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Defending the Relevance of Cornell's Curriculum
In a brave column in last week's Daily Sun, A & S senior Harry DiFrancesco accused "Cornell’s currently deadeningly dusty distribution requirements" of failing to prepare students for the challenges of the modern workforce:
DiFrancesco's ideas reflect one of the contemporary critiques of the American education system. Some observers argue that we are wasting too much time teaching students basic facts instead of building critical thinking and analysis skills. Certainly, in this era of Google, it doesn't make a lot of sense to spend hours teaching students information that they could look up in a matter of seconds. Readers will think back to their childhood days of memorizing significant dates, quotations, or even equations. One could argue that none of these facts need be committed to memory in today's information age. The battlegrounds for new ideas in education tend to be underperforming urban schools, including the one at which I teach. In our effort to raise test scores, we place an extreme, school-wide emphasis on developing higher-order thinking skills such as analysis, critique, interpretation, prediction, and design. In fact, teachers are permitted to use no more than 90 minutes of class time each week to present new material. Over the last three days of the week, students and teachers ignore the basic facts and spend time developing higher-level skills. Such an approach is aligned with what DiFrancesco desires for Cornell. In his view, instead of wasting time learning about "sprawling" areas of academia, we should train students to look at data or other already-produced information and make sense of it. The problem, though, is that the higher-level mental connections that make DiFrancesco and others salivate are not possible without a solid foundation of lower-level information. My AP World History students have trouble naming two facts about Alexander the Great. But, if I present them with a list of information about Alexander, they can write a paragraph evaluating his greatness, or comparing him to someone they know, or critiquing his achievements. The danger is that I could present my students with a list of lies about Alexander ("invented the DVD") and they would probably believe them and go ahead writing their analysis paragraphs about how we should thank Alexander every time we watch Netflix. As one commenter on the Sun website pointed out, in this age of misinformation, students must be equipped with enough solid factual knowledge to identify falsehoods. There is also the obvious horror that students will have taken a whole year of AP World History without learning two facts about Alexander. I credit my Cornell education with helping me to make sense of the world around me. I do not rely on analysis skills exclusively, but rather a nuanced understanding of the past and present of people, institutions, and ideas. Perhaps it is not necessary for me to have memorized precise statistics about the incarceration rate, or specific details about laws dealing with weapons or drugs. But knowing this information helps me understand the challenges facing my students and their families in a way that searching on Wikipedia for the same information could not. There is a middle ground in this debate, in which teachers (as too many do) are no longer assigning students useless low-level book work, but experts and administrators recognize that a certain amount of lower-level knowledge is necessary to enable students to make higher-level connections. (DiFrancesco also pleads for more group work; I'll let the Times debunk that one. If that article is not enough, I invite you to observe my students as they work in groups.) Cornell professors do not live in a bubble, and I have faith that they understand the kinds of skills that will best prepare students for success in the future. Skills and factual knowledge are wonderfully intertwined; together, they make up an education that would make Ezra proud. Cornell is a Bubble Cornell is a bubble. We all know this and we all say it. But, we don’t really feel it until we leave our alma mater. When in Ithaca, everything in Ithaca is of utmost importance. IFC decisions were endlessly critiqued and debated. The Student Assembly Finance Committee’s rulings on funding – or non-funding – of student groups were protested at Student Assembly meetings. The pressure of overcommitted calendars and upcoming deadlines were all-consuming, and anything outside of the small box of work and more work felt as though it didn’t matter. And, to many of us, nothing else did really matter. Cornell and the greater Ithaca were at the center of our world. Rather, they were our world. I realized this morning, while reading the Cornell Daily Sun looking for a topic on which to write, how I’ve escaped the bubble that is life on the Hill. Now that I’m eight months out, I no longer have much of an opinion on many of the day-to-day issues that seemed of paramount importance to us as students. As a case in point, among the headlines over the past two days are Collegetown drinking (surprise?), liquor license difficulties at the Willard Straight Pub (it’s being named The Bear’s Den?), GreenStar Grocery’s plans to open a Collegetown location (it sells organic food!), and the increase in Rush Week attendance (reassuring for the Greek community’s viability given the recent changes in Rush Week). To be complete, there were some general news stories that could be found in any community newspaper, like a sledding accident on Libe Slope (I hope the student will be okay), Senator Mark Kirk ‘81’s stroke recovery (he will be okay), and the death of Professor Richard Leed ’58 (unfortunately he won’t be okay). To students, it’s the articles in that first bucket that would likely be the most important and discussed over lunch. Now, I’m much more interested in what’s happening on the national political stage than the latest issues in the non-existent microcosm of my New York City neighborhood. Although as alumni we are far removed from the bubble, there are still important and just plain interesting Cornell issues to think about from a different perspective. I may not have an opinion on this year’s rush week, but I still care about the direction of the Greek system. And, while it doesn’t matter that a new grocery store is opening, I do not want to see the general vibe of Collegetown change. I imagine many alumni feel the same way. After all, you are reading this blog. Happy Founder's Day In celebration Ezra Cornell's 205th birthday, today is Founder’s Day.  