GLOBE & MAIL APR.21/03 UNIVERSITIES/ENGINEERS – Mr. Armstrong – An apprenticeship can teach the practical over the theoretical and give them a lasting employee’s eye view of the organizations. “Organizations have to become their own “Universities”, he said.
They “Can’t Rely” on “Academic Institutions” to “Deliver in Graduates all Business-Related Skills They Need”. Work term projects are not enough. Mr. Armstrong attributes the Reluctance of Engineer to embrace change to their training. Engineers saw posing challenges to change. By Mr. Stephen Armstrong AMGI Management Inc. a licensed Professional Engineer. Note: Clearly, they
need to get out of our house, and stay in their own lane? Also, it was once stated that until Industry says that the current institutions are not fulfilling their needs nothing will change?
Financial Post Aug. 21/2010 - Research is the root of all Evils, authors say.
Higher Education? How Colleges Are Wasting Our Money and Failing Our Kids - And What We Can Do About It. By Andrew Hacker and Claudia Dreifus - By Steven Knapp.
Andrew Hacker and Claudia Dreifus have written a lucid, passionate and wide-ranging book on the state of America higher education and what they perceive as its increasing betrayal of its primary mission - for them, the teaching of undergraduates. That both are academics provides them with memorable, often acerbic anecdotes that neatly offset their citations of statistics and their sometimes rather sweeping generations.
These anecdotes take the edge off the polemical intensity a reader might expect from the book's title, Higher Education? How Colleges Are Wasting Our Money and Failing Our Kids - And What We Can Do About It. That may be because these anecdotes display insiders' familiarity, and often an implied intimacy, with distinguished academics they reside.
This is not a book for those seeking a social-scientific explanation of how higher education, from its simple beginnings as a training ground for gentleman clergy, has evolved into a diverse industry that, is unquestionably the envy of the world and an integral, arguably indispensable part of the U.S. economy. But in a series of well-structured and strongly argued chapters, the book does pose searching and sometimes troubling questions about the degree to which the social utility, personal benefits and philosophical ideals promoted by admissions and publicity offices are overstated, overpriced, subordinated to extraneous purposes or distorted by self perpetuating bureaucracies.
As with many indictments one must distinguish the crimes the prosecutors merely mention from those they really care about . Mr. Hacker and Ms. Dreifus list a host of crimes, or at least flaws in the system, some in the control of universities and others built into the external political, cultural or economic environment, or indeed int human nature. These include the narrow self-interestedness of academic departments; the greed of faculty members and administrators alike; the near-universal hypertrophy of "the athletics incubus"; unfunded government mandates; life time employment for pampered professors; and the demands of students and their parents for frivolous extras.
But the target to which they most often and most radically return - radically in the sense that they regard it as the root of all evils and propose to root it all out - is captured in a single word: Research.
"There was a time, in their telling, when universities saw their mission as education"
Now even small U.S. colleges compel their faculties to publish for the sake of an institutional stature that teaching alone cannot confer. The authors' deepest scorn is reserved for the claim that good teaching depends upon research, and their most extreme proposal is that universities drastically reduce the amount of research they support, by "spinning off" medical schools and research centers, discontinuing paid sabbaticals and abolishing the current system of promotion and tenure, a system that tends to reward research productivity more than effective teaching.
The rest of their prescriptions are scarcely controversial. Who can quarrel with a call to reduce student debt, engage all students, make students use their minds, employ technology with care or end exploitation of adjuncts? But when it comes to the role of research in universities, their insight and imagination appear to fail them.
Consider, for instance, the proposal that universities divest themselves of medical schools: They are, the authors think, too distracting and costly, if not in dollars, then in their demands on a president's attention. A tempting suggestion, many a president will agree.
