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Showing posts from January, 2012

Living the Dream

Today’s world is challenging and complex, and as a college president I could allow myself to get caught up in a dilemma. That dilemma would be arguing about the value and purpose of education with intellectuals and academics. They might argue that the value of an education is simply the process of expanding one’s intellectual capacity—and that is a good and noble goal. For those people, education is the end itself. Today, however, in my position, I know that the “great expectation” is to be sure our graduates are ready for the world of work. For many, education is the means to an end.  Education, technical training, skill development, many believe, should enable a graduate to be employable. In my experience, this is also the motivation of students of all levels of ability: what they really want is the ability to take care of themselves and the people they care about. In today’s world with the economy in turmoil and high levels of unemployment, the promise or possibility o