Page 38 - ThePhoenix1986-87

Page 8/Westem Maryland College/October 23, 1986 _ Chris Rowley Liberal arts program offers course diversity The most obvious difference high tech career which involves between a technical school and a relating to machines and liberal arts school is the role of mathematical equations. college in your education. The However, the only possible way basic difference is that a technical for an institution to begin your school is there to provide training preparation is on a broad scale. for a particular work task, while Perhaps one student will be the liberal arts education is designing fuel-injection systems designed to further your for jets and another perfecting knowledge to better make a career transmissions for marketable choice. automobiles. Both will be in the At Rensselaer Polytechnic engineering field and perhaps learn Institute (RPI) there are two something from their aeronautical majors that encompass engineering and chemical approximately eighty per cent of engineering courses, but little of those enrolled: engineering and their education can be applied computer science. More recently practically. They willieam what the computer science department's is necessary for their job and enrollment has declined due to a apply mechanical skills that they glut in the marketplace and. as I learned. Thus, most of their see it, a misunderstanding of education, spent memorizing needed training for computer formulas and solving inane little scientists. Most students at problems will have been wasted Rensselaer maintain their original time. Subsequently, they will major, perhaps switching have lost out of the chance to disciplines; i.e. a chemical pursue human relations and engineer decides to become a communicative courses of study mechanical engineer. and have a difficult time expressing novel ideas or relating At WMC there are many with employers/employees. This business majors, but overall there explains the dirth in quality is a lot of diversity in lines of technical manuals and engineers study. There is also a large sect in executive positions. They lose of "undecided" students. the chance at interpersonal "Undecided" is the credo of the development in order to study liberal arts, implying your desire things that ninety per cent of the io experiment and try new things time will be useless on the job. before commiting oneself to a Western Maryland's liberal particular discipline. arts preparation offers you a broad An "undecided" at RPI has range of interpersonal and litt1e room for experimenting. communicative skills that are The requirements of physics, applicable in any setting, both on chemistry and calculus, all and off the job. Courses off the difficult courses, that do not track of study enrich one's pertain to a particular field of knowledge and learning ability. study or work, cause a student to In this case, coming onto any job end his or her freshman year they are prepared to learn their understanding no more about duties and carry them out, as well themselves than when they as relate to co-workers, entered. employers, and laymen in their WMC bas basic liberal arts industry. These skills are useful requirements. but other than in many jobs. foreign language, they all offer The WMC graduate enters the many sub-disciplines for pursuit work setting ready to relate and A social science requirement could with a balanced education and the be met by a history, political ability to learn, and is taught his science, or sociology course, all or her responsibilities. The RPI three of which offer quite a student has the intelligence for different line of thinking and many roles, but must still relearn learning patterns. With five to work a specific task, and not courses you get the opportunity have developed communicative to sample writing, creative arts, abilities. the sciences and human relations. In short, Rensselaer prepares In this way, a year of study students for task jobs that require affords you a lot of flexibility at a specific formula and little or no seeing what interests you. creativity or independence. Once you have found what Western Maryland prepares you think you want to spend the students for relating with people, rest of your life doing, you settle and thus their skills can be into a course of study. The applied to any work situation purpose of this is to prepare you with a minimum of on-the-job for work, both by COUJ5es and training. So what I want to know work study programs. is, what is the benefit of rigid Rensselaer prepares you for a education?