Ezra Cornell founded the university using his own background as a model for the type of education his school would provide. A carpenter, mechanic, farmer, salesman, inventor, entrepreneur, politician, trustee, and philanthropist, as well as a Quaker who left his religion to marry a Methodist, Ezra Cornell is a perfect embodiment of “Any Person…Any Study.” Of course, that is his own motto. Now, in 2012, with the sesquicentennial right around the corner, Ezra would have likely added “Any Place” to his idea of a Cornell education. This would have been preposterous in his time. However, today, not only is there a Cooperative Extension program in each New York State county, but also there is a Cornell footprint in New York City, Washington, DC, Puerto Rico, Rome, and Doha, Qatar. That New York City footprint is about to get even larger with the upcoming construction of the New York City Tech Campus. Happy Birthday, Ezra. Farewell to Professor James Maas If you follow us on Facebook, you’ve probably already seen the RSS feed post announcing the imminent retirement of psychology professor Dr. James Maas. If you haven’t, here’s the news: Dr. James Maas is leaving Cornell as of the end of this year.  Readers of this blog undoubtedly know who I’m talking about. In his 48 years as a member of the Cornell faculty, Dr. Maas has taught Psych 101 (which changed to 1101 in 2008) to over 65,000 Cornellians. This is not only a Cornell teaching record, but is also a world teaching record. In recent years, at least, Dr. Maas’ class has enrolled over 1,200 students each fall semester. He has won the Arts College Clark Award for Distinguished Teaching and the American Psychological Association's Distinguished Educator Award. Outside the classroom, Dr. Maas is a world-renowned sleep psychologist and bestselling author. He is credited with coining the term “power nap” and has devoted his career to discovering the benefits of sleep as well as raising awareness of the importance of sleep to success in our waking lives. According to Dr. Maas, energy, mood, focus, longevity, and, correspondingly, our ability to perform, are all influenced heavily by the quantity and quality of our daily sleep. He regularly appears on national talk shows as a sleep advocate. I interviewed Dr. Maas last year for The Sunday Forum, a Cornell news interview show on WVBR. If you’re curious about some of his research and his findings on the importance of sleep, I recommend listening to the clip: What do you remember about Dr. Maas? His tenure spans 48 years of Cornellians and is likely one of the only professors who taught across so many class years. Share your memories below as a comment. Big News from Cornell Today at 2:30 Cornell is being particularly coy about today’s anticipated announcement from New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg about the proposed New York City tech campus. Although the news broke late last night in the Wall Street Journal, the University’s Press Office is saying only to tune in to CornellCast at 2:30pm today for a “live event of special interest” to Cornellians. If you can break away at 2:30, watch the video here or through the Alumni Association Facebook page . Oh, and thank you to the anonymous donor for making this possible. WSJ: Cornell Wins NYC Tech Campus Bid The Wall Street Journal reports that Cornell has won the bid to build a new technology campus in New York City. Cornell emerged as the front runner over the weekend as Stanford gave up on its bid and the Big Red announced a record-breaking $350 million anonymous donation that would assist in building the campus. Cornell's plan calls for construction on city-owned land on Roosevelt Island. Barrier Update: City Approves Nets Under its agreement with the city, Cornell will construct all the barriers and “make their maintenance, repair and other obligations of operation and ownership wholly or substantially 'cost-neutral' to the city during the term of the agreement.” The Planning Board must still approve the final designs, but with Cornell and the majority on the Common Council both on the same page, I think it’s unlikely it will reject the barriers outright. Meanwhile, Ellen McCollister, who voted against the barriers, and Dan Cogan, who voted for them, are challenging Cornell to make a separate agreement with the city to track suicides as they occur in the coming years, in order to determine if the barriers are having any effect on the overall suicide rate. “I also want us to track the costs and effectiveness of the rescue and recovery operations,” McCollister told Meta Ezra. “My hunch is that there will be plenty of people (and objects) landing in the nets, even though Cornell is quick to argue that no one has jumped into the Bern Muenster nets since their installation.” Some suicide barrier studies have failed to answer the question of whether barriers really cut the jumping suicide rate, because they do not cast a wide net. In addition to the City and Cornell, the leadership of nearby state parks should also be engaged to report suicides that may have been displaced to these places--especially those involving Cornell students. Big Red Cymbal