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May 25, 2012
Mark Clayton: Is Hillary's State Dept. hacking Al Qaeda? Not quite
Erika Bolstad: Temple cancels Wasserman Schultz speech
The Kosher Gourmet by Ethel G. Hofman: The former president of the International Association of Culinary Professionals, whose members included the likes of Julia Child, is back with contemporary Shavous cuisine: Ruby Fruit Soup, Sweet Noodle Kugel with Cheese, Key Lime Curd, Calsone Casserole Frittata with Wild Mushrooms, Sun-dried tomatoes and Olives, Baked Tilapia with Pepper Cheese Cream and Brown Sugar Shortbread
May 24, 2012
Jeff Jacoby: The peace process battered Israel's reputation
Michael Muskal: 'Pro-choice' position hits record low, according to poll
Chris Farrell: Are We in a Tech Bubble?
The Kosher Gourmet by Penelope Wall: PHILLY CHEESE STEAKS --- hold the steak!
May 23, 2012
Tony Pugh: More private colleges offering tuition discounts
Mary Beth Franklin: How to Choose the Right Annuity for You
Tina Susman: The wig wasn't enough: Man gets 13 years for posing as his dead mom
The Kosher Gourmet by Emma Christensen:A simple way to do fish right
May 22, 2012
Warren Richey: Can US group challenge overseas surveillance act? Supreme Court to decide
Thomas M. Anderson: Walking Away From a Mortgage
The Kosher Gourmet by Megan Gordon: Enjoy a celebration of the most rich and layered flavors: Black bean, sweet potato and quinoa chili
May 21, 2012
Mark Clayton: Cybersecurity: How US utilities passed up chance to protect their networks
Howard LaFranchi: NATO summit: Who will foot the bill for long-term Afghanistan security?
Chris Farrell : Earn Dividends in Emerging Markets with This WisdomTree ETF
Stephen Whiteside, Ph.D. : Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: Social anxiety disorder --- or just shy?
Guy Jackson : Victim's father regrets death of Lockerbie bomber
The Kosher Gourmet by Mario Batali: Famed chef's veal shoulder farsumagru: A festive meat course for late spring
May 18, 2012
Rabbi Berel Wein: Striving: The People of the Book's Book for (All of) the People
Steven Goldberg: 5 Great Stock Picks and the Exchange-Traded Fund that Owns Them
Mary Pickett, M.D.: Ask the Harvard Experts: Don't be forced into gluten-free lifestyle based merely on a doctor's false-positive test
The Kosher Gourmet by Carolyn Malcoun: DIY healthy lunchbox treats: HOMEMADE FRUIT BARS for kids and brown-bagging adults alike
May 17, 2012
Warren Richey: Teacher fired for being unwed and pregnant can sue religious school, court rules
Josh Mitnick: Netanyahu's 'centrist' coalition is already proving it's anything but
Steven Goldberg: Earn Dividends in Emerging Markets with This WisdomTree ETF
Amina Khan: Research links coffee to lower death rates
The Kosher Gourmet by Faith Duran : Cheesy Potato Breakfast Casserole with Cheddar and Sun-Dried Tomatoes
May 16, 2012
Carmen Terzic, M.D., Ph.D. : Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: A variety of exercises can help improve balance
Melissa Healy: National strategy on Alzheimer's disease aims to halt it by 2025
The Kosher Gourmet by Joyce White : GOODNESS GRACIOUS: GREENS! 4 winning recipes that are no longer just for down-home folks (Includes expert tips & techniques)
May 15, 2012
Kristen Chick: Obama administration resumes arms sales to Bahrain despite serious unresolved human rights issues. Activists feel abandoned
Pat Mertz Esswein: Homes are now affordable again and mortgage rates are low. What you need to know before you buy
Kathy Kristof: Our Practical Investor Fights Inflation with These 6 Investments
Sue Hubbard, M.D.: The Kid's Doctor: Lactose intolerant young child? Check again
The Kosher Gourmet by Kathy Hunt: Spread a Little Excitement with EXOTIC CONDIMENTS (4 RECIPES)
May 14, 2012
Lisa Gerstner: How to Protect Your Identity, Finances If You Lose Your Phone
Harvard Health Letters: Heart disease and dementia
The Kosher Gourmet by Megan Gordon: MANGO COCONUT OAT MORNING MUFFINS are a bright but hearty delight
May 11, 2012
Jessica L. Anderson: Get the Best Deal on a Used Car
Jett Stone: Forget face-lifts and fake knees. Scientists have seen the fountain of youth --- and it's broccoli
The Kosher Gourmet by Chef Mario Batali: The famed chef's vegetable dish that tastes true to the season: FAVAS AND SUGAR SNAP PEAS WITH POTATOES AND TARRAGON
May 10, 2012
Sergei L. Loiko: Putin sends warning to U.S., NATO in Victory Day speech at Red Square
Mary Rourke: How being a 'mentch' got Vidal Sasoon his start and fighting in Israel's War of Independence provided him with confidence and a strong sense of his own identity
Jeff Bertolucci: Get Home Phone Service for Less Than $10 a Month
The Kosher Gourmet by Betty Rosbottom: Gleaming with its golden, crimson, and snowy white hues, this silken smooth and creamy STRAWBERRY ORANGE TRIFLE looks impressive, but is easy to prepare
May 9, 2012
Sharon Palmer, R.D. How you can reduce your risk -- or delay -- chronic diseases associated with aging
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Jewish World Review
Oct 5, 2011
/ 7 Tishrei, 5772
Letter to a Businessman
By
Paul Greenberg
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Dear Sir,
It was wholly a pleasure to get your email about the recent changes in the core curriculum at the University of Arkansas' campus at Fayetteville -- and expressing honest puzzlement about why a newspaper editor should care about such academic matters.
What's the big deal, you want to know, about requiring, say, 35 credit hours in the arts and sciences for an undergraduate degree instead of 65 as in the past? Why all the fuss?
Because what's happening at the university is part of national trend to dumb down the curriculum.
Because if we're going to train our undergraduates in a specialty, rather than require a well-rounded liberal education, we'll succeed in watering down not just the curriculum but a heritage. And a heritage, if not tended and even added to, erodes. Like any field that is not cared for. Weeds sprout, the soil crumbles and dries, and even the most fertile land will soon lie fallow. It's happened before. It was called the Dark Ages.
All it takes is one generation to neglect a heritage, while it may require many to revive it. Just as it took Europe ages to emerge from the loss of the classical civilization the Romans spread throughout the known world.