But what an old suggestion from the pen of authors who lament the self-enclosure of traditional academic disciplines. This is the era in which some of the most searching inquiry - and most exciting teaching - is taking place precisely at the intersection of medicine and other fields, not just engineering and physics but also fields like anthropology and history. Some of our most engaged undergraduates are fascinated by fields like global health, which brings medicine and the social and human sciences together in more rich and subtle than students of my generation could have imagined. And where are the humanities more alive, right here and now, than in seminars in bioethics that expose undergraduates to searing and quite possibly unanswerable questions about the beginning and end of life?
A similar point could be made about the educational value of working at the frontier of discovery in one of the research centers that Mr. Hacker and Ms. Dreifus decry. Have they spoken to the undergraduates who have enjoyed the privilege of assisting a top researcher in an active, federally financed laboratory? In my experience, the best of those students, far from shutting them themselves away in a narrow specialization, are very likely spending their time outside the lab in life-expanding service activities that, again, were quite beyond the ken of undergraduates in early generations.
The dichotomies on which the authors rely - between teaching and research, liberal arts and "training" humanistic reflection and advanced inquiry - do not quite match the reality they seek to describe, with the always salutary aim of reforming it.
New Your Times News Service - Steven Knapp is president and professor of English at the George Washington University.
Note; In reading this it certainly reflects upon today's world events (past 4 years) certainly makes my intuition hair stand straight up? Including how there seems to be an abundance of research dollars at any given time, but yet have not resolved the problems they boasted about resolving. Other than rhetoric, billions of dollars over 25+ years, and a new compromising process called immigration infestation, and how our government states how our economy has grown? Truly, what's expressed here is what our institution can deliver. Quote: "WHO" can quarrel with a call to reduce student debt, engage all students, make students use their minds, employ technology with care or end exploitation of adjuncts?
Note; I like the part in the second Quote below, stating Education tax credits aren’t much help to students or parents with low incomes. And in most provinces students are not able to borrow their full education costs. Greed and Careless of the students seems to be portrayed heavily? Quoted; (Globe & Mail Aug. 26/2003 Universities In Peril of Running Aground - But there has been multi-billion dollar investment by Federal Government in university research. The universities main challenge lies with the undergraduates. They're paying more for their education in most provinces, but would be hard-pressed to argue possibly that students are getting more for their money). Quote: Globe & Mail Sept. 15 2003 - Lines Blurring For Universities & Colleges “Between 1990 and 2001 in Canada, over 1.1 million jobs were created requiring university education,” says Robert Ciroux President of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada in Ottawa. Meanwhile, the rising, value of a diverse education doesn’t yet preclude an older notion of “credential creep,” the idea that every work function has simply layered on more educational demands. Higher in-come families are four times more likely to use this than low-in-come families. Education tax credits aren’t much help to students or parents with low incomes. And in most provinces students are not able to borrow their full education costs.
What seems to be “Resoundingly Impossible” are the many Educators, Policy Makers,
Investors and even the General Public when being challenged to what’s beneficial to
Canadians by “Adopting a New Paradigm Shift”. Addressing Education, Skills Training,
Apprenticeships, Entrepreneurship, Career Alternatives and so much more. Our traditional
institutions are “Definitely” not “Ethics Founded” Nor Can They Instill The Required Work Ethics from our Past, cultivated to address our Present Day Challenges. An Alternative for our Future Needs such as this New Non-Traditional Private Industry Based Vocational Technical College University Development can and will deliver. That being said truly separates our “Foundation of Strengths” from the insanity of today and the “Fictional Rhetoric Displayed”.
Note: Below are two links showing the chaos created? However, this institution can and will create greater competitive opportunities unlike expressed in the two links. Moving forward Parents, Students, and Industry will benefit from this new institutional development well into the future.
Frank Stronach:
Magna’s investors provided the capital we needed to build new factories, purchase new equipment and fund product research. Without them, we wouldn’t have been anywhere near as successful as we were. Business is driven by three forces: smart managers, motivated employees and confident investors. At Magna, we had all three, so how do we create an environment that would allow Canada to retain the brains and investment dollars needed to build new businesses and generate new jobs, while also attracting foreign investment? Note: This new Private Industry Based Non-Traditional Vocational Technical College University Development will, pursue Smart Managers, Mentors, Innovative in Creating and Motivating both Students and Employees, which will inspire Confident Investors.
