January 31

We began today by reading part of an article explaining McCrory's desire to move toward more vocational track education at the university level.  For the writing into the day, we responded to this article.  Then, we watched videos about global competition and 21st century skills.  In small groups, we talked about how schools can prepare students for these 21st century skills and for working globally.  We moved into whole group discussion and talked about the McCrory article and the videos.

McCrory Discussion

• We need all kinds of jobs; the trick is knowing how much of each job we need.
• Why be in college if you don't have the option to be creative and figure out what you want to do?
• We don't know what is coming in the future, so it's unwise to limit the careers for which students can study.
• We will lose revenue in North Carolina because people will be leaving the state in order to have more options in universities.
• We should have a separate vocational track option, but not change the whole school.
• Is it worth spending time studying for a career if there is no job available after school?
• Is it worth having the government tell you what is "best for you"?
• If the government pays for a person's education, they should decide what the person has to take. If the person is paying for it, that person should decide.
• There are certain things that are nice to have, but they don't make money.  Some school majors are like that.  Life is about making a living.
• McCrory said there are open jobs.  Where are these jobs?  Why is the unemployment so high if there are open jobs?

Global Competition/21st Century Skills Discussion

• Global awareness makes people more competitive.  Colleges should require a class about global awareness.
• Communication is important.  Without it, you can't get anything done or have global awareness.
• We should teach foreign langauge at a younger age.
• We should make a study aboard program highly advised.
• But it's very expensive.
• More people can do foreign exchange programs.
• Kids should be taught a second language beginning before they even start school.
• There is no one to practice a language with if you stay in the U.S.

After this discussion, we talked about the definition of liberal education and watched a video supporting liberal education.  As we watched the video, we noted and discussed the persuasive appeals used in the video.

Finally, we spent the last 15 minutes brainstorming for the Exploratory Proposal.

Homework:

• Read "Responding - Really Responding - to Other Students' Writing" and post a reading response.
• Start drafting your Exploratory Proposal.  The first draft is due next Thursday.