Lol. It’s already not that far off. Don’t act like Rutgers is UNC Chapel Hill all of a sudden.
@katliamom As far as Rowan goes, it’s still early days. It’s not that far off from having been Glassboro State College, a school for training local teachers. Then ith the 1990’s Henry made his gift with the condition of the establishment of an engineering program to serve the people of South Jersey who had been underserved by higher education. Rowan’s history has set a certain trajectory and it’s president’ views are consistent with that.
In the future Rowan may develop more and better humanities programs, but for now, according to what we were told, the funding coming in is STEM related, for it to be developed as a STEM and medical facility. So that’s not just the president of Rowan talking; that’s the reality of the funding and support it’s receiving at the state level.
My graduate degree is also in humanities and a big part of me wishes Rowan had more to offer in that respect. It’s what causes me to question if I’m selling my next D short by encouraging her in that direction.
However, I am reassured by what I’m seeing locally: that kids who might not have considered college–because they are average kids from families with parents who did not go to college or from families who could not have afforded to send them away–going to college simply because Rowan is there. And that kind of accessibility will only increase with Rowan incorporating a couple local county college systems.
It’s not perfect but it’s a good start for many kids in southwestern NJ who might not get to college otherwise or might end up overburdened by debt with any other option.
And maybe their kids will be more open to studying philosophy or comp lit or Asian languages.
@MACmiracle, excellent post. I did not know Rowan’s history, so I thank you for putting the story in its proper context.
@LBad96 please don’t come on here to bash NJ schools. You have made your feelings clear many times, but this is not what this thread is about.
My point in posting this was to talk about whether colleges are places to learn broadly or simply a means to a job. I fully understand that the gut reaction is a means to a job, but I view a college education as much more. I think many jobs that didn’t require a BA before now do so, not because college graduates can perform the “jobs” better, but because they generally have a higher understanding of more things than non college graduates (I myself haven’t completed a degree.)
Or the employers use the BA/BS degree as a screening credential for the job which attracts far more qualified applicants than jobs available, even if the job requires neither specific knowledge or skills associated with a college major nor general higher order thinking skills associated with BA/BS graduates.
@MomOf3DDs that’s not even what I was doing. I was responding to a fallacious claim that Rowan has “a long way to go” to get to Rutgers’ academic level. It’s not that far off right now.