Snowshoeing!!
Today I got to go to the first meeting of my Snowshoeing class, HHP 185WN. Let that sink in for a second - a credit college-level class in Snowshoeing. Granted, only 1 credit, and i's only elective credit, but still. This is why I came up to Bend; for the unique educational opportunities. Not to be overly political, but as we explore Obama's idea of free community college for everybody, I think it's really important to think about what college can represent that is fundamentally different from what high school's intent is: specialization, and technical experience. Of course, I'm still a big fan of a well-rounded liberal arts college experience for many people, but I also think that we can really expand our ideas about what college can teach. When I was considering college, I had very narrow ideas about what went on there. Basically, if it wasn't a Science or Engineering discipline, or taught at Oxford in the 1900s, then you didn't study it in college. I would never have dreamed of a degree in Outdoor Leadership. Degrees were for things like Civil Engineering, or English.
In a weird way, I draw an analogy to the opening up of the restaurant business in the U.S. - or, for that matter, craft brewing. When I was a kid, restaurants came in one of two forms: American food, or local ethnic cuisine (in my case, Polish or Italian). There were no Vietnamese restaurants, no "fusion" cuisine. Unless you lived in New York City, nobody was going to sell you a cuban, or bulgogi. But, at some point, our national tastes grew up, and our universe broadened. I think it's time for the same thing to happen to our secondary educational system. Why not a degree in Outdoor Leadership? Or Immigration? Or Men's Studies? Automotive Engineering? Outdoor Automotive Leadership? (OK, maybe not). I say yes, let's get creative.
In the meantime: snowshoeing is really fun, although we could use some more snow up here (thanks, global warming). But we learned how to read a map and a compass and how to crunch around in the snow, and I got to make snowballs. So today was a win, for sure!