Frank Stronach: The gutting of our manufacturing industries has made Canada weak
When we’re no longer able to manufacture the high-tech components for new fighter jets or submarines, who is going to make them for us? Russia? China? Made in China: it’s the label you see on many products sold in stores throughout the country. The odd time, you’ll see a product manufactured in some other country. But you rarely see a product that’s made here in Canada. We used to make fridges and phones in Canada. We even built the world’s fastest fighter jet (I once worked in a factory that made parts for the supersonic plane). The consequences of relinquishing our manufacturing sector are serious and far-reaching. A decline in manufacturing capability will lead to a decline in the country’s technology base and technical know-how. The technologies incubated in the manufacturing sector have applications not only in a wide range of industries but also in the defense industry, which is vital for safeguarding our freedom and the protection of democracies around the world. At the end of the day, the continued deterioration of the manufacturing sector in North America and Europe will impact a wide range of other industries, including defense, and it will rob us of one of our chief engines of technological innovation. To halt this erosion, we need to first work on restoring our technical skills base. That means training hundreds of thousands of skilled tradespeople across Canada through the creation of technical trade centers in every province focused on every industry from mining to manufacturing. Technical skills will give us the foundation to rebuild our manufacturing industry, revitalize our economy and restore our prosperity. Note: How true as we have seen over 4 decades the outsourcing and the lack of "Critical Thought" that our illustrious Universities were supposed to deliver? High Tech Components for various industry sectors have been deliberately outsourced. Everything coming into our country is not home grown products. Building a foundation to stimulate Canadians and our economy and to stop the relinquishing of our manufacturing sector. To rebuild the technical knowhow is a collaborative approach through industry if they are truly interested in our future and certainly depends upon our ability to do so. Incubation, like anything reproduction requires spawning the intelligence that our universities were to deliver. However, this new Industry Based College University Development will step away as quoted above in our first paragraph. Note: Clearly, they need to get out of our house, and stay in their own lane?
Frank Stronach: The rest of the world is leaving Canada in the dust. Our living standards and quality of life are rapidly declining. You don’t need an economics degree to tell that prices have skyrocketed over the past few years. Any Canadian who buys groceries, fills up the gas tank or pays rent knows that inflation has taken a big bite out of their take-home pay. The same goes with our crumbling standard of living. Canadians can sense that it’s deteriorating in a number of ways: fewer job opportunities, higher taxes, mounting debt and less money to pay the bills. Rarely does anyone ask why are our living standards and quality of life are dropping, and what can we do to stop it? One reason they’re dropping is that we’ve abandoned the real economy — the economy that produces things — in favour of the paper-shuffling financial economy, where wealth is traded and managed. I’ve always been a big believer that a company should locate a portion of its manufacturing operations in the various markets where its products are sold. But many western companies are only manufacturing in China so they can ship products back into their home markets, in order to make higher profits. In the process, they’re eroding the economy of the countries where they’re headquartered. It’s a formula for national economic suicide. The global economy is spinning faster and faster with each passing year, which is why Canada needs to find new and better ways to remai competitive. Jobs are the most precious commodity in the world, and in an effort to raise the living standards of their people, countries everywhere are fighting tooth-and-nail to lure investments — and the jobs that go with them — to their shores. It’s baffling to me that we don’t have a national economic strategy that seeks to build on our strengths in key industries and turn our immense natural resources into value-added products that can be sold to consumers around the world. Another major factor for our economic decline — the one most often overlooked — is that our government has become bloated and top-heavy, and it’s draining the country’s wealth to meet the payrolls of massive bureaucracies in Ottawa, the provinces and many of our cities. Our governments are too big, too intrusive and too expensive. Businesses and taxpayers are paying for that overhead through steep taxes, and that in turn makes us increasingly uncompetitive on a global scale. There are many other reasons