The purpose of college education

[Nielsio]

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Although I can't help but feel sad that you have never had a quality teacher who pushed you to think outside the box and to strive past your potential.

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Lol, ofcourse I had those. But totally outside formal education ofcourse.

[Taraz]

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Although I can't help but feel sad that you have never had a quality teacher who pushed you to think outside the box and to strive past your potential.

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Lol, ofcourse I had those. But totally outside formal education ofcourse.

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I meant within the formal education system. I was fortunate to have several I suppose.

[Philo]

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I was discussing affirmative action programs recently and this issue seems extremely important when we are talking about who to admit to selective universities.

What is the primary goal when we send young students to get a university education?

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Who is "we"? I would think the primary goal of someone seeking a college education would be defined by the person seeking the education, not someone else. What that goal is will naturally vary from person to person.

[Philo]

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Although I can't help but feel sad that you have never had a quality teacher who pushed you to think outside the box and to strive past your potential.

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Lol, ofcourse I had those. But totally outside formal education ofcourse.

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Not necessarily. I chose to go to a college (Hampshire College in Amherst, MA) that is non-traditional and that encourages students to think outside the box. The college motto is "Non Satis Scire," or "To know is not enough."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hampshire_College

Hampshire does not emphasize the mere accumulation of knowledge, but encourages students to take a very active role in their education, and to think creatively, independently, and critically. Every teacher I had at Hampshire shared those pedagogical ideals.

[Nielsio]

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Although I can't help but feel sad that you have never had a quality teacher who pushed you to think outside the box and to strive past your potential.

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Lol, ofcourse I had those. But totally outside formal education ofcourse.

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I meant within the formal education system. I was fortunate to have several I suppose.

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What's your position on the two biggies: religion and the state.

[Taraz]

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What is the primary goal when we send young students to get a university education?

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Who is "we"? I would think the primary goal of someone seeking a college education would be defined by the person seeking the education, not someone else. What that goal is will naturally vary from person to person.

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I mean what is the purpose for having the university system in general. I agree that people's goals for education vary, but what is the purpose behind a public university?

[Taraz]

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Although I can't help but feel sad that you have never had a quality teacher who pushed you to think outside the box and to strive past your potential.

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Lol, ofcourse I had those. But totally outside formal education ofcourse.

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I meant within the formal education system. I was fortunate to have several I suppose.

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What's your position on the two biggies: religion and the state.

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Religion - I'm atheist/agnostic, but I don't believe that we should be seeking the abolition of religion. It is important to allow religion to be open to criticism and revision. While I find it alarming that fundamentalism is so popular right now, I don't believe that it necessarily stems from the idea of religion itself.

The State - I believe the state provides some necessary services to society. Unfortunately governments are extremely susceptible to corruption and inefficiency. I think it's a necessary evil however.

[Nielsio]

So you believe literal theism is total nonsense (or may I say: borderline brainwashing), yet you say the institution of religion, which is built on this nonsense, is perfectly fine?


What is a necessary evil? Is that some sort of doublespeak? Either something is good or something is evil. If something is necessary, then it's good. If something is evil, then it can't be necessary.

Also: how do you define corruption?

[Taraz]

These questions are all worthy of their own separate threads, but here are some short answers.

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So you believe literal theism is total nonsense (or may I say: borderline brainwashing), yet you say the institution of religion, which is built on this nonsense, is perfectly fine?

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"Literal theism" is a very small part of religion and is truthfully a very new phenomenon. If you are speaking about Christianity, the narrow literalism that we see today has it's roots in the late 1800s. I think it's very important to see the distinction between fundamentalism and religion. I realize that one needs a very sophisticated and educated view of religion to understand this, but it just simply isn't true that religion necessitates believing in supernatural 'nonsense'. Literal theism != religion.

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What is a necessary evil? Is that some sort of doublespeak? Either something is good or something is evil. If something is necessary, then it's good. If something is evil, then it can't be necessary.

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I was implying that I believe the state solution to be better than the alternatives, but by no means perfect. I believe that their are severe problems with our system, with an AC system, socialism, communism, etc. Unfortunately we have no choice but to choose one of these.

Also I don't really believe that things are inherently good or evil. I guess I'm sympathetic to relativism.

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Also: how do you define corruption?

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Corruption in a political system is when individuals in power seek illegitimate personal gain by abusing the system. Unfortunately corruption can take place in any system in which there isn't perfect information (which is all of them).

[Nielsio]

Theism means believing in a non-metaphorical 'god', or anything 'supernatural'. To be really specific, it means people proclaiming their belief in things that they cannot define.

You yourself do not hold such religious beliefs, and therefore you don't call yourself a theist.

Now, my question is: do you think that it's bad to treat people in a way that results in them having religious beliefs. An example of such would be a parent telling their children a mythological story, and then expecting them to state that they believe it. The mythological stories are presented as historical fact; even though the stories contain loads of mythological symbols and to any sane mind would clearly be identified as metaphor and not fact (god created the earth in seven... etc, etc).





What problems do you see with an 'AC system'? Anarchism means nothing more than the idea that people should act on a voluntary basis and not on a coercive basis. Do you see any problems with that? And if so, why. Anarchocapitalism has a little added idea on top of that that we expect voluntary solutions to arise for arbitration and security. But it's doesn't design anything; it's merely a prediction.