This is coming from somebody who took umbrage (because I can’t get offended) to playing basketball in church. Thought I, I could play sports anywhere on the planet, but there were few and far between places that welcomed free and open discussion of the Holy Word. Economists refer to the problem as “crowding out.”
Well, the Mountain Xpress has an article about colleges becoming more holistic. It is argued that colleges should put less emphasis on mathematical solutions, short answers, and essays and more on other stuff. It is a classic case of an attempt to make something be all things to all people. We always hear about education having way too little resources.
Imagine malleable clay, and we want to put a roof over ten people’s heads. We hammer it out, and we’re covered. Then, we say everybody and their brother must now come under the roof. We can’t discriminate or leave people to come up with their own kind of shelter. So, we hammer our batch of clay thinner and thinner, and now there are enough holes in it that everybody is getting wet. But now we are told our scope is too narrow. The same batch of clay must now be used not only for shelter but clothing and pottery and furniture. So, in the end, each person gets a scrap too small unless he wants to fashion himself a little ornament or something.
And that’s why my elementary school teachers either loved or hated my creative writing.
