A fascinating question. The first thing that comes to my mind is that all students should learn the rudiments of systems thinking, at least at the level of Donella Meadows' book _Thinking in Systems_, and some should take it much further.
The nationalism you mention is a potential source of serious problems. Geology and evolutionary biology (the history of life) tie in with mining and biodiversity but also provide a broader perspective that may be very salutary. Same for world history and geography -- useful for international business and working with tourists, but also providing a bit of perspective. None of this has to be at a very deep level. A freshman-level introductory course should be enough. As for languages, I think students should learn SOME widely used language. It's probably best to give them a few choices (English, French, Chinese, Arabic, and maybe Spanish or Portuguese come to mind), although English is likely to be a popular one. Jane Shevtsov On Tue, Jul 17, 2012 at 10:25 PM, David Duffy <ddu...@hawaii.edu> wrote: > If you had a chance to found and direct a university in a developing, > strongly nationalistic country dependent on oil, mining and its > biodiversity (ecotourism, indigenous people), what would you have as its > curriculum? The university would cover all three fields. How should they > influence one another? How much would you involve expats? Would you insist > everyone learn English as the lingua franca so their work could receive > international attention? What should the role of the internet be? > > This is not an idle exercise or pie in the sky but one involving a country > with serious social needs,willing to make an investment in its future, even > in the face of present suffering. > > Thanks, > > David Duffy > -- > > Pacific Cooperative Studies Unit > Botany > University of Hawaii > 3190 Maile Way > Honolulu Hawaii 96822 USA > 1-808-956-8218 -- ------------- Jane Shevtsov, Ph.D. Mathematical Biology Curriculum Writer, UCLA co-founder, www.worldbeyondborders.org "In the long run, education intended to produce a molecular geneticist, a systems ecologist, or an immunologist is inferior, both for the individual and for society, than that intended to produce a broadly educated person who has also written a dissertation." --John Janovy, Jr., "On Becoming a Biologist"