for why our living standards are falling, including chronic under-investment in R&D by our biggest companies, a troubling lack of technically skilled trades training and education, and a repressive taxation and regulatory environment that is stifling entrepreneurship and keeping many Canadian startups from growing and expanding. Note: One truly needs to look at our countries leadership and where their initiative lies, certainly not in our best interest. I personally refuse to see our continuous rapid decline in our countries economy. Therefore, creating this initiative where a foundation completely embedded in creating rapid opportunities in education, skills, & training to solidify our existence and intelligence that truly has been deliberately ignored. I like Franks comment stating "WE HAVE ABANDONED THE REAL ECONOMY". Indeed, economies are moving quickly "Intelligence & Knowledge" yes Canada needs to find a better way to become competitive? This New Institutional Development Has The Potential To Do Just That. I also liked a comment Frank made back in the 90s stating "NO TENTURE"
Frank Stronach: Universities should forge a vision for the ideal Canada
New faculties should consider the age-old question of what constitutes an ideal society, and invite thinkers to come talk about it. The students will graduate with knowledge of topics such as philosophy, sociology and political science. But one topic they won’t have explored might be the most important one of all — and that’s the age-old question of what constitutes an ideal society. I believe the main mandate of a university is figuring out how to construct the optimal society for the benefit of its people because it’s the issue on which so much of our prosperity and happiness depends. Universities have great faculties of medicine, law and engineering, but they lack a faculty dedicated to building society. Over the years, I’ve had dealings with many universities around the world. I’ve funded research centres, chairs and programs related to entrepreneurship, business management, engineering and technological innovation. I’ve also served on a number of university boards and given guest lectures on campuses in Canada, the United States and Europe. One of the ways we currently do that is through our Charter of Rights and Freedoms. But what about other rights, including, most importantly, economic rights? Why has no society ever enshrined an economic charter of rights, and what should those rights be? One thing is clear: democratic charters of rights need to be fortified with economic rights, because if a society’s economy is weak, then everything within society will suffer. If citizens can’t feed themselves or don’t have access to medical care because the economy has collapsed, then all the best government programs and philosophies don’t mean much. Universities can get the ball rolling by inviting some of the world’s best minds and accomplished people to talk about the framework necessary for building an ideal society. They should convene symposia and open forums and begin mapping out a blueprint for what that society would look like and what we need to construct it. And they should create new faculties solely dedicated to this topic.
Note: Forging a vision for an Ideal Canada has been developed and ignored mostly from the Traditional Institutions that in my opinion created the mess we are in right now. Therefore, our Ideal Canada requires an age-old question of what constitutes an ideal society, and invite thinkers to come talk about it. "Critical Thinkers Talk" and we can all see where and what we have become from just that? It was stated to me once a number of years ago that "Until Industry States That Our Current Existing Institution Are Not Producing The Needs Of Industry Nothing Will Change". The meeting of the minds to get the ball rolling that should be interesting, if anything it relies upon Industries willingness to partner, and incubate a system suggested in this article that benefits the People, Industry, Economy, and our country.
SUMMARY: North America Un-Leashed signifies the Two Flags above see link below for all Blog articles below. A collaboration of various Manufacturing Companies, Multi-Trade companies, Automotive Part supply companies, Mining companies, Oil & Gas companies, An Engineering Firm, also a Partnership with an Accredited College/University or other, and more all involved in creating this competitive Non-Traditional College University. An incubated start-up, for this Industry Based Vocational Technical College University Development where we expect an admissions process of accepted companies that will move into this industry based institutional development for one to two years, reaping the benefits achieved in developing our Foundation for their future and the future of our country. This Non-Traditional Manufacturing Based Facilities will ensure the development of our much needed manufacturing culture where industry can engage, recruit, develop, and research directly.
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