(a) I direct a small (small) museum in a big (big) city that is devoted to
the art, history and culture of North American Native Americans

(b) This is a tough one, since even the most academically useless courses I
took (I started life as pre-med and took introductory chemistry, calculus,
biology and physics) have taught me some interesting lessons (for example,
what it feels like to walk out of a final exam not knowing if you got even
one answer right).  I would have to lean more towards identifying the type
of lecturer to be avoided (e.g., the ecologist who had just written The Book
on the course and was bored to tears with the subject and just had us read
The Book while he "lectured" for three hours a week on totally unrelated
material)

(c) Again, I would have to recommend types of course situation or lecturer
rather than specific subject.  The first is anyone who is well-known as a
genius AND a terrific lecturer.  Even if the course topic isn't exactly in
(or even close to) your area of interest, the opportunity to have heard The
Man (or Woman) in person should never be passed up.  The second is a course
with people who have nothing to do with your own area of interest and/or
expertise.   I took my required statistics course, not with other
anthropologists, but with a bunch of social science types whose view of the
world was very, very different.

Many thanks, Indigo, for giving me something else to think about -- I
apparently really, really needed it!

janice

Janice Klein
Director
Mitchell Museum of the American Indian, Kendall College
[log in to unmask]

-----Original Message-----
From: Indigo Nights <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Thursday, September 20, 2001 5:30 PM
Subject: TOPIC 3: Don't Take THAT Class, Take THIS One!


>Ok, so this is working so well so far, there's ONE
>more topic I think from which the group could benefit.
>
>This one is a question to the more senior members of
>the group targeted as advice for those involved in
>museum studies.
>
>This one is a three parter:
>
>a.  What is your involvement in the museums field
>(i.e., fine arts, garden, aquarium, history,
>archivist, technologist, whatever)?
>
>b.   Given that career, if you could do it again, what
>one class would you NOT take in school because you
>found no value in it (as it relates to your museum
>career)?
>
>c.   What class do you feel is imperative for a
>professional in your particular profession to take?
>
>Since we have all agreed museums work is low paying
>when juxtaposed against the level of education
>required, perhaps we can do a better job of steering
>our young people into making the best choices with
>respect to the electives.
>
>We've all taken nonsense courses in school, useless
>except counted toward a degree. But knowing the right
>choices and making them could help some of our future
>museums professionals.
>
>
>
>=====
>Indigo Nights
>[log in to unmask]
>
>
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