PAGE 35 THE LIFE EXAMINED It once seemed about as practical a college major as dead languages, but philosophy is being embraced by a new generation of students, with enrollments and programs expanding.
Students have been confronted for generations with the question: "What do you expect to do with a degree in that?" Indeed, particularly since the onset of the Great Recession, many students have encountered increasingly urgent advice — sometimes pressure — to major in something practical in college.
As a practical matter, colleges can't eradicate the wait list, but they could certainly limit it to a more reasonable size.
On the other hand, from the standpoint that the education of Colleges of Technology is characterized by practical science, our college has created the environment for a new type of active learning (flipped learning) where classroom lectures and experimental practices are combined.
Cornell man, class of 1927, played a lot of practical jokes in college.
On top of these practical issues, the college's 2009 equity report found that larger percentages of black, Filipino, Latino, Pacific Islander and Southeast Asian students wanted four-year degrees than did their Asian and white counterparts.
We must make college practical but not excessively so, lower its price without lowering its standards and increase the number of diplomas attained without diminishing not only their currency in the job market but also the fitness of the country's work force in a cutthroat world.
A practical approach to college is now more important than ever as family incomes become less predictable, fees keep rising, and competition for fewer slots is a long-term reality.
Fortunately, there are some relatively simple, practical steps that colleges and universities could take to address the problem.
