Academia

I'm currently enrolled in a public health program at one of the top Schools of Public Health in the country.  I don't at all mean to brag, but I do want to touch on the idea of education and it's role in our world.  I have the idea that rankings matter only in so far as humans like to rank things and we have this notion that things ranked at the top must be better than those ranked at the bottom.  Is there any truth to this?  Not at all.  Usually these rankings take into account endowment, class size, selectivity, research dollars, etc.  No where in these rankings is there a measure for contribution to society.  No where in these rankings is how well these academic institutions prepare you for jobs.  The STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) are useful in preparing students for jobs but what about the rest of the educational establishment?  I'm not at all saying that we need to get rid of our political science programs.  However, it would be nice to have less "experts" commenting on the upcoming election.  I'm saying that we need to get back to the basics in how we train our students, especially undergraduates.  For example, I took a course in biology on the evolution of vertebrate species.  I did horrible in the class.  I did well on the parts about why certain features evolved the way they did because I could apply those principles to everyday life.  However, I did horrible when forced to memorize species names of long extinct animals.  I'm glad someone knows them, but as an introductory student in biology, is that a crucial thing to know?  Instead of focusing on the what and when, introductory education needs to focus on the how and why.  The process of science for an introductory student is much more important than the end product.  Life-long learning skills should be emphasized.  Education for the sole purpose of education is always a good idea.  However, I feel we do a disservice to young people when we give them the knowledge but deprive them of the understanding of how that knowledge came about and how to make new knowledge for themselves.  There's so much more to discuss about this topic.  Maybe in future posts!