Along those same lines

I agree with all that you guys have said about education, especially Thursday's class. And Russ, it WAS awesome. I think that was the most fun I've had in a class in a very long time.

Re: the American education system...
I think that one of its weaknesses is that it pigeon holes people. I want to make a couple of points:
1) that in few disciplines are people who graduate with a degree in it (undergrad)actually "experts".
2) That concentrating in one area should not have to come att he expense of taking other classes. Of course, the challenge here is to find another fesiable system...
3) that in the US, the fact that you have a degree is valued more than what it was in (they just like that you have it because it means you can think and it gives you certain stature). I just think that my experience in the working world and at AU has taught me that the piece of paper matters more than the fact that you decided to take SIS-460 instead of SIS-470. I mean, it depends on what you want to do with your life--if you are the scholarly type, then good for you. But I'm much happier working (more a "doer" than a thinker), and so I think for someone like me, the ability to jump around from discipline to discipline would have been much more useful.

But then again, in Latin America, most people have to specialize when they enter college, as most people study only one discipline for the duration.

And then there's the Mark Twain argument: "The only time my education was interrupted was when I was in school." (or something along those lines). Do we really need some sort of organized structure in order to learn things. Yes, probably, to a point. But I also think I have learned the most about myself and about the world by traveling and meeting people from all over. Do we always need a theory for everything? Maybe if we will become chief actors in a certain area that values stuff like that, but otherwise I would argue that practical experience is almost more valuable than academic experience. Feel free to argue with me (I'm a senior...I'm ready to get out and I'm a bit jaded....)