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Grainger goofs curriculum

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Also by Taylor Hughes:

Work makes UW worth it (May 10, 2007)
Cultivating leadership (May 9, 2007)
Getting by without the books (May 8, 2007)

by Taylor Hughes

Thursday, October 12, 2006

One college at the University of Wisconsin is not like the others; one just isn't the same. The School of Business, centered in Grainger Hall and filled to the brim with eager students looking to succeed in corporate America, seems to have a different idea of higher education in mind than the rest of UW.

I don't know if it's the fancy new building, the top-20 ranking among business schools or the strict entrance requirements, but if appearances are anything, Grainger Hall is churning out a Grade-A batch of graduates.

I'm convinced, however, that the School of Business is missing something. The core curriculum — making up the majority of any Grainger grad's junior and senior years — is full of busywork and Scantron exams, rather than high-level critical thinking and analysis.

As a business student, I've spent countless hours in 1100 and 2080 Grainger Hall, and the business core is full of PowerPoint presentations, Excel spreadsheets and group projects. I am a senior, but I routinely take core classes — some taught by grad students — with hundreds of other undergraduates. As I leave Grainger and return to plainclothes reality every day, I wonder what it means to take 300- and 400-level classes at a first-rate institution of higher education if half of the time I don't take anything away from lecture besides what I can find in the book.

Grainger High seems more like a technical college than an institution of higher learning: Students learn how to write memos (Business Communication), fill out busy paperwork (Accounting) and stay awake during meetings (Management & Human Resources). Occasionally, a diamond in the rough like Business Law shines through, featuring engaging lecturers and an intangible benefit: The class challenges students to think like lawyers and change the way their thought processes work. And that's exactly what higher education is all about; all of UW should challenge students to think about things differently.

The College of Letters and Science boasts plenty of classes that stretch the imagination. The computer science, philosophy and political science departments, for example, all feature introductory courses that propose concepts challenging what students take for granted. L&S students write essays and work tirelessly on complex projects, answering thought-provoking questions or struggling to apply powerful abstract concepts to real life. Business, it seems, is more about choosing an answer, A through E, and less about complex reasoning.

But maybe that's the point. Maybe the business school is actually meant to mold students into corporate workers rather than encourage critical thinking skills — so they'll fit in better at Accenture or Kohler or PricewaterhouseCoopers.

After all, the Business Career Center advertises business majors' starting salaries almost as early as SOAR and invites students to sign up for limitless employment opportunities throughout their four years. Grainger is host to countless career fairs with representatives from huge corporations lined up in droves just waiting with sign-up binders, informational brochures and free pens. Other majors, it seems, don't get nearly as much attention — there's no push from the School of Journalism and Mass Communication for students to work at News Corp. or the Tribune Company.

L&S could certainly benefit from a more structured recruiting program of some kind, but it should by no means distract from the point of a four-year education.

What other majors dish out isn't so tangible as the ability to structure income statements — most Art History students take more away from 202 than a few artists' names; the class is about the progression of modern art and learning how to recognize and analyze contrasting genres over time. That's why it's higher education; anyone could look at a diagram and learn the basics of a statement of cash flows.

And in that sense, perhaps business students would be better off if Grainger High was a bit more like the others: less concentrated on the inner workings of Kimberly-Clark and more interested in the theory behind what drives its success.

Taylor Hughes (thughes@badgerherald.com) is a senior majoring in information systems.

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Anonymous (October 12, 2006 @ 3:07am):

Maybe this is what holds UW back from breaking into the top 10. It's a shame that it simply fails to compete with Michigan for the top business/engineering schools. We're so similiar, but we lag behind in those departments.

Anonymous (October 12, 2006 @ 10:46am):

UW is not a top 20 b-school.

Anonymous (October 12, 2006 @ 11:38am):

Undergraduate business is a joke and only serves as a fallback option for students lacking critical thinking skills. An undergraduate degree in business will get you no jobs in the business world that a degree in Philosophy or LGBT studies can't already. The MBA program is a completely diff. program that acutally looks down upon students who sold their soul to the business world upon entering college. Seriously, ask any professor in Grainger how useful it is to get a bachelors in marketing or finance.

Anonymous (October 12, 2006 @ 11:49am):

"The Undergraduate Program at the UW-Madison School
of Business is ranked among the top 15 in the nation
by U.S. News and World Report."

Anonymous (October 12, 2006 @ 2:23pm):

This is an applicable Dilbert.

Dilberts Mom: Your cousin Laurin just got her degree in English. Can you give her some career advice?

Dilbert: Would you enjoy scratching out a meager living in a frustrating work environment?

Laurin: I've never thought about it.

Dilbert: Obviously

Anonymous (October 12, 2006 @ 4:47pm):

Taylor: with respect, your thoughts about Grainger's curriculum reflect a level of ignorance not entirely unexpected from someone who has not yet left academia. As an alum of the school, I agree with you that a great deal of the assignments can be described as busy-work. However, upon beginning your career, you'll soon realize that "busy-work" predominates in that environment too. Even an entry-level position in the arguably prestigious field of investment banking will involve little more than number-crunching and "busy-work." If you think the senior partner/principal cares to listen to the product of your critical thinking, you are sorely mistaken. These facts underscore the fundamental reality that you cannot critically think about that which you know nothing. And believe me, as interesting as you find Grainger's Business Law course (as I did), it will serve far less practical value than many of the others you so disdain. I share your viewpoint that higher education should encourage intense thought and critical thinking. Our views diverge quickly, however, on how high you need to go on the higher education continuum to do so. An undergraduate degree is the 21st century equivalent of a high school diploma. You're doing menial, relatively thoughtless tasks because that is what you are ready to do. Grainger's undergraduate curriculum, for the most part, prepares you for that. It is only after you've gained some experience that you are sufficiently prepared to engage, in any meaningful way, in critical thinking.

Anonymous #3: the crescendo of your unfounded, poorly-reasoned, and conclusory remarks demonstrate a lack of intelligent understanding of this subject.

Anonymous (October 12, 2006 @ 10:56pm):

Hey, I'll concede you're right if you can name me one company that would hire an graduate with a degree in business over a grad with a degree in poli sci or geography.

Anonymous (October 13, 2006 @ 12:44am):

Taylor -
I wish you had put more thought into your editorial. I completely disagree with you.

Have you taken Supply Chain Management? Marketing Strategy?

Once you start interviewing for jobs, you'll see how valuable your degree from the UW Business School is.

Anonymous (October 13, 2006 @ 12:50am):

You obviously don't know what MHR is. You actually learn a lot about managing change, organizations, people and strategy.

Anonymous (October 13, 2006 @ 1:30pm):

Taylor,

Perhaps you have chosen a degree that is not well suited to your interests. If you find philosophy and art history fulfilling topics, then maybe you should have majored in those departments rather than business. You'll find that business programs at other schools are very similar to Madison's.