Ronald Simpson, professor of higher education and science education and acting director of the Institute of Higher Education at UGA, was speaker for this year’s Honors Day ceremony. Some excerpts:
“Today we celebrate the joy and privilege of learning together and of having had the opportunity to live the life of the mind in this resource-rich environment. . . . But, as we celebrate, we are certainly aware that our sponsoring public wants higher education to be accountable. They want us to demonstrate inputs and outputs and be able to validate with hard data exactly what a person has learned in a four-year program. Many want to know the precise list of skills represented in a specific curriculum. . . . Wanting to know these things is not wrong. But viewing the outcomes of a university education strictly through the lens of a business model is limiting, and even dangerous. . . .
“Honors Day is a fitting time to revisit many of the important values embedded in the academy. Today we honor the concept of quality and what is necessary to achieve results that are extra-ordinary. Today is about students who have gone the extra distance, about teachers who have made a difference, and about parents who have been unconditional and uncommon in their support.
“Today is not about the health certificate that hangs over the doorway of a restaurant projecting a number that tells us it is safe to eat there. Today is about the guide to fine dining that communicates to us something about quality and what it means to experience learning--like a fine meal--in a deep and satisfying manner.”
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