Yesterday I saw the 2nd US Presidential debate held on October 16th, 2012, http://www.youtube.com/watch?
The first question was by a young undergraduate student, "Mr. President, Governor Romney, as a 20-year-old college student, all I hear from professors, neighbors and others is that when I graduate, I will have little chance to get employment. Can — what can you say to reassure me, but more importantly my parents, that I will be able to sufficiently support myself after I graduate?" (Source: above transcript link from nytimes.com)
The transcript link also has the moderator saying that the questions were *not* known (prior to the debate) to the candidates and the commission (presidential debate commission, I guess) but known to the moderator and her team.
I think it is a celebration of US democracy that a young undergraduate student is able to pose such a real-life-concern question directly to the sitting President and his challenger. Hats off to US democracy!
The answers from the candidates were, well, politically correct :). But I am not sure whether they really were good answers. In my humble opinion, the challenges of today's tough economic times not only for the developed countries of the world but perhaps the whole world, must make educators/academics seriously examine whether the education they impart to students makes them job worthy. I think job-oriented education is the pressing need of the hour, worldwide.
A graduate who has been taught knowledge which cannot fetch him/her a job in today's economy undergoes huge suffering. The student's seriousness when he asks the question and how he clarifies that it is more important that his parents be reassured than him on whether he will be able to sufficiently support himself after graduation, says it all, IMHO.
The first question was by a young undergraduate student, "Mr. President, Governor Romney, as a 20-year-old college student, all I hear from professors, neighbors and others is that when I graduate, I will have little chance to get employment. Can — what can you say to reassure me, but more importantly my parents, that I will be able to sufficiently support myself after I graduate?" (Source: above transcript link from nytimes.com)
The transcript link also has the moderator saying that the questions were *not* known (prior to the debate) to the candidates and the commission (presidential debate commission, I guess) but known to the moderator and her team.
I think it is a celebration of US democracy that a young undergraduate student is able to pose such a real-life-concern question directly to the sitting President and his challenger. Hats off to US democracy!
The answers from the candidates were, well, politically correct :). But I am not sure whether they really were good answers. In my humble opinion, the challenges of today's tough economic times not only for the developed countries of the world but perhaps the whole world, must make educators/academics seriously examine whether the education they impart to students makes them job worthy. I think job-oriented education is the pressing need of the hour, worldwide.
A graduate who has been taught knowledge which cannot fetch him/her a job in today's economy undergoes huge suffering. The student's seriousness when he asks the question and how he clarifies that it is more important that his parents be reassured than him on whether he will be able to sufficiently support himself after graduation, says it all, IMHO.
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