RE: FADISM LO467

Dr. Ivan Blanco (BLANCO@BU4090.BARRY.EDU)
Sat, 18 Mar 1995 10:54:52 -0500 (EST)

Replying to LO331 --

> From: jack@his.com
> Date: Sat, 04 Mar 95 10:40:09
>
> Replying to LO312 --
>
> R. Ivan Blanco (PhD), discussing the apparent doom of current structures
> of higher education, has said: "Look at this discussion group, which has
> generated so much learning... this could have not been acccomplished
> withing the structures and walls of a university system!"
>
> Ivan, I share your enthusiasm for this group, and I have found as many
> others have, that it has helped me extend my thinking and deepen my
> understanding. But as one who believes that learning occurs in action, I
> feel compelled to point out that the kind of learning you refer to has
> never needed institutions of higher education, and that millennia ago
> young Greeks were "educated" in conversations in the bath house with
> Socrates and walks among the groves with Aristotle...
>
> --
> jack@his.com Tell me, what street compares with Mott Street in July?
> Jack Hirschfeld
>

Thanks Jack! I feel that we are going back to the times were
learning can take place almost anywhere, and the "electronic bath houses"
of the 90's are increasing in number at a accelerated pace! However,
there are a lot of people, aparantly educated and smart ones, who hold on
to the notion that universitites are still the sole repository of
knowledge! I was sharing with a colleague information about a university
in Bogota, Colombia, that does not have a fixed number of contact hours
for the courses offered. What they do is, through group discussions and
politics (I added the politics part!), determine how many hours each major
subject needs. Then they schedule, for instance, 20 hours for Marketing,
54 hours for International Business, etc. THey also have several of the
courses that function as Special Topics, where they assign a coordinator
who will identify outside experts to give a topic on their areas.

As I was sharing this with my colleague, his eyes were revealing
to me (speculation!), that he stopped listening at one point and was
preparing his rejection. When I was done, he had more reasons why
something like that would not work here than the number of features I
listed. There is a strong attitude to reject anything that does not
support the traditional paradigm. Even the approach just mentioned, which
I think it is "cool," but not that radical, is rejected in an aggressive
way!

I think that universities nust learn how to learn to combine the
contemporary "electronic bath houses." and any other means of learning
available today, with the "old ways" to come up with some new forms of
"selling" what we do. Otherwise, we are going to be run over by... ?

Ivan,

***************************************************************
R. IVAN BLANCO, Ph.D. Voice 305 899-3515
Assoc. Prof. & Director Fax 305 892-6412
International Business Programs
Andreas School of Business _________E-Mail Addresses________
Barry University Bitnet: Blanco%bu4090@Barryu
Miami Shores, FL 33161-6695 Internet: Blanco@bu4090.barry.edu
<<<<< ---------------- >>>>>
"Las naciones marchan hacia el termino de su grandeza, con
el mismo paso que camina su educacion." "The nations march
toward their greatness at the same pace as their educational
systems evolve." Simon Bolivar
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