June 2011 Archives

Rob Turchick wrote recently about how some Americans are beginning to question the worthiness of a college experience. When he originally pointed out a TIME article on the topic to me, I tried to think of a way to put a value on an education. I sought a way to prove that college is worth it and that those people are just thinking about it in the wrong sense.

I attempted to characterize an education as a tool. In a vacuum, it doesn't mean much (a hammer just sitting on the table doesn't do anyone much good). In the hands of someone who wants to use it, though, it can be very powerful. When I proposed this idea to Rob, he responded (rightly, I think) that education has an intrinsic value. Being contemplative, being able (even if you do not do so all the time) to think critically, being exposed to a community of scholarship - these are valuable things, regardless of how a person uses them.

After considering those points, I have reached the conclusion that it's very difficult - perhaps impossible - to place a value on "an education." Colleges and Universities make an effort to, but they only measure their costs: a student pays enough money to make sure the sidewalks stay paved, the dorms stay heated, and the faculty are paid for their teaching and research. Schools charge students in that manner because it's impossible - in my opinion - to gauge the value of what a student will end up doing with the knowledge and understanding of the world that she accumulates while sitting in Economics or English classes.

Some people attempt to compare the starting salaries that graduates of a certain degree make. For example, we have information that will tell us what the average sociology major spends to receive a degree. We can also guess what his starting salary will be. Although this information may be useful, it does nothing to tell us how a student changed because he took a Sociology class and now understands more about the intrinsic divisions within his home city. And that understanding - broadly termed as "the liberal arts" - is what will allow him to infer and comprehend more things about different cities and populations throughout the world.

I anticipate that you will soon see a subsequent post from a colleague and friend of mine, fellow former LAUC President Geoff Halberstadt. Until then, though, I know that there are a wide variety of views on the value of an education (or how we can value it, if we must), so I will stop here and invite debate in the comments: do you feel that we can state a value for an education? How would you value your education? Would you consider tuition and fees an appropriate numerical representation of the knowledge you acquire while pursuing your degree?

Ever since I was little I wanted to be a forensic scientist or homicide detective. I was always somewhere "dissecting" bugs or trying to solve some mystery. As I got older, I began networking with different police officers and one gave me information about interning with the Prince Georges County Police Dpt., Criminal Investigations Division in Palmer Park, MD (headquarters). The very moment I got that information, I jumped at the chance to have an experience that would open my eyes to many things.

Before I get into any further details about my internship, let me first introduce myself. My name is Tierra Briscoe. This upcoming Fall I will be a senior at The Pennsylvania State University majoring in Crime, Law, and Justice (Pre-Forensics) with a minor in Sociology. I am from PG County, MD, where I live with my mother and little brother, who will be a freshman in college this fall. As the older sibling I try my best to set an example for my little brother to show him that all it takes is motivation to get where you want to go in life.

After I graduate, my goal is to either go into federal policing such as US Marshals or start out as a patrol officer for the county police and work my way up. Either way, I will be doing something I love and have a passion for.

I interned with the PGCPD last summer also, it was my first time but I enjoyed it soo much! After I got the information from an officer I met during an outing with my friends, he gave me the number to the internship coordinator here at the headquarters. I had to keep in touch with the coordinator constantly so she wouldn't forget who I was and to make sure I got a spot because there are a lot of students who apply for these internships. I finally got an interview and nailed it. I basically got the internship the same day and was placed in the Homicide/Cold Case Unit.

My first summer here was filled with going to multiple death scenes, where I helped...yes "helped" move the bodies into the body bags. The only one I didn't touch was the man that was decomposed. If you thought you've smelled the worst thing ever, you have never smelled a decomposing body. I was never nervous to do these tasks or go out on rides because I wanted to show I was dedicated and willing to get down and dirty. But, there were still a lot of things I wanted to accomplish last summer that I didn't get to.

I think the fact that I was willing to do so much work and step up to the plate when they expected me to fold and get scared, made them want to ask me to come back another summer - which is where we are now, a new summer. I feel as though this says a lot about me. My internship isn't paid but the hands-on experience I am getting is paying me in a whole different way.

I am looking forward to giving more insight about my internship experience through my eyes. Feel free to contact me if there are any questions or comments about my internship with the Police Department.

My name is Rose Monahan, and I easily become homesick.

Yet, the summer after high school I spent most of my time traveling in and out of the big cities and tiny villages in Switzerland, Italy, and France. Then after my freshman year of college, I found myself sleeping on my sister's couch for three months in Berkeley, California (just under 3,000 miles from home). Currently, I find myself in London--interning for a member of Parliament (I know, I know... impressive).

How does a homebody like myself find herself so far from home so uncomfortably often? I have estimated that a heaping scoop of opportunity, several cups of parental encouragement, and a pinch of curiosity have been enough to send me on one adventure after another.

So here I am: sitting in a room that resembles an extraordinarily large dorm room within a beautiful white house that stands several stories high in the lovely Notting Hill section of London (just across the Hyde Park). Picking up the Arcadia University study abroad pamphlet at Penn State so many months ago, I couldn't imagine everything would work out. I couldn't imagine boarding the flight that would take me to London where not only would the housing be taken care of but I would also be placed in an internship specifically found to fit my interests.

But it did work out; I did board the flight; the internship was waiting.

When I left for London, I still wasn't quite sure of all the details. When friends asked if I'd have roommates, I didn't know. (I have two.) When family asked what my job would entail, I generally made up what I imagined it would. ("Oh, you know, filing and answering letters to the member's constituents.") A homebody tends not to think too heavily on time that will be spent far from the familiar; I didn't over analyze what I expected London to be.

