I use it consistently, appropriately, and proudly.
Since we are now speaking about grammar and punctuation, what do folks think of the Oxford comma?
The Modern Language Association (MLA), American Psychological Association (APA), Chicago Manual of Style (CMS), and Oxford University Press all support use of the Oxford comma. The AP Style, which is formulated for newspapers and magazines, does not require it all the time but recommends usage when needed for clarity: “The bachelorette party organizers invited strippers, the bride and her mother.” This seems to go back in history when every character in a printed paper, including a comma, would cost the publisher money.
My wife and I have worked professionally as editors for a combined 80 years, and both of us insist on the Oxford comma except when it needs to be removed for meaning. For example, Robert Frost's famous line is "The woods are lovely, dark and deep." Frost adamantly told his publishers to leave out any comma after "dark" since the sentence is not just a descriptive list. Instead, it means the woods are lovely because they are dark and deep.
This recent discussion on punctuation reminded me of a political science class I had at Valpo with Professor Richard Balkema. Part of our grade was based on proper use of punctuation. I remember his red ink corrections right down to proper use and punctuation in footnotes! Great class!
This recent discussion on punctuation reminded me of a political science class I had at Valpo with Professor Richard Balkema. Part of our grade was based on proper use of punctuation. I remember his red ink corrections right down to proper use and punctuation in footnotes! Great class!
I believe a number of us were related to people associated with Valpo that even use to read the newspaper and graded each story for punctuation errors and then told the editors how well or poorly their writers performed.
How would you like to come home with a "C" in English because of punctuation on a paper with that person in your household? 
And it didn't mean you later became "good" at English.
One of VU's new senior gift officers is doing a swing through my area of the country (Greater Boston), and we sat down to talk about the University over lunch. We had a very enjoyable conversation, and I came away pleased that VU had hired such a smart, personable development professional who has quality experience at schools with more established and larger scale fundraising operations.
A lot of our conversation centered on the challenges of marketing to prospective students and how a VU education can provide advantages that other institutions who do not have a healthy mix of liberal arts and professional education offerings cannot offer. I opined that VU has to sell its advantages in ways that go beyond short-term ROI, and he agreed. In fact, he alluded to a conversation with VU's engineering dean, who cited the career arcs of VU engineering graduates, i.e., while already competitive at entry-level, they become even more competitive down the line, when promotions and other desirable positions draw upon communications and problem-solving skills enhanced by VU's liberal arts core.
Anyway, I'm now more persuaded than ever that the liberal arts/professional mix and blend, along with the school's smaller scale, provide advantages that need to reach the young folks for whom VU may well be a better choice than the one they made.
@david81 Totally agree, David. It does not matter what professional path one chooses, if you do not have the critical, logical, communication and problem solving skills that a liberal arts component of your education provides, you are a one trick pony. One may be successful in a narrow vein, but one’s real potential may never be achieved.
Perhaps I am misreading this argument, but are you actually arguing that there will be a greater emphasis on liberal arts and subsequently less emphasis on "hard" professional skills? Whether we are talking about the various business disciplines, various medical fields, or engineering, first and foremost companies and organizations hire for skills first. You have to be qualified at nursing to be a nurse, etc. I agree that the ability to think is also highly valued and that liberal arts play an important role in developing critical thinking skills. thus I am against less emphasis on liberal arts to support these fields. Having roughly one-third of total credit hours in liberal arts for students in professional disciplines makes sense. The question really is, do you need all the upper level classes in many liberal arts fields when there are few students who choose to major in these fields?
Another point seemingly missed in the prior comments is that courses in the professional disciplines do not teach critical thinking - albeit within the context of the course. Most professors that I know in these disciplines include critical thinking in their courses and in many fields there are courses specifically targeting toward critical thinking, ethics, and exercising judgment.
VUIndiana - You make many interesting points here. Obviously, both you and I are professors with fairly firsthand knowledge of the abilities across a wide population of students. Thus, I will comment on that first. I have not seen a decline in reading comprehension skills - rather I see that some students are lazy and don't to take the time to read material properly. Same issue with writing - use of proper grammar, making and supporting effective arguments, etc. This can be recognized and addressed by how assignments are structured and honest feedback/grading. It's funny how the work gets a lot better after a student gets a D for poor argument structure, incorrect or no use of course concepts, etc. on a paper. This was happening before COVID and continued through and after that period. The bigger issue we see from COVID (mainly from remote learning) is that students are not ready for the the quantitative rigor and we have had to address that by testing and some restructuring of the course plans/options for students who are not at a sufficient level coming in.
But let's get back to your argument about needing more emphasis on liberal arts. I do not know Valparaiso's liberal arts curriculum plan for students in professional Colleges, but I do know our plan and assume Valpo's is pretty close to this. Our plan:
-3 intro courses in major disciplines: theology, English, philosophy
-1 intro course on core liberal arts (theories and arguments) - all students take same class
-1 intro course to another area chosen by student (e.g., sociology, psychology, etc.)
-4 courses spanning humanities, quantitative analysis, and science in a theme of the student's choice
-1 speech and communications course (all students take one of two classes)
-1 upper level course on core liberal arts - follow up on intro course and, again, all students take the same class
-6 open electives (additional classes outside our College). This facilitates students minoring in a foreign language, political science, etc. - which many students do
This shows that many students take up to 17 liberal arts classes to graduate or 51 credit hours out of 124 credit hours to graduate. I don't advocate reducing this, but that is a lot and I would be strongly against increasing the ratio further. And if incoming students cannot handle the reading, writing and speaking requirements of those intro classes - then frankly I doubt they belong in college (our experience is that those who cannot handle these courses are far more likely to be lazy, immature or undisciplined than lacking ability).
So back to the original point...given that few students choose to major in many liberal arts fields and that is does not make sense to add to required liberal arts curriculum for all students, why should a university invest more (or the same levels) in liberal arts? Further, if Valpo were to choose to sustain or increase its investment in liberal arts, where should spending be reduced?
VUIndiana - Valpo's professional disciplines don't have "open" electives, in which they are required to take any classes in the university outside of their College to meet graduation reuirements? That would be surprising given the difference between the number of credits required by professional Colleges' accreditation boards for the corresponding discipline versus the total number of credits (120+) required for graduation, as well as how a lack of open electives would prevent students in professional Colleges from completing minors.
And to clarify (as our course plan is very flexible), students in our professional disciplines can take up to 17 liberal arts classes to meet requirements - but any given student probably takes between 13 and 17 liberal arts classes.
It's pretty obvious that one of the voices on the "Grounded" video is Pastor Wetzstein of the Chapel of the Resurrection.
It's pretty obvious that one of the voices on the "Grounded" video is Pastor Wetzstein of the Chapel of the Resurrection.
I believe the other voice is Pastor Kate.
