Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Craft Beer...

I like my education the way I like my beer, a craft. I have been studying the craft beer industry for quite some time and I am constantly baffled by the people in the industry. Our society revolves around monetary pursuits. Everyone always seems to tell me, "The customer is always right," Yet I feel as if companies just say that, because they think they should. Unlike other industries, the people I continuously encounter involved with craft beer absolutely love their work. They put love and passion in what they do, hoping to give good beer to good people. To these brewers, beer is an art that involves an emotional attachment to the creation of the product. Education ought to be no different.

This point may seem rather self-evident. Anyone who does their job ought to love what they do. But the issue for me here is the standardization of education. When one standardizes the beer industry, you end up with companies such as Anheuser Busch and Coors Miller, producing mediocre products. For example, Keystone Ice remains a lager style like any other Iced beer. Nothing too special. But the can specifically says "Ale" on it. I addressed this minor issue with a friend who worked in the industry who responded by saying, "They just don't care. And they can get away with it, because people just don't care." I would argue that the standardization of education is causing a similar apathy for students. The standardization of education rarely places students in a position where they remain able to pursue an erudite interest that they love.

Unfortunately, I am not yet at a point in my career where I have a plan outlined for how America can change education to a craft. And this plan will have to wait till after I receive my doctorate most likely, due to my other academic pursuits.

Cheers,
The Jesse Jennings

2 comments:

  1. I love this post. I also totally called in my head that you would end it with "cheers." Nicely done. Aside from enjoying how this post was written, I completely agree with your topic. We've all had professors or teachers in school that clearly did not care about their subject. This creates apathy in the students, which is how the "educators" can manage to get away with such a crime. I can not wait to graduate and become the "Sam Adams" of English teachers- not only teaching my students, but providing them with a quality educational experience that will keep them coming back for more. Cheers!

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  2. Sam Adams did do some pretty amazing things for the Craft Beer movement-- so I suppose when I look at that in terms of education, hopefully you'll do some pretty stellar things to change the system as well. I plan on getting some coherent logical argument for how the system can be changed later, and also ranting about how economical problems grow twisted in the system.

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