WTF - Doctor of Liberal Studies?

[smusic 00]

Whatever. Keep telling yourselves how worthless this is.

Look, I get it. There is probably only so much you can get from Hamlet. Shakespeare can get old fast.

But on the other hand, it's beyond frustrating to try to have a discussion with people about any major issue of the day, from war and the military to gay rights, to Title IX's impact on athletics, to questions on Religion - any number of topics that even end up on THIS board - and find that person spouting off some opinion they think is brilliant that has already run it's course and been run into the ground, only they don't bother to actually study it so they just shoot their mouth off and sound like a [deleted].

I see Tea Partiers who wouldn't dare condescend to read Emma Goldman, religious who don't read Hitchens, people who misquote and misinterpret history CONSTANTLY but wouldn't dare actually study it in a true academic sense, and then wonder why things are the way they are. Anybody have a daughter? Read Simone de Beauvoir. Anybody got a son? Read Norah Vincent.

Our ideas on freedom and equality might be simple in nature but they get more than complex VERY fast when applied to real life, and it took humanity thousands of years to get to that point just to write a Constitution proclaiming it and working out basic details, not to mention the progress that had to be made ever since. God forbid your kid has a high school history or English teacher that actually has tried to make a study of it at the source so that when your kid, and the money your spending on their education, has a serious question they can give them an informed, intelligent answer and not a damned sound-bite. Kierkegaard, Faulkner, Conrad, Nehbur, Orwell, Dostoevsky - these people actually matter, and they actually contributed to your lives.

I'm sorry, but you can't put an SMU degrees on your wall and tell try to tell everyone how great the school is, compare it to Ivy League institutions and other world-renowned places of learning, and then wonder why the school goes and tries to build on the fundamentals of what it means to be a great Liberal Arts University - which is the backbone of what that school is and strives to be.

Actually, my SMU diploma is on the wall of my son's bedroom next to my Yale diploma. With degrees from both schools, I feel comfortable comparing SMU to Yale.
Great Universities like Yale offer Phd programs in Liberal Arts. Great Universities don't offer a Phd based upon one's completion of "Survey of...."

Did you read the full requirements or just the titles of the survey courses?

[Digetydog]

Whatever. Keep telling yourselves how worthless this is.

Look, I get it. There is probably only so much you can get from Hamlet. Shakespeare can get old fast.

But on the other hand, it's beyond frustrating to try to have a discussion with people about any major issue of the day, from war and the military to gay rights, to Title IX's impact on athletics, to questions on Religion - any number of topics that even end up on THIS board - and find that person spouting off some opinion they think is brilliant that has already run it's course and been run into the ground, only they don't bother to actually study it so they just shoot their mouth off and sound like a [deleted].

I see Tea Partiers who wouldn't dare condescend to read Emma Goldman, religious who don't read Hitchens, people who misquote and misinterpret history CONSTANTLY but wouldn't dare actually study it in a true academic sense, and then wonder why things are the way they are. Anybody have a daughter? Read Simone de Beauvoir. Anybody got a son? Read Norah Vincent.

Our ideas on freedom and equality might be simple in nature but they get more than complex VERY fast when applied to real life, and it took humanity thousands of years to get to that point just to write a Constitution proclaiming it and working out basic details, not to mention the progress that had to be made ever since. God forbid your kid has a high school history or English teacher that actually has tried to make a study of it at the source so that when your kid, and the money your spending on their education, has a serious question they can give them an informed, intelligent answer and not a damned sound-bite. Kierkegaard, Faulkner, Conrad, Nehbur, Orwell, Dostoevsky - these people actually matter, and they actually contributed to your lives.

I'm sorry, but you can't put an SMU degrees on your wall and tell try to tell everyone how great the school is, compare it to Ivy League institutions and other world-renowned places of learning, and then wonder why the school goes and tries to build on the fundamentals of what it means to be a great Liberal Arts University - which is the backbone of what that school is and strives to be.

Actually, my SMU diploma is on the wall of my son's bedroom next to my Yale diploma. With degrees from both schools, I feel comfortable comparing SMU to Yale.
Great Universities like Yale offer Phd programs in Liberal Arts. Great Universities don't offer a Phd based upon one's completion of "Survey of...."

Did you read the full requirements or just the titles of the survey courses?

I read what was available online including the Curriculum and Program Components sections. If there are other sources of information, I would be happy to look at them.