Guy New York Times Survey on Campus Recruiting is Flawed It’s been awhile since I last wrote here, but I’m back. I’ve been transitioning into a new job and things have been hectic. Several weeks ago I came across a New York Times article that ranked Cornell University 38th in a list of the top universities throughout the world from which “hundreds” of CEOs from “leading companies” in ten countries recruit. At the top of the list, as expected, were Harvard, Stanford, and Yale. Within the top fifty spots, 23, or 46%, are American universities. Although this could be a good sign of the quality of American higher education, I doubt the validity of this ranking. While rankings like this are inherently subjective, this one is particularly bad. Here’s why: Barrier Update: Legal precedent suggests City of Ithaca will not be held liable for gorge suicide As you probably know by now, Howard Ginsburg is suing Cornell, the City of Ithaca, and a number of individuals affiliated with the university over his son Bradley’s suicide from the Thurston Avenue Bridge. Ginsburg, whose body was found in February 2010, was the 4th suicide at Cornell during that school year but the first involving a gorge. After two more students died by jumping, Cornell put up tall fences on all its bridges. The lawsuit (which the Ithaca Journal has posted online ) argues that suicide barriers should have been installed sooner to prevent jumping from the bridges on campus. It also argues that Cornell should have done more to alert students and parents of the suicide cluster that was affecting Cornell. Both Cornell and the city have vowed to fight the lawsuit. “Obviously we will oppose it,” Dan Hoffman, the city attorney, told Meta Ezra this week. “The actual defense will be handled by our insurance carrier. We do not believe the city had the duty the plaintiff claims we had. We construct our bridges following state standards and requirements.” It’s hard to see how any court could blame Cornell for not installing barriers, when it didn't even own the bridge. The Thurston Avenue Bridge is owned by the city. Hoffman, who has served as city attorney for six years, says he is unaware of any previous lawsuits of this type against the city. But a similar case against the Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District in 2004 provides some insight into how this case might play out. Marissa Imrie was a minor, only 14 years old at the time she jumped from the Golden Gate Bridge. Yet when her mother, Renee Milligan, sued the bridge authority, both the trial court and an appeals court found that the bridge authority could not be held liable for her death. “We conclude reasonable minds will reach but one conclusion as to whether the lack of a suicide barrier is a dangerous condition,” reads the judges’ decision in that case. “By definition, persons who use the bridge to commit suicide are not using the bridge in a manner used by the general public exercising ordinary care. As a matter of law, the Bridge District cannot be held liable for its failure to install a suicide barrier to protect those who intentionally use the bridge without due care.” |
-- Does anyone else think that Facebook timeline layout is a ripoff of the Cornell homepage? -- 60 Minutes tonight heavily featured Cornell's Lab of Ornithology -- Is the tech campus nothing but Cornell's mid-life crisis? -- Students with family incomes less than $75k a year now pay less to attend Cornell than they would have ten years ago -- Johnson School chooses first major business school dean in the United States to be appointed from an academic institution outside the country -- Skorton on tech campus: "We don't have to roll over and die for lack of a way to create jobs" -- Ithacating explains why so many C-Town bars are closing -- Tech Campus Runner-Ups still have plans for New York City -- Great weekend for the Big Red in Colorado -- The specter of SAE continues to wreck havoc on campus -- Cornell's time cloak moves forward (invisibly) with DOD funding -- Why do universities have endowments? -- Despite thousands of online 'friends', Cornell research shows that we only have two real friends -- Know a Cornellian couple who have become engaged this holiday season? Check out this adorable 'Cornell Love' print! -- Prof. Maas to retire -- Despite MSG Loss, Big Potential for Big Red Hockey (EBilmes) -- City Council Will Vote on Suicide Nets (DJost) -- An Encounter on the Upper East Side (Nagowski) -- Showing Off Your School Spirit (Nagowski) -- Chipotle Ithaca? (KScott) -- Cornell at the ING NYC Marathon (KScott) -- Crossing Over a Fine Line: Commercial Activity on Campus (KScott) -- Milstein's Downfall (Nagowski) -- Can any Cornell-associated organization really be independent of the University? (Nagowski) -- Slope Media Revisited (EBilmes) -- Slope Media Group Approved for Byline Funding (KScott) -- Occupy AEM? (KScott) -- New campus pub to be good for both Greeks and non-Greeks (Nagowski) -- Gagging the Election (Nagowski) -- The Changing Structure of Rush Week (Nagowski) -- Ivy League Humility in the Midwest (EBilmes) -- Of Median Grades and Economics Minors (Nagowski) -- Homecoming Recap (Nagowski) -- My Cornell Bookshelf (Nagowski) -- The Sun's Opinion Section Has Suddenly Gotten Good (Nagowski) -- Remembering the 11th (Nagowski) -- Cornellian Tapped as Top Economic Advisor (Nagowski) -- Cutting Pledging, and the Good Which Comes With It (EBilmes) -- Why Cornell Should Not Close Fall Creek Gorge (Nagowski) -- Welcome to the Class of 2015 (Nagowski) -- Does Cornell Discriminate Against Those Not Wanting A Nightlife? (Nagowski) -- City Doesn't Want to Fund Maintenance of Suicide Barriers at Cornell (DJost) -- Google Pedestrian View of Campus (Nagowski) -- University To Boost Economics Department: Will Undergraduate Experience Follow? (Nagowski) -- GQ Somehow Considers Cornell To Be Douchiest College? (Nagowski)  |
