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| Legends & Legacies Mag |
Yep. But what’s L&L Magazine?
Good question. I'm not sure, but it looks pretty flaky.
L&L Magazine explains itself on its website. There, we learn that it “seeks to both entertain and inform with a clear understanding that there is a difference between the two goals, but that one should not be compromised for, or confused with the other.”
Uh-oh. Sounds like horsesh*t.
It gets worse. Evidently, the editors of L&L follow a strategy that “can be found in the book, The Five Principles of Everything.” (Run!) The latter is pretty damned New Agey, I’m afraid. It’s author, Gordon Richiusa, happens to be one of L&L’s editors. He’s also a part-time English instructor at Saddleback College. Richiusa’s first novel was called SHIDOSHI: The Four Ways of The Corpse.
Yeah, he’s into martial arts malarkey, as is another of L&L’s editors, Frank Dux – Editor At Large. So L&L looks pretty damned wacky, I’m afraid.
You payin' attention, Grasshopper?
The December issue of L&L sports an interview with Burnett, who's just full of things to say. Here are some excerpts:
(Dr. Tod Burnett): …While the goal of free online education is noble, it’s never going to replace the human interaction of the classroom, and it’s harder to teach online than in a classroom….
(L&L) Do you think that some students these days are reluctant to go to college, because of the high cost?….
(Dr. Tod Burnett): Yes, and that’s sad. That’s where the community college comes in, because we need to turn that around. We need to redefine what education is, what it means to have an advanced degree. We know that for a student to say, “I’m not going to go to school because there’s not going to be a job,” that’s absolutely not true. Even if you take the most under-employed degree there is, it will help you one way or the other in your career, whatever job you want to do.
…Unfortunately, the way our society is today, whether culturally, socially, definitely politically we tend to gravitate toward—I don’t want to say the lowest common denominator—I want to think of how to say this right. I’m going to coin a phrase here–the individual oppression. It used to be … that we wanted to protect the minority from majority oppression. Now it’s no longer about the minority being oppressed, it’s about the individual being oppressed. I use the term loosely. It could be related to a very small group of people also, or just an individual. When we are making decisions, we are not going to get anything done if we are going to try and appease. satisfy [sic] every small group or individual. ... How in the heck do you do something that doesn’t offend somebody, or isn’t in the best interest of one person against another when it comes to public policy? It’s impossible. So, what happens is that there are stalemates. The press, the media and even the public places it all on our wonderful two party system. How our country can all of sudden be divided up into two camps is beyond me. We’re the most diverse country in the world, and everybody is suddenly a Republican or a Democrat? I guess there is a third party, the Independents, but even at that, how can there be three? This is just the front of the opposition and problems that everybody focuses on. The real issue is that we don’t say no to anybody. If we don’t say no to anybody, then we don’t get anything done. So, things stifle.
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| Go big or go home: "the orderly and proper workings of the universe" |
(L&L) And, yet that’s the core of community college.
(Dr. Tod Burnett): Yes and no. How we have to operate under that structure, we have that problem, we have to navigate it all the time, but we’re also the solution because we provide an opportunity for everybody. We were talking about the value of a degree of higher education. There is something for everybody. Anyone who thinks that education ends at high school is completely false, and incorrect. They are doing themselves a big disservice. They may not need to go to some liberal arts college and get a degree; I agree with that.
… [W]e have to ask, “Who is going to survive in higher education and who is not?” The Harvards, USCs, Stanfords, the top 100 institutions of the world will be fine. The community colleges, the trade schools and technical schools are also going to be doing pretty good. They are positioned well, but it’s the colleges in the middle, the liberal arts colleges, some of the state colleges one might argue, the middle of the road colleges are the ones which are already showing decreases. What it comes down to is that you have to show what your value is in the education and training that you have. We either have to change our institutions to keep up with these environmental, social, cultural, physical, political changes or we’ll be left behind. We’ll become obsolete, or scale down to become almost irrelevant. That, in a nutshell is what’s going on.
So, when we talk about degrees, we need to take that into account. I am passionate about community colleges, because we are the most comprehensive. ... I love the term, K-through-Career. It needs to be seamless, and a pathway all the way from kindergarten and preschool. With that, we’ll get to your common core, that’s exactly it. We keep focusing on common core, math and English preparedness, which is very important for the common core, but we need to think about the bigger picture and the holistic method of getting students to be good citizens, to have the work skills that they need. When we talk to the business community, for instance, we are hearing them say, “Yes, we need them to know math and English. We completely agree, but we need them to have analytical skills, critical thinking, communication skills. How do you work in a team? How do you come to work and dress properly? What’s proper etiquette? When I went to school, I was in the Boy Scouts, team athletics. I studied fine arts. I was in student government. Our college did activities. We were all active in PTA and our parents were involved. Our communities were involved, and it all happened naturally. Now, we’ve gotten rid of it all. Not only have we gotten rid of it in our educational process and what’s important, but we focus so heavily now on grades and, we’ll call it Back To The Common Core that we’ve lost sight of all these other skills that are important. Then, of course there are also environmental changes, the new technology changes.
With all the leadership training, with all the stuff we talk about, we’re finding for whatever reason that young people are not stepping forward and being leaders. Part of that is the herd mentality. They’re in groups, together and they’re online and texting, but they are not ever out there alone. They have to be with the group. Today is 9/11 and it is said that mentality has to do with an insecurity that was instilled at that time. They are also the generation that has parents who have done everything for them….
3 comments:
He's correct Roy. Ever read R. Putnam's Bowling Alone? Our society seriously lacks social capital.
Did I suggest otherwise? Read more carefully.
Could it be that Burnett arranged the hire of his guru, Richiusa? One wonders.
These L&L people are the worst kind of New Age fools. It is an embarrassment that Burnett has associated himself with them and their silly rag.
Burnett's analysis of what's wrong with higher ed is ridiculous. A big part of the problem, of course, is the growing presence of underqualified administrators--such as Burnett himself.
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