I couldn't resist doing a cartoon about UVA's decision to host the
Semester at Sea program which, as the cartoon states, involves students earning academic credit for taking courses aboard a cruise ship that sails around the world. The program had been previously hosted by the University of Pittsburgh. I appreciate the idea of getting students to think outside the America box, but -- a cruise ship!? So you stop and build a well for a few days in Mozambique, then hop back on the luxury liner and drink a smoothie. I mean, it sounds like a jolly good time, but I'm not sure I'd call it college. A cruise ship campus is the perfect metaphor for the commercialization of higher education happening now in this country, in which college becomes a country club -- or cruise ship -- for the elites who can still afford it.
posted by Jen, 11:06 PM -
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