Because it is a new program, I understand that the program will be a work in progress; however, the "everything" nature of the program components aren't what I would really expect from a Phd program. While I may be biased, I expect a Phd to be an "expert" in something even if it is something obscure like the failed presidential candidates in the 1850's.

https://www.smu.edu/Simmons/AreasOfStud ... Components

vs.

http://www.smu.edu/Dedman/Academics/Dep ... PhDProgram

[leopold]

Generally well said but you might want to throw in some examples of people along other points of the political spectrum having similar issues to go along with your examples of tea partiers and religious people. I think that as written your post is largely going to bring out people arguing about that aspect rather than the overall point of the post which was good.

Fine.

It's also been discouraging to deal with individuals who criticize the military who try and twist movies, books, and plays to fit their argument when they can't speak intelligently on them. Directors who put on plays like Biloxi Blues but don't understand Simon's viewpoint, or people who don't understand the pro-military aspect of All Quiet on the Western Front, even as an anti-war novel.
If your going to be a Christian, study under professors who either go straight to the documents scripture was taken from or possibly even go there yourself.

But you're right - this works both ways.

[StallionsModelT]

I've got no problem with this. If people want to give SMU money for a degree that will do them absolutely no good in the private sector then who am I to judge? We all probably spend money on things others deem frivolous and academia is a bastion of frivolous and self-important spending. I'm sure that SMU has done the economics and found that this is a worthwhile endeavor. I'm all for anything that promotes SMU and moves us up in the USNWR.

[leopold]

Whatever. Keep telling yourselves how worthless this is.

Look, I get it. There is probably only so much you can get from Hamlet. Shakespeare can get old fast.

But on the other hand, it's beyond frustrating to try to have a discussion with people about any major issue of the day, from war and the military to gay rights, to Title IX's impact on athletics, to questions on Religion - any number of topics that even end up on THIS board - and find that person spouting off some opinion they think is brilliant that has already run it's course and been run into the ground, only they don't bother to actually study it so they just shoot their mouth off and sound like a [deleted].

I see Tea Partiers who wouldn't dare condescend to read Emma Goldman, religious who don't read Hitchens, people who misquote and misinterpret history CONSTANTLY but wouldn't dare actually study it in a true academic sense, and then wonder why things are the way they are. Anybody have a daughter? Read Simone de Beauvoir. Anybody got a son? Read Norah Vincent.

Our ideas on freedom and equality might be simple in nature but they get more than complex VERY fast when applied to real life, and it took humanity thousands of years to get to that point just to write a Constitution proclaiming it and working out basic details, not to mention the progress that had to be made ever since. God forbid your kid has a high school history or English teacher that actually has tried to make a study of it at the source so that when your kid, and the money your spending on their education, has a serious question they can give them an informed, intelligent answer and not a damned sound-bite. Kierkegaard, Faulkner, Conrad, Nehbur, Orwell, Dostoevsky - these people actually matter, and they actually contributed to your lives.

I'm sorry, but you can't put an SMU degrees on your wall and tell try to tell everyone how great the school is, compare it to Ivy League institutions and other world-renowned places of learning, and then wonder why the school goes and tries to build on the fundamentals of what it means to be a great Liberal Arts University - which is the backbone of what that school is and strives to be.

Actually, my SMU diploma is on the wall of my son's bedroom next to my Yale diploma. With degrees from both schools, I feel comfortable comparing SMU to Yale.
Great Universities like Yale offer Phd programs in Liberal Arts. Great Universities don't offer a Phd based upon one's completion of "Survey of...."

Then you have an issue with the structure, focus, or concentration of the program. That seems reasonable to me.

But to call this a program a 'How To Be A Barista' is just stupid and you know that.

[Digetydog]

Whatever. Keep telling yourselves how worthless this is.

Look, I get it. There is probably only so much you can get from Hamlet. Shakespeare can get old fast.

But on the other hand, it's beyond frustrating to try to have a discussion with people about any major issue of the day, from war and the military to gay rights, to Title IX's impact on athletics, to questions on Religion - any number of topics that even end up on THIS board - and find that person spouting off some opinion they think is brilliant that has already run it's course and been run into the ground, only they don't bother to actually study it so they just shoot their mouth off and sound like a [deleted].

I see Tea Partiers who wouldn't dare condescend to read Emma Goldman, religious who don't read Hitchens, people who misquote and misinterpret history CONSTANTLY but wouldn't dare actually study it in a true academic sense, and then wonder why things are the way they are. Anybody have a daughter? Read Simone de Beauvoir. Anybody got a son? Read Norah Vincent.

