Re: Dear Red States

:~) Dianne

And I love it and am scribbling it down to commit to memory for when I need it! My husband and I have been married for 13 years now and have always wanted children, but do not have them. I *LOATHE* when random people bring it up. It's none of their business! I talk openly and honestly with friends and family about it, but what right does Ms. Random Stranger have to that information? It is *personal* and none of their business!

Thanks Pat!

Heather in NY

And huge hugs. I know just how blest I am with my two darlings.

Cheryl

lucretia borgia wrote: > Just did that conversation with my younger daughter who is concerned

Good for you....keep advocating for him!

I feel so sorry for kids today under such pressure to know what they're going to be, even by high school. I tell HS kids they don't know *half* of what anything is yet, so how can they decide so early what their major will be? When I went off to college, I didn't know anything much about anthropology or sociology -- those aren't usually taught much at the high school level. And to think one could major in history of art, or history of science? Those topics weren't even on my radar.

They say that most college students change their majors several times. I think students should be encouraged to *enter* as undecided, and not declare a major until they've tried a few different things.

Sue

Undecided sounds good to me. I also suggested if he didn't know, maybe he is a good case for doing one of those gap years, spending that year travelling the world. We have relations on just about every continent, so it would be more than possible for him.

I didn't tell you that. Don't put words in my mouth.

You never actually indicated that any of the professors actually SAID that the Pope had said that. You simply said that it was a religious school and that they had the Pope behind them.

Elizabeth

Wow. I never actually had an American SAHM say that to me. I did have a Polish woman tell me that once.

The best revenge is living well. No man actually ever said that to me, but when their actions indicated it, I went ahead and did it anyway, instead of taking a road of lesser resistance.

Elizabeth

Actually, we don't agree. I try really hard to be respectful of women who make other choices than I do, but you seem to have nothing but contempt for any of them. It's not a matter of "giving up her Saturday." It's a matter of having put her children before her job, for which she was to be commended, not condemned.

Elizabeth

If you were in litigation, how is it that you continue to claim that as a paralegal you could do everything the lawyers could do, when that's clearly not the case?

Elizabeth

I think you're wasting your breath. Something tells me that when one has no respect for themselves, or maybe doesn't really think they are superior and has to prove it to everyone and to themselves all the time, rational thinking won't change a thing

Lucille

That's fer sure!

She not only thinks she is, she knows she is better than everyone else and is not hesitant to tell the world how right her obervations and opinions are. Said observations and opinions are always based on vast samples of the population and/or emperical (sp??) data. It must be very comforting to be so sure of oneself 150% of the time.

There is now a major called "Interdisciplinary Studies". It seems to consist of taking a minor's worth of courses in several subjects with or without having to take seminar work or a senior project to unify your studies. Chester College (two towns over) has it.

Cheryl Framed a diploma once for Interdisciplinary Studies with the listed specialties of Pop Art, Economics and Old English.

Very few schools HAVEN'T caught on to that idea. My mother earned a BA in Liberal Studies from the University of Delaware in 1976 (at the age of 56).

Elizabeth

I'll bet her degree was a lot more structured than what is being done today. And had a few papers to write... C

I think you'd lose that bet. Her degree was based on a program she proposed herself that was approved by a committee, which is exactly what happens at the institution at which I currently teach.

Elizabeth

I'll still bet she had more papers to write...

I guess. I make my students write papers, as do my colleagues, but I certainly can't speak for all colleges everywhere.

Elizabeth (first drafts for European arrive Tuesday and I'm not done with the short ones from intro yet)

I don't know if the complaint ( I have several friends with college students, two doing liberal arts and/or interdisciplinary combinations that just seem to have no connection other than "I like the subject) is "college was a lot more rigorous when we went" or whether the standards of academic discipline are truly lower.

I do know that a graduate from my alma mater, where you learned to present a paper orally and do it well, presented a paper at an awards banquet (she works with DH) liberally dosed with "like you know" and similar formal speech no-no's. BTW, Air Force and Army big boys where there. And when this young woman and I had conversations, she pretty much escaped college with out the anywhere close to the level of study and core requirements that I did. Heard more than a few things that made me cringe, no science or math requirement while she was there, no requirement for a foreign language, no requirement for credits outside your major after 3 "101" level courses. The once required writing coursework is gone. GRRR

Cheryl

You wouldn't possibly be generalizing from one case at one institution to colleges in general, would you? Because none of what you're saying applies to the college at which I teach and I don't think it applies to any of the ones with which I am familiar. We require a two course lab science sequence and 3 credits in math or science beyond that. We require 4 courses in English, one in Health, one in public speaking, a two course sequence in World History, and distribution credits in the social sciences and the humanities. We require that no more than 55 of 120 credits be taken in the major and we have writing, quantitative and diversity requirements at the 300 level. I find these requirements to be more typical than not when discussing programs with my peers from other institutions.

Elizabeth