{"id":85799,"date":"2023-03-01T20:13:54","date_gmt":"2023-03-02T01:13:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/?p=85799"},"modified":"2023-03-01T20:51:28","modified_gmt":"2023-03-02T01:51:28","slug":"reflections-on-teaching-in-an-age-of-militant-apathy-mcmurtrie-and-on-the-high-cost-of-higher-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/2023\/03\/01\/reflections-on-teaching-in-an-age-of-militant-apathy-mcmurtrie-and-on-the-high-cost-of-higher-education\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflections on “Teaching in an Age of \u2018Militant Apathy\u2019” [McMurtrie] and on the high cost of higher education"},"content":{"rendered":"

Teaching in an Age of \u2018Militant Apathy\u2019<\/strong> <\/a>— from chronicle.com by Beth McMurtrie
\nImmersive education offers a way to reach students. But can it ever become the norm?<\/em><\/p>\n

Excerpts (emphasis DSC):<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

But as many students continue to exhibit debilitating levels of anxiety, hopelessness, and disconnection \u2014 what one professor termed \u201cmilitant apathy\u201d \u2014 colleges are struggling to come up with a response beyond short-term solutions.<\/strong><\/span> The standard curricula in higher ed \u2014 and the way it\u2019s discussed as primarily a path to economic success \u2014 can exacerbate those feelings. Students are told the main point of college is to move up the economic ladder, so no wonder it feels transactional. And the threat of failure must seem paralyzing given the high cost of a degree.
\n…
\nColleges try to counter that by telling students that critical-thinking and communication skills are important as well. \u201cBut that\u2019s a pretty vague argument that isn\u2019t obvious for students to internalize and motivate their behavior. So what you see then is widespread disengagement from the curriculum,<\/strong><\/span>\u201d says Arum. \u201cFor educators like me, what\u2019s missing is what education is about. It\u2019s about psychological well-being and flourishing and growth and human development and encouraging a set of dispositions, attitudes and behaviors that lead to fulfilling lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn every context, the student needs to feel like they are driving, they are the ones managing their own learning,\u201d says Immordino-Yang. Instead, students have come to expect \u201c\u2018you tell me what to do and I\u2019ll do it,\u2019\u201d she says. \u201cWe need to take that away. That is a crutch. That is not real learning. That is compliance.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

From DSC:<\/span><\/em>
\nThe liberal arts are so important. But at what cost? What are people willing to pay for a more rounded education? The market is speaking — and the liberal arts are dying. I think that less expensive forms of online-based learning may turn out to be the best chance of the liberal arts surviving in the 21st century. The price must come waaaay down.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

And speaking of the cost of getting a degree, this item is relevant as well:<\/span><\/p>\n

Colleges Fear Cost of Doing Business Will Become Much Costlier<\/strong> <\/a>— from chronicle.com by Lee Gardner
\nInflation, enrollment woes, and increasing intolerance of tuition increases have made this budget season especially difficult.<\/em><\/p>\n

Excerpts:<\/em><\/p>\n

In decades past, colleges might have mitigated precarious budgets by raising tuition, but that\u2019s a hard row to hoe in 2023.
\n…
\nThe public colleges most feeling the financial squeeze from lowered enrollments are regional universities and community colleges, which typically receive less state support per student than public flagship universities.
\n…
\nInflation remains high, at around 6 percent, and the biggest worry that it presents for college leaders comes from upward pressure on wages, says Staisloff.<\/p>\n

While the sky may not be falling for higher education, Staisloff says \u201cthe cloud ceiling keeps dropping and dropping and dropping and dropping, and that\u2019s getting harder to ignore.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

Speaking of the cost of getting a degree as well as higher education’s need to reinvent itself, also see:<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

College Doesn\u2019t Need to Take Four Years<\/strong><\/a> — an opinion piece from the Wall Street Journal by Scott L. Wyatt and Allen C. Guelzo
\nFor many students, the standard bachelor\u2019s degree program has become a costly straitjacket.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Teaching in an Age of \u2018Militant Apathy\u2019 — from chronicle.com by Beth McMurtrie Immersive education offers a way to reach students. But can it ever become the norm? Excerpts (emphasis DSC): But as many students continue to exhibit debilitating levels of anxiety, hopelessness, and disconnection \u2014 what one professor termed \u201cmilitant apathy\u201d \u2014 colleges are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[61,115,302,57,324,159,72,36,35,3,7,79,62,436,480,293,310,66,212,145,206,321,214],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business-side-of-he","category-colleges","category-community-colleges","category-cost-of-getting-a-degree","category-curriculum","category-dangers-of-the-status-quo","category-daniel-s-christian","category-future-of-higher-education","category-game-changing-environment","category-higher-education","category-learning-ecosystem","category-liberal-arts","category-online-learning","category-reinvent","category-society","category-sociology","category-staying-relevant","category-student-related","category-surviving","category-traditional-tradition","category-trends","category-united-states","category-universities"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85799"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85799\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85815,"href":"http:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85799\/revisions\/85815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}