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As a community college history/economics professor from 1992 to 2013,I firmly believe that critical thinking is essential to the higher education process. For those focused on STEM, lacking critical thinking skills I consider a serious shortcoming.
I believe that many high school students may benefit from community college and/or technica…
As a community college history/economics professor from 1992 to 2013,I firmly believe that critical thinking is essential to the higher education process. For those focused on STEM, lacking critical thinking skills I consider a serious shortcoming.
I believe that many high school students may benefit from community college and/or technical training. [Skilled plumbers, electricians, computer technicians, and other professionals are robustly middle class with admirable job security.]
For those who seek a four year college, I believe that there are hundreds of colleges that provide excellent focus on the process of critical thinking. The focus on Ivy-League-type colleges I consider highly overrated.
As someone with degrees in the humanities and from MIT, I appreciate the benefit of these dual skills.
However, without a solid foundation in the humanities, I would not have had the breadth to accomplish what I have achieved professionally.
I am appalled at the ‘anti-wokism’ in Florida under Governor DeSantis and elsewhere. I have taught the good, the bad, and the ugly of American history for 23 years without any student backlash. My students appreciated such courses as SOCIETAL DISCRIMINATION: THE WHAT VS. THE WHO FROM PATRIARCHY UPON TO THE PRESENT.
This ‘Republican’ effort to emphasize the ‘white supremacy’ of America’s evolution is both false and destructive. We are living in a country of increasing diversity. Projections are that by about 2040 the ‘white’ American population will be in a minority. Also, ‘white’ colonialism has faded and ‘nonwhites’ are by far the global population majority.
In high schools and colleges, American students must be exposed to the realities of American (and global) history. Racism, patriarchy, and opposition to wave after wave of immigrants are integral to America’s evolution since 1976.
Unless we Americans understand our past, we will have great difficulty in accepting the immutable changes of the 21st century.
I consider ‘wokism’ a misguided political shibboleth. I am proud to be ‘woke,’ since, in my view, this means appreciating the profound changes that have and are affecting America and the world.
Thank you. Excellent summary and invocation about the values that keep teachers at all levels going.