Education today different then i thought

[kimba1]

On npr I was listen about the plight of african americans and education. Naturally a gave the subject lttle thought still the speaker talked that these students can't afford the just take unrelated classes.
Ex. Med student taking a art class.

It drawned upon me generally speaking most people can't risk taking classes that they can fail just to learn that subject. No wonder well rounded people are so rare.

Grades are not designed for educational luxuries.to take a class you will do poorly ,but still want to learn about the subject.but this would hurt your GPA.

I can imagine parent totally not agreeing this is important. But a varied background greatly helps in the problem solving process.due to the simple fact of having varied knowledge to draw upon.

Steve Jobs background was not pure computers.

[Xavier_Onassis]

 Every university I know of gives students the ability to audit classes for no credit. In addition, there a series of absolutely EXCELLENT courses on DVD available for a fraction of the tuition price from the Teaching Company.  I believe that MIT has many, if not all, of its courses available online at no charge.

There are a number of places where art and science coincide. To some degree, dentistry requires a type of miniature sculpture. Surgeons also need to have a talent for accuracy and precision in cutting and stitching.

[kimba1]

as some folks here know I`ve been delving into the world of philosophy for the past few years and found many insights. one is the importance of language. I had no idea how incredibly important it is to learn eng. lit til now.these subject are not outwardly important to my interest. but my opinion has definately changed now.

taking a non-credited course is a great idea. but i gottawonder how many student do since it`s still time away from main studies.

[Xavier_Onassis]

My experience is that few audit courses when they are working on their first degree. The students at my university were interested mostly in grades and passing courses. They did not seem to give a damn whether they actually learned anything or not.

I had eight office hours every week. Some semesters I never saw a single student until after the Midterm grades were due. No one ever came to me and asked how to pronounce this word in Spanish, or to tell them what something meant in Spanish, as I frequently did when I was in college. I saw all of my professors at least once a month in their office. They were always helpful and glad to see me, and I learned a lot from this.

I have had older students audit my classes, and they tended to learn more than the for-credit students, because I gave them the tests just to show them how they were doing if they asked.