leader? A person with a better understanding of her or his responsibilities to the past the present AND the future? If the only requirement to understanding our country's past in its totality is something learned with a C average as a freshman in high school, well... where is that going to leave us? I am perpetually stunned when I encounter students who are flummoxed by the idea that yes, there really were separate black and white entrances to restaurants at one point in our nation's blighted past. We *need* these courses if only to help witness to our own past and to see our way clear to a new and brighter future.

So Mr. Fish, while I think you are correct in your assessment that students are woefully unprepared in many ways for college - oh, so unprepared - I think you are doing them a disservice by your solution. We need more rigors in humanities education, not less (and yes I *do* think there is something vivid and alive to be said for the comprehensive literature course, especially in a multicultural world! Milton? Not just!).

We as educators must simply be prepared - and supported - to meet that challenge.

Laura Perry

Memphis, TN

Long Time Nobody See Me

I've been around... and around and around and around.

To catch you up:

1. I'm done with classes working on my PhD; all that remains is to read for comprehensive exams, take comprehensive exams (which I hope to actually PASS in August), and write/defend the dissertation. I hope to graduate in May 2011. Hope.
2. As many of you know I have been dealing with significant chronic pain issues; many of them are being *very* well dealt-with through a local pain clinic - very well!! And the PT staff there is AMAZING.
3. Unfortunately, though, I fell down the back steps between Christmas and New Years, landing on my left hip and right shoulder (and knocking myself out cold, it ends up!) significantly making things worse on the pain side of things. Not such a good move. The reason I fell? I have been having problems with numbness on the left side of my body and could not feel the step... and missed it.
4. The numbness issues? Are why I FINALLY got in to see a neurologist today. And had a brain MRI last week. And am having another one week after next with and without contrast... after which (like 45 minutes after which) I see this doc again. He is very aggressively determined to figure this out. I am VERY glad. There is more to it than this... but this is all I am willing to talk about in this forum at this time.
5. I am frantically trying to get my reading done this semester - but it is just hella bad; 38 books and assorted articles in one Readings for Comps class... and an equal amount of reading / question answering for the other three profs. I *love* it, but I can't seem to convince the rest of my life to slow down enough to allow me to read 10 hours a day like I need to. This is bad. Very, very bad.
6. To wit: I had an endometrial ablation two and a half weeks ago (the second of three hospital procedures I have had already this year - can you just say ENOUGH ALREADY??); this will stop the bad cycles I have been having, but it also ends any chance we might ever have had at getting pregnant. I am ok with this. Sometimes I wonder if Crash is not.
7. And finally... I turn 41 on Friday. Wow. Where did the time go?

And that, in a nutshell, children, is my life in a nutshell.

I'll catch you again soon, I hope.

Atheist Blogroll

I feel a need to join yet another community of like-minded folk, and for that reason I have added the Atheist Blogroll to my sidebar. I feel you should understand why... and we should revisit the issue of atheism one more time. I discuss religion and morality frequently here... and secular humanism. But it's been a while since I have hit atheism head-on. So here it is. I am laying it open for you. Bear with me.

As many of you know, I have been an atheist for most, if not all of my life. I have chosen to follow the path of a secular humanist and have found it incredibly fulfilling, both in a moral and spiritual way. I *do* feel spirituality; I feel love and compassion and passion and caring. I feel anger and I feel sadness... all these things... and I attach them to the ways in which I deal with others.

This path is one in which I have been able to have control of my moral compass; it is not in the hands of a deity or a spiritual "other," but is entirely governed by the laws of nature and common sense. In this, I feel I have a duty to be upright and strong in my beliefs and dealings with my fellow man, and with the environment around me.

I also feel at peace that when I die I will simply become part of the earth - if I am not embalmed into some sort of crazy, impossibly insoluble thing. I haven't been able to reconcile myself with the idea of donating my body to science, though... I would rather sink into the earth and nourish the soil.

So, please, do not deal with me as an alien creature. I am simply another person. I have a strong sense of morality and beliefs just as you...

I am simply coming at it from a different perspective. That is all.

In love,
Laura

Holiday Wish Meme

Step One

- Make a post. The post should contain your list of 10 holiday wishes. The wishes can be anything at all, from simple ("give a hug") to medium ("I wish for _____ on DVD") to really big ("All I want for Christmas is a new car/computer/house/TV.") The important thing is, make sure these wishes are things you really, truly want.

- If you wish for real life things, make sure you include some sort of contact info in your post, whether it's your address or just your email address where Santa (or one of his elves) could get in touch with you.

- Also, make sure you post some version of these guidelines in your blog, so that the holiday joy will spread.

Step Two

- Surf around your friends to see who has posted their list. And now here's the important part:

- If you see a wish you can grant, and it's in your heart to do so, make someone's wish come true. Sometimes someone's trash is another's treasure, and if you have a leather jacket you don't want or a gift certificate you won't use--or even know where you could get someone's dream purebred Basset Hound for free--do it.

You needn't spend money on these wishes unless you want to. The point isn't to put people out, it's to provide everyone a chance to be someone else's holiday elf--to spread the joy. Gifts can be made anonymously or not--it's your call.