What happens when a student specializes too early? The state of American journalism provides many a case study. I've met many an aspiring young columnist fresh out of J-school. They're an impressive bunch. They seem to know everything about how to write.
Unfortunately, many have nothing to say. That's because they may have taken a full quota of journalism courses but have had only minimal exposure to history, literature, economics, philosophy, biology, math, foreign languages ... you name it.
They may never have thought about such matters in any depth, or maybe not at all. They've never had to. Not at a school that doesn't require them to. A certified, degree-bearing, newly minted journalist may have learned the latest computerized, internetted, Twittered and Facebooked tricks of the trade -- but overlooked one small detail. He hasn't been educated.

Early in the last century, Jose Ortega y Gasset, the Spanish philosopher and critic-at-large of Western society, diagnosed this sad condition. Even by then it had become common. Sr. Ortega paused in his search for a refuge from the fascism that was then sweeping his world, and the communism that would follow on its heels, to coin the phrase, "the barbarism of specialization." By which he meant the tendency to substitute training in some specialty for a broad liberal education. (Recommended reading still, even after all the years since Ortega y Gasset wrote it in 1930: "The Revolt of the Masses.")
By dividing wisdom into academic specialties, he pointed out, we vivisect it. Just as each department of a university may now be told to choose its own "core" curriculum. Which pretty much demolishes the old idea and ideal of a common core of studies for all the students in the arts and sciences.
Meanwhile, the mathematization of the culture proceeds. Seeking to quantify wisdom, we reduce it to strictly numerical goals, aka Performance Numbers. What begins to matter most is how many students graduate, not whether they're educated.
Behind this fog of numbers, we find Sr. Ortega's old nemesis and modernity's hallmark: the barbarism of specialization. One generation of well-trained technicians in every field now follows another. Quite a few of them are remarkably talented, ambitious and upwardly mobile people. They're sure to succeed.
The name that pops into my head every time this model of education comes up is that of Albert Speer, Hitler's architect and, later, minister of armaments and war production. Without ever having had a real education, he succeeded on a grand scale. For a while.

>
All the numbers that are supposed to document the rise of the modern university may only disguise its decline. And obscure the deterioration of liberal education under the care of those who are supposed to be its stewards.
Increasingly, college students are expected to know more and more about less and less -- everything about their specialty, not that much about the arts and sciences that compose the core of education, and of civilization.

In his preface to "Culture and Anarchy," Matthew Arnold said the purpose of education was to pass on "the best which has been thought and said."
That choice -- between culture and anarchy -- is still before us. Look about at an educational system in which pop culture steadily replaces the real thing, and various new capital-S Studies (Black, Gender, Women's, Ethnic, Gay, Trans-Gender, pick your favorite) supplant traditional disciplines.
When the best of what has been thought and said is demoted to just another elective, you have to wonder if anarchy isn't getting the upper hand. As it surely will if our professoriate goes quietly along with the dismemberment of a core curriculum. And the defense of liberal education is left to just an
Inky Wretch
Paul Greenberg Archives
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