http://governing.com/gpp/2003/gp3tn.htm

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-----Original Message-----
From: UTC Staff E-Mail List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Stuart Benkert
Sent: Monday, February 16, 2004 11:02 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [UTCSTAFF] You think it is just about PE?


It's not a question of what message we want to send. We are already sending the wrong message by cutting hours at all. We are not setting the standard, we are not forcing expectations; we are conforming to the mandates of the state; A state that has a history of crippling its educational institutions. Politics divides and separates by forcing us to choose between what we can do without and what we should have. I always believed the universities should be the one place in a young persons life where they are pushed to achieve the "ideal." Instead we begin the process of stripping to the bare necessities of the educational experience. We smack of mere licensure over real education and are just one step closer to the tech schools that lure students away by giving them only what they need to "build a career." These places do not educate so much as train. There is a difference and we should be embracing it. Instead we are being forced to offer our charges just what they need to qualify for their career. I feel ashamed that we need force any requirement from the schedule. Physical education gets moved out now but who gets moved out next?  Perhaps fine arts? To be followed by Humanities (not all Humanities, just the useless courses that no one wants to take anyway). Of course, while we fend off each other we miss the big picture and that is one of compromised quality for the sake of expense and unified process. I may not fully subscribe to Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences but I do believe that education is a total package… disciplined mind, disciplined body. In our department meetings we breathe a collective sigh of relief as we cut PE to make room for our more necessary requirements. It seems clear to me that what we might end up with is a final product that is not worth saving. What we should be voting on is the right of scholars to decide what scholars need, not politicians… not bureaucrats. What is Ideal has been forced to stand behind what is Pragmatic. Thus begins the process. If there is to be compromise instead of principle I promise you that there will be more down the road… a road where we will likely see TN's new billboard slogan "Practical education for the work force of tomorrow." COMING IN 2008… DRIVE THROUGH SERVICE!!!

stuart