There are no rules with this project, no guarantees, and no strings attached. Just...wish, and it might come true. Give, and you might receive. And you'll have the joy of knowing you made someone's holiday special.

Here are mine:

1. Do something for someone without being asked... or better yet - without them knowing about it.

2. Clean out your old VHS collection and donate the tapes to a local nursing home (swiped from my friend Lisa - I think this is awesome!)

3. Donate blood or platelets if you can.

4. Clean out your clothes closet and give to your local thrift store - or to your local city school clothes program. If you don't have clothes to donate, please find a few canned goods in your pantry for someone less fortunate. And if you can't do either, you have my kindest thoughts and best wishes. I will donate in your stead.

5. Write a letter - an honest-to-goodness paper letter - to a family member or friend telling them why you love them. Mail it. Even if you live in the same house.

6. Hold the door for someone. Anyone. Everyone.

7. Check with your public school system. See what their donation needs are and see if you can meet any of them. They will be grateful.

8. Support the arts in your schools and communities. Go to concerts, get your children involved as active listeners and participants. Take a friend - an elderly neighbor, perhaps, who would enjoy getting out - and go enjoy some music, art or dance, whether that of kids, college students or adults.

9. Promise yourself to note in your friends blogs as often as possible in the coming year; notes mean so much, if only smilies.

10. If you really, really can't find something in the above list that hits your buttons (for shame!), here is my Amazon list. I know, I know... it's like... 15 pages long. I've been wishing for a really long time. LOL. I was brought up believing if you didn't aspire you couldn't achieve!

Fantastic Commerical!!

I'm just loving it!

Jena 6 Update

Hey you. Do you even remember the Jena 6?

Yeah. Like ongoing racism in the South. Young black kids who were denied their civil rights. Major demonstrations. Big issue in 2007.

What has happened? Where are they now? Does anyone even care?

Well, you should.

Here's an update from AOL's Black Voices feature area: Jena Six Anniversary: How Things Have Changed.

And this is a great site for keeping up with ongoing developments: The Jena 6 Blog

Don't let up. Fight the good fight. Do the right thing.

And damnit - don't let racism and any sort of privilege get in the way.

Sarah Palin Debate Flow Chart

You have got to see this (click to enlarge):

Get thee over to www.adennak.com to not only pay tribute to the guy who came up with this, but to check out his wonderful website - and to get a link to his CafePress shop featuring this flowchart!

::laughing helplessly::

Snarky McCain-Palin Automatic Haiku Poetry Generator

Oh yes, they went there.

::::giggling::::

:::glowing:::

Went to church yesterday for the Ingathering / Water Communion celebration... it was a packed house and ever so wonderful... Rev Bill talked about Angels Among Us by example of bullies and those who stand up against bullying. I could really relate to it because I was heavily bullied as a child and young adult - I was shy, wore glasses from second grade up, was way ahead of my class when it came to academics most of the time, and dressed unlike most people (I didn't have "in" clothes)... and every time I tried to make inroads with the kids in my grade they just laughed and made me feel horrible. What did I do? By the time I was in fourth grade *I* was the bully. I just couldn't take it any more. Most people look at bullying as conflict resolution... but really it is something else entirely and has nothing to do with conflict; it's a matter of respect (and self-respect). Rev Bill let me borrow his copy of Letters to Olivia, a moving book from which he took a great deal of his Homily inspiration. It's a book about self-affirmation, and affirmation from anonymous people who were - dare I say Angels? - who wrote to a heavily bullied girl in California to help her realize that she had worth and dignity. Such a tremendous story.. and I can't wait to read it. I was moved to tears by Rev. Bill's homily and it was one of those moments where everything *clicked*. Thank you, Bill.

Crash and I also went to dinner at the Macaroni Grill. I had the most incredible Lobster-stuffed Ravioli... OMG - to die for. Crash had a seafood pasta dish... and they gave us an anniversary chocolate cake on the house with a candle in it. I teared up completely when one of the wait staff came over and sang the most gorgeous classical Italian anniversary song. She sang like an angel and I was so moved. Not this Chili's thing of coming over and hollering a song and clapping, but a lovely, lovely song, just for us. I am tearing up just thinking about it.

Then, we went over for the last try on The Project for this cycle. I didn't even have a glass of wine - I was too stuffed from dinner to even think about it. ::grin:: We're really hoping - the excitement is building, and we test on the 21st. ::fingers crossed:: Keep up with the whole thing over on Another Handmaid's Tale over on blogspot. Aiiiieeee!

Today is a study day... I haven't even gotten dressed yet and it's two in the afternoon. Need to be thinking about that soon as I need to head to the Universary in two and a half hours. SO MUCH to do on my homework, and it's just terribly hard to concentrate sometimes. But, I am forging ahead on old Rufus, and the Stats homework. It's just the dissertation stuff that is falling by the wayside a little bit - and that just cannot happen. After Wednesday (which is the due date for the Rufus first report) I can finally hit the dissertation Indepedent Study really, really hard. It's just that I have had such early deadlines with everything else.

Must go... have a great day, y'all.

We've Been Busy!

Check out Another Handmaid's Tale over on Blogger for updates on the surrogacy project.

It's been quite a week.

And our 17th anniversary is tomorrow.