Our ideas on freedom and equality might be simple in nature but they get more than complex VERY fast when applied to real life, and it took humanity thousands of years to get to that point just to write a Constitution proclaiming it and working out basic details, not to mention the progress that had to be made ever since. God forbid your kid has a high school history or English teacher that actually has tried to make a study of it at the source so that when your kid, and the money your spending on their education, has a serious question they can give them an informed, intelligent answer and not a damned sound-bite. Kierkegaard, Faulkner, Conrad, Nehbur, Orwell, Dostoevsky - these people actually matter, and they actually contributed to your lives.

I'm sorry, but you can't put an SMU degrees on your wall and tell try to tell everyone how great the school is, compare it to Ivy League institutions and other world-renowned places of learning, and then wonder why the school goes and tries to build on the fundamentals of what it means to be a great Liberal Arts University - which is the backbone of what that school is and strives to be.

Actually, my SMU diploma is on the wall of my son's bedroom next to my Yale diploma. With degrees from both schools, I feel comfortable comparing SMU to Yale.
Great Universities like Yale offer Phd programs in Liberal Arts. Great Universities don't offer a Phd based upon one's completion of "Survey of...."

Then you have an issue with the structure, focus, or concentration of the program. That seems reasonable to me.

But to call this a program a 'How To Be A Barista' is just stupid and you know that.

That was clearly intended to be Hyperbole. In an age where so many students are burdened with so much student debt, I am skeptical of any programs that might take advantage of the fact that students can borrow more money than they can pay back.

[SMU Section F]

In an age where so many students are burdened with so much student debt, I am skeptical of any programs that might take advantage of the fact that students can borrow more money than they can pay back.

You mean all of them?

[NewAgeMustange]

lol, well I guess i won't be going to devry.

Anyone read Johnny got his gun?

[peruna81]

Whatever. Keep telling yourselves how worthless this is.

Look, I get it. There is probably only so much you can get from Hamlet. Shakespeare can get old fast.

But on the other hand, it's beyond frustrating to try to have a discussion with people about any major issue of the day, from war and the military to gay rights, to Title IX's impact on athletics, to questions on Religion - any number of topics that even end up on THIS board - and find that person spouting off some opinion they think is brilliant that has already run it's course and been run into the ground, only they don't bother to actually study it so they just shoot their mouth off and sound like a [deleted].

I see Tea Partiers who wouldn't dare condescend to read Emma Goldman, religious who don't read Hitchens, people who misquote and misinterpret history CONSTANTLY but wouldn't dare actually study it in a true academic sense, and then wonder why things are the way they are. Anybody have a daughter? Read Simone de Beauvoir. Anybody got a son? Read Norah Vincent.

Our ideas on freedom and equality might be simple in nature but they get more than complex VERY fast when applied to real life, and it took humanity thousands of years to get to that point just to write a Constitution proclaiming it and working out basic details, not to mention the progress that had to be made ever since. God forbid your kid has a high school history or English teacher that actually has tried to make a study of it at the source so that when your kid, and the money your spending on their education, has a serious question they can give them an informed, intelligent answer and not a damned sound-bite. Kierkegaard, Faulkner, Conrad, Nehbur, Orwell, Dostoevsky - these people actually matter, and they actually contributed to your lives.

I'm sorry, but you can't put an SMU degrees on your wall and tell try to tell everyone how great the school is, compare it to Ivy League institutions and other world-renowned places of learning, and then wonder why the school goes and tries to build on the fundamentals of what it means to be a great Liberal Arts University - which is the backbone of what that school is and strives to be.

"all men are created equal" so our forefathers said...but what is done after creation is the responsibility of the created. Many wallow in the shallow end of the pool for a lifetime, and call it good.

If the new degree fits a need or a niche not served, all the better for it.

[that's great raplh]

If US News and World Report read this thread and considered it as a fair characterization of an SMU Education then we'd be lucky to finish in the Top 100. We get it-you business guys think you are well educated. You are well trained. There's a big difference which you are demonstrating in this thread.

Could you repeat that? I was counting my millions. Cox rules

[Stallion]

How to waste your summer with the Liberal Arts when you could be making MORE money:

http://us1.campaign-archive2.com/?u=c6c ... a303cd710f

[smustatesman]

What about the conservative arts ? Are there any doctors in the house ?