Such a great post! I also had an unfortunate experience of a “much hated” philosophy course. If only I had the opportunity of experiencing it through the science-fiction lens! Asking if robots have souls sure beats out my test question, “True or false: A basketball has a soul.” I agree wholeheartedly about the need and the value for humanities in higher education, especially for non-humanists, and I enjoyed most of my “general education” humanities classes. My question is, how large of a component of an engineering degree do you think humanities courses should be?

Great post! I, too, am concerned by the lack of empathy in higher education. Yet another reason I think a well-rounded education with a valued inclusion of the humanities, as defended by Edelstein, is merited.

I was lucky to be apart of a class taught by Dr. John Robertson (“Dr. Bob”) here at Tech. I will never forget one comment he made on his experience doing research with animal models. Though paraphrased, he said, “I knew that if ever I stopped valuing the life of each individual animal that I used in a study, I needed to retire immediately.” For me, that speaks directly to the need for ethical and emotional perspectives in our professions. I hope higher education can catch up with this need for “new professionals.”

Hi, Erin. It’s great to hear that another engineer values emotional expression and the humanities as well! I, for one, often fall back on skills and knowledge gained in the humanities courses from my undergraduate education to this day. Additionally, I truly believe that the fact that I do “wear my heart on my sleeve,” so to speak, has only allowed for better connections with my peers and furthered my passion and tenacity in what I do.

My question is, how do you foresee our convincing others in Engineering to value emotions and a holistic education as we do?

Great post! I appreciate the rant, especially your suggestion about sharing ideas with your advisor. I know there are probably as many advising styles out there as there are advisors, some that micromanage and some that are hands-off and the rest that are somewhere in-between. However, I think applying Freire’s viewpoint, from my understanding, it would be best for advisors to act more like students themselves than teachers, in order to learn with their graduate students. Graduate students should in no way be ‘containers’ in which advisors ‘deposit’ information. As you said, the creativity this would inspire may well lead them both to a Nobel prize! Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for the post! As for the question about Freire’s view of technology, I tend to think he would appreciate its use in the way we saw in the game playing/game creation programs we discussed earlier. However, I could see (and have experienced) how technology could easily be used to only further ‘the oppression’ (i.e. online quizzes). It’s all about how the resource is used.

What a great post! I feel like the story your shared about the standardized test speaks directly to a thought I kept having looking over the Paulo Freire resources this week–this reminds me of Sir Ken Robinson and how he describes the inequities of our education system today, squashing the creativity and uniqueness of children that should be encouraged. Thank you for sharing this and that it is OK to make mistakes as a teacher!

Thank you for bringing up this issue! I, too, have gotten far more out of my courses that lent themselves to discussion and real world applications. I wanted to share a unique opportunity I had to learn the same ‘basics’ of fluid flow in two different classes at the same time, in a general fluids class and in a physiology class. I found that learning the equations in the context of blood flow in physiology was far more engaging and allowed me to better learn/apply the material. In short, I think if you take a short time to explain how the ‘basics’ are used in the ‘real-world,’ it could be very engaging for students. Good luck with teaching next year!

Thank you for sharing your experience! You and the previously commentators brought up many points that I had not previously considered, namely that the people who provide feedback will either be those that are doing really well or really not doing well. It makes sense when you look at it from the perspective of reviewing a product, for instance. I was interested in your and Karen’s suggestion that colleagues and supervisors also be included in the evaluation process. Do you or any others know what, if any, systems are in place in the university to make that happen? Thanks again!

Thank you for such a wonderful post, Willie! I really appreciate your discussion of the benefits of technology in the arts. I truly think it helps open doors not only for the less-artistically-inclined like myself to become involved, but also provides new inspiration for artists to think how best to engage audiences and how to embrace technology as a new medium. I also appreciate your questioning the ability to skim large amounts of information as a bad thing; I, too, was having this thought. In fact, I’ve been told by several professors that is not only a good skill to have, but necessary to do well in graduate school and an academic career do to the shear volume of literature coming out every month. Perhaps this is one more way in which the Internet (i.e. online publication and journals) is contributing to our new way of reading/thinking?

Thank you for your post and a great metaphor! I think that knowing we have these biases, even though we have them from a very young age as discussed in “The Hidden Brain,” is important step in not acting on them and continuing the cycle of oppression, as you mentioned. As discussed by others above, I also think academia has a ways to go in achieving a truly inclusive environment, but at least many universities (including Tech!) have recognized that there are biases present and are actively working to improve the academic environment.

This reminded me of a discussion we had in class regarding home-schooling versus the public school system. In that discussion, I think someone mentioned that one of the major benefits of public schooling is socialization, allowing students to learn how to act around and work with their peers. I don’t think that the socialization that the education system provides ends with grade school. Rather, the university setting, with its generally increased diversity from grade school, is a great place to continue this important training in how to treat and work with others different from ourselves. Thanks again!