Liberal Arts PhDs and their economic and social benefits to society

HEPM Journal cover

When perusing the University World News issue 0089, I came across an article titled “The Economic contribution of PhDs” by Bernard H. Casey (2009).  It mounts a theoretical argument that hypothesizes how the production of PhDs may add broader economic value to a society.  He enumerates 4 major outputs (paraphrased):

1. earnings of PhD graduates
2. economic performance of a society
3. knowledge produced is a social good
4. PhD skills contribute to organizations and society as a whole (p. 220)

The article’s abstract raises the issue of the value “to employers in particular and to society and the economy at large.”  The abstract could lead one to the following misconceptions about the article:

• A phrase like “society and the economy”, using “and”, makes them seem separate and equal concepts — social benefit, and economic benefit.
• Talking about PhDs in general also makes it seem like PhDs, regardless of field of study, may contribute equally to the economy.

However, the title of this article, written by an author from an “institute for employment research,” hints at its continual emphasis on economic outputs–despite the occasional use of the word “social” as if it designated a separate category.  It also argues for the higher value of PhDs in the technical fields.

The “social” benefits in this article seem to be completely dependent on their worth to the economy, and the field of study is also weighed according to its potential for economic benefit.

In the following analysis, Casey’s article is examined critically for the way that it enables or constrains public debate about the good of a Liberal Arts PhD education.  The rhetorical analysis leads to the suggestion of several avenues of argument and research that could be productive for Liberal Arts studies advocates.

This article contains an argument, therefore, for Liberal Arts advocates to learn the following

• How can the article help us understand the usual arguments and presumptions of many of the public and internal audiences with whom we may engage in discourse?
• How can Casey’s arguments be refuted or critiqued or subverted? How can it be supplemented by what he omits from consideration?

 

The rhetoric of email hoaxes

Image from Nokia Conversations, "Beware hoax emails and texts"

Sigh. I just received another email hoax, this time from a former student of mine who is a very intelligent woman.

It makes me wonder how we can best educate our citizens today about debunking email spam.

It seems like common sense is not enough to guard us.

People need to know some of the strategies that email hoaxes use to play on people.

We need to propagate through email the simple steps of how to research  them and debunk them.

And we need rhetorical strategies for replying to forwarders of hoax email in ways that do not insult them, but recognize their good will and educate them.

Let’s slow down hoax email’s viral infection of society.

 

Blog Usage Statistics

Number of views

I am quite surprised to see that my Isocrates and Education post has achieved 269 views to date (note added Jan. 31:  now it’s up to 350 views) , more than twice the amount of my Rhetorical Studies in Canada post.  It looks like 1/4 of those viewers may have taken a look at my other Isocrates post.

Unsurprisingly, the U of C Educational Cultures post is very active since I posted it on December 07.  I provided a link on our faculty’s email listserv, and posted a link on the Fine Arts discussion board.  Our university is presently discussing the restructuring of our “Arts” faculties and will continue to do so in the coming months.

 

Useful Technologies for Academics

A class in a medieval university. 13th century. from Wikipedia Commons

In this post, I summarize the uses of some technological tools for your professional work (teaching, research, service, staff members’ work).   Some of them are very popular already, and some less well known.  Some of these I just started using in the past year or even the past few weeks.

Contents:

OpenOffice – an alternative to upgrading your MSWord //  Box.net online file storage // Ucalgaryblogs and Edublogs // PDF XChange Viewer – to annotate PDFs with notes, underlines, marginal comments // using Gmail as backup/archive of another email account // Google Calendar — to view and share many calendars at once, synchronizes with Outlook calendar // Doodle for scheduling meetings with many people // iGoogle – your customized web homepage // Wikimedia and Flickr – how to search for good images with copyright permission to be used in your power points, web pages, and student assignments.