... from a teacher at open university, apparently.
I'm sure I'm biased as a college drop out myself, but I've never been impressed by abstract ('learn how to help society!', etc) type reasons to go to college.
I'm sure I'm biased as a college drop out myself, but I've never been impressed by abstract ('learn how to help society!', etc) type reasons to go to college.
But 90% of people won't be using what they learn to "improve their community" and whatnot, not unless they're specifically going to school to learn that.
It's a pity, then, that these skills aren't very well taught in university (at least on the humanities side). Indeed, if you do a course on, say, Foucault or Derrida then you'll need to unlearn how to spot bullshit and faulty arguments if you want to pass the course since a final essay which says "Derrida in this book says a whole bunch of vague bullshit that doesn't make any real sense" will get low marks.
Interestingly, I don't think spotting bullshit or faulty arguments is that difficult a skill -- relatively uneducated people can easily spot a BS argument when it's used to argue for something they don't want to believe. The really hard part is developing the discipline to be able to spot a BS argument even when it's arguing for something you do want to believe.
I don't think this skill is very well taught, either.