Archive for May, 2010
Readers of this blog are probably well aware by now of the recently passed legislation in Arizona banning the teaching of ethnic studies in any public schools in the state. As my colleague, Evelyn Nakano Glenn, notes in her excellent recent blog post, “the rationale for this gross intrusion by the legislature into school curricula is that ethnic studies courses promote ‘ethnic chauvinism,’ and racial resentment of whites.”
Now that this bill has passed—frightening both in its ignorance of what the field of ethnic studies actually is and what it says about the priorities and perspectives of our current state legislative leadership—imagine for a moment that Arizona (or some other state) would next ban ethnic food, ethnic music, ethnic art, and ethnic dance. Inconceivable, of course! The citizens of Arizona would rise up against the government’s intrusion into their private affairs. How dare the state tell them what they can and cannot eat – from Chinese pot stickers to Spanish paella, from Russian borscht to sushi to kimchee! Indeed, if we give it some thought, what is ethnic food, but every other kind of food in the world besides meat and potatoes? Now, that is real food! But tacos? Sauerkraut? You get the picture. If we go out tonight for ethnic food, we all know what THAT means. Good Indian restaurants abound in England, and somewhat less in New York, a direct consequence of the concentration of those relevant populations. That is why the best Chinese food is in San Francisco, not in Arizona. And that is why the best Mexican food is in Arizona, not New York or London. (But I digress.)
The media is obsessed with covering debates about whether all kids should go to college. There couldn’t be a dumber debate to have in 2010! I was particularly surprised to read the recent article by Jacques Steinberg in the New York Times, which quoted scholars Charles Murray and Richard Vetter, but not Tony Carnevale! In my judgment, having read all three of these individuals’ writings, Carnevale is, by far, the most informed and persuasive on this issue and many other more important issues related to education and work. (Disclosure: Tony Carnevale has served on AAC&U’s board of directors and serves on the National Leadership Council of AAC&U’s LEAP initiative, but is still one of the smartest economists around —and I’m sure I’m not the only one who thinks that.)
Kevin Carey provided today in his blog for the Chronicle of Higher Education a particularly cogent response to all this chatter, noting that, “of course college isn’t for everyone,” but it is indisputable that, “College opens the door to opportunity. Not for everyone and not always, but very often and certainly often enough.” There is, in fact, much evidence (see compelling economic data presented by the Center on Education and the Workforce at Georgetown run by Tony Carnevale) to support another of Carey’s points that “college is extremely important and more people need it now than ever before.” The Georgetown Center’s data make it extremely clear that, for most students, college is still very much worth the expense in terms of future opportunities. AAC&U has also compiled a set of PowerPoint slides about the economic value of college learning—and, particularly, the value of liberal education outcomes. These slides—using data from both the Georgetown Center and the Department of Labor—make clear that, whether or not all students “should” go to college or are “well-prepared” to succeed there, we do need more of them to go to college or some other rigorous form of post-secondary education that provides them not only with narrow job training, but with a broad set of skills and abilities.
With all of the news about internships lately, my favorite recent posting is from McSweeney’s. Advertising a news production internship, the position is described as a “tremendous growth opportunity” that “may lead to full-time employment with possible entry-level pay or occasional freelance work.” The listing concludes:
This position requires someone who is completely dedicated. We are NOT looking for college students or people who are currently in a career “transition.”
This is a great opportunity to gain more experience. Only experienced candidates should apply.
We have received thousands of applications for this position. Due to the overwhelming interest we CANNOT guarantee a response to your inquiry.
We apologize in advance.