Now that I am in London, I know that I couldn't have imagined this place even if I had wanted to. In the few days since I've arrived, I have met the other students in my house, and each have been friendly and excited to be here. I have explored the city on foot, on bus, on boat, and on underground. I have strolled through markets and eaten Ethiopian cuisine. I have completed my first days as an intern for Gordon Marsden, MP. He represents a little seaside town called Blackpool that used to attract millions of visitors every summer in the 1950s but has, unfortunately, seen its heyday as people travel to Europe more and more for "holiday" (already picking up English idioms!).

While it's nice to be able to provide people with these little details, I still have a lot to learn and discover. After all, this is just the beginning. I still take the tube the wrong direction for at least two stops almost everyday. I'm still learning the basics on Parliament and current events in London and throughout the country. If pushed to tell my parents exactly what I do at my internship, it would be a little confusing. I do a little of everything, I suppose. As I become more adjusted to working for a member of Parliament, I hope to answer the question of what I do a little more satisfactorily.
 
Settling into my new life for the next seven weeks, I'm more excited than nervous to be here. How many people have these sorts of opportunities? I suppose that is why I keep traveling and continue to find myself so far from the familiar.

My name is Rob Turchick, a rising senior studying English and Vice President of the Liberal Arts Undergraduate Council. I write today what will be the first blog in a series of posts focused on the importance of higher education; more specifically, a liberal arts education. Recent budget cuts and (what seemed like a flurry of) disbanded majors, such as Religious Studies, have many questioning the value of the liberal arts, as well as the direction that higher education is taking. Through this series of posts, we will hear what members of Penn State's liberal arts community have to say.

At the close of the 2011 spring semester, Penn State's College of the Liberal Arts hosted a conference that served to highlight a crisis in the liberal arts, and to identify potential solutions. Personally, I think our outgoing LAUC President Geoff Halberstadt summed up the problem in question best in a blog post titled "Crisis in the Liberal Arts: Cynical Faculty":

"The problem I see lies in the turning away from a liberal arts education, and, to me at the very least, a repudiation of the values that education offers its students."

A liberal arts education instills in all of its students leadership, understanding, and ethics, and has been the foundation of higher education since its inception. It is becoming more apparent, especially now with constricting monetary limitations, that these qualities are being devalued by politicians and the public alike. A recent PEW study, "Is College Worth It?", reported that 57% of Americans believe that the higher education system in the U.S. fails to give students good value for the money that they dish out for college. Furthermore, the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices will have you believe that "preparing a state's work force for 21st-century jobs" will require the governors to wean colleges and universities from their "emphasis on broad liberal-arts education" (see Carol Schneider's article "Degrees for What Jobs?' Wrong Question, Wrong Answers" for more information). It seems to me that higher education as a whole is being criticized, and the liberal arts are sure to receive the heaviest critical blow.

This should be alarming to the entire nation, not just liberal arts students, teachers, or administrators. Liberal arts students consistently perform astronomically better than students in other areas of study in reading, writing, and analytical thinking. For some reason, these skills are being kicked to the curb in exchange for extremely narrow fields of study which have short term pay offs, but give students no real room to grow. The liberal arts provide the best avenue for personal growth and a better understanding of the world we live in, giving its students a foundation for success in any field of work. When did we begin thinking of education in terms of dollar signs and pay offs? A few other questions must be addressed, as well. How do the liberal arts contribute to society? Why does higher education have a bad name with the majority of the American public? How can we reverse these beliefs?

We are very fortunate to also be hearing from former LAUC President Sam Loewner in the very near future, who will offer his own insight into how we might measure the value of education. I implore everyone to follow along in a series of posts that will hopefully validate my belief that a liberal arts education is something to be celebrated and encourage.

I now invite everyone in the Penn State community to take part in this discussion. Please feel free to support or refute any ideas that I have put forth in the comments.

This past summer I interned at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington D.C., a non-partisan public policy think-tank. Having previously interned in the Senate for eight months, I was eager for the opportunity to work for a non-governmental organization. While this internship was drastically different than my experience in the Senate, it was equally as valuable, demanding, and exciting.

Before I discuss my experiences let me first introduce myself. My name is Nicholas Lewis and I am currently at Junior at The Pennsylvania State University majoring in Political Science with a minor in History. I am a Paterno Fellow as well as a member of the Schreyer's Honors College. I have both American and British citizenship and I previously lived in London, The Hague, and Luxembourg. In 2007 I moved to Washington, DC with my family to live in the United States for the first time. I quickly discovered that Washington, DC was a young and vibrant city that was full of life. I have a strong interest in international relations and U.S. government and was thrilled to find that most people in the city shared my enthusiasm for politics.

When I first moved to the United States in 2007, I had the extraordinary opportunity to intern for eight months in the-Senator Barack Obama's congressional office before attending my freshman year at The Pennsylvania State University. That internship gave me my first real exposure to American history and politics, and with the Senator's bid for the presidency, I soon realized I was experiencing a historic moment. I became passionate about how legislation works and about Congress's role in formulating foreign policy. Because of my interest in foreign affairs, I worked with both the legislative aide and legislative correspondent for foreign affairs. My duties ranged from managing the phones and mail to taking notes at official congressional hearing.

After my sophomore year at college I knew I wanted to intern in Washington DC again. I was accepted to the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. The center supports a full spectrum of academics that research, study, and discuss national and world affairs. I was assigned to work with two different scholars, one who was writing a detailed biography of Edward M. Kennedy and the other who was writing about the life of Barbara Jordan. The internship was particularly exciting and motivating. On a daily basis I would travel between the National Archives, the Library of Congress, and the Senate Historical Archives. The internship was unpaid but the experience was invaluable.

I look forward to writing more about my experience at the Woodrow Wilson Center soon. Feel free to contact me with any questions you may have about either of my internships in Washington, D.C.