TITLE: The University as a Gym for the Mind
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: May 07, 2012  3:21 PM
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In recent years, it is becoming even more common for
people to think of students as "paying customers" at
the university.  People inside of universities,
especially the teachers, have long tried to discourage
this way of thinking, but it is becoming much harder
to make the case.  Students and parents are being
required to shoulder an ever larger share of the bill
for higher education, and with that comes a sense of
ownership.  Still, educators can't help but worry.
The customer isn't always right.

Rob Miles
<A HREF="http://www.robmiles.com/journal/2012/5/2/universities-and-gymnasiums.html">
   relates a story</A>
that might help us make the case:

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<IMG SRC="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog-images/misc/gym.jpg"
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<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
You can join a gym to get fit, but just joining doesn't
make you fit.  It simply gives you access to machinery
and expertise that you can use to get fit.  If you fail
to listen to the trainer or make use of the equipment
then you don't get a better body, you just get poorer.
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>

You can buy all the running shoes you like, but if you
never lace them up and hit the road, you won't become
a runner.

I like this analogy.  It also puts into perspective a
relatively recent phenomenon, the assertion that
software developers may not need a university
education.  Think about such an assertion in the
context of physical fitness:

A lot of people manage to get in shape physically
without joining a gym.  To do so, all you need is the
gumption (1) to learn what they need to do and (2) to
develop and stick to a plan.  For example, there is a
lot of community support among runners, who are willing
to help beginners get started.  As runners become part
of the community, they find opportunities to train in
groups, share experiences, and run races together.  The
result is an informal education as good as most people
could get by paying a trainer at a gym.

The internet and the web have provided the technology
to support the same sort of informal education in
software development.  Blogs, user groups, codeathons,
and GitHub all offer the novice opportunities to get
started, "train" in groups, share experiences, and work
together.  With some gumption and hard work, a person
can become a pretty good developer on his or her own.

But it takes a lot of initiative.  Not all people who
want to get in shape are ready or able to take control
of their own training.  A gym serves the useful purpose
of getting them started.  But each person has to do his
or her own hard work.

Likewise, not all learners are ready to manage their own
educations and professional development -- especially at
age 18, when they come out of a K-12 system that can't
always prepare them to be completely independent
learners.  Like a gym, a university serves the useful
purpose of helping such people get started.  And just as
important, as at the gym, students have to do their own
hard work to learn, and to prepare to learn on their own
for the rest of their careers.

Of course, other benefits may get lost when students
bypass the university.  I am still idealistic enough to
think that a liberal education, even a liberal arts
education, has great value for all people.  [
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2012-01.html#e2012-01-23T16_06_26.htm">
   1</A>
|
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2011-06.html#e2011-06-17T12_28_19.htm">
   2</A>
|
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2005-07.html#e2005-07-26T10_38_19.htm">
   3</A>
].  We are more than workers in an economic engine.  We
are human beings with a purpose larger than our earning
potentials.

But the economic realities of education these days and
the concurrent unbundling of education made possible by
technology mean that we will have to deal with issues
such as these more and more in the coming years.  In any
case, perhaps a new analogy might help us help people
outside the university understand better the kind of
"customer" our students need to be.

(Thanks to
<A HREF="http://twitter.com/alfredtwo">
   Alfred Thompson</A>
for the link to Miles's post.)
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