<I took a US history survey
course. This was a BIG mistake and waste of time. The quality of teaching
and content was far exceeded by my history classes in junior high school and
high school.>

My experience was the opposite. I had a great teacher for my intro history
class and was very glad to have a general overview to place things into
context. I have found that in Undergrad and grad school it is the teacher
that matters far more than the subject. My teacher (professor Anbinder at
GWU)was very enthusiastic and his tests were murder, I never learned so much.

E







At 04:02 PM 9/20/2001 -0700, you wrote:
>> a.  What is your involvement in the museums field
>> (i.e., fine arts, garden, aquarium, history,
>> archivist, technologist, whatever)?
>
>Currently, the primary foci of my work are audience research, evaluation,
>interpretation and the visitor experience. Over the past 19 years, my work
>has included development, PR, exhibits, collections management, and visitor
>services. Currently, I am in a science-technology center. I have worked in
>museums that present culture, art and history.
>
>> 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)?
>
>The most useless class I took was as a freshman in college. Since I was
>majoring in history with a focus on US history, I took a US history survey
>course. This was a BIG mistake and waste of time. The quality of teaching
>and content was far exceeded by my history classes in junior high school and
>high school.
>
>The program may say that you start "here" and work your way to "there." This
>doesn't mean that this is what you should do. Find out about the content. If
>you can, check sylabi before registering. Talk to students, teachers and
>advisors. Take classes that challenge you and provide opportunities to grow.
>
>> c.   What class do you feel is imperative for a
>> professional in your particular profession to take?
>
>If I had been planning to be here, I would have taken a class in audience
>research and evaluation - or at least statistics. You can learn these on
>your own, but it's a LOT of work.
>
>However, I was not planning to be here ... My career has been an
>ever-evolving exploration. While some people carefully focus their careers,
>others develop a generalists' approach. This is particularly useful in
>smaller institutions where staff always wear many hats. The drafting class I
>took in high school was useful when I got into exhibits. The astronomy class
>I took to fulfill my science requirement in college sure came in handy when
>I needed to fill in operating a planetarium for a while. Computer
>programming classes gave me the background I needed to develop a collections
>management database for a small museum. You just never know what learning
>may come in useful some day.
>
>Opportunities in this field are so limited. A broad education enables one to
>be very flexible. On the other hand. If you have a very specific interest
>(like to be a curator of botany or something), you'd better develop
>knowledge related to both your content of interest and the specific museum
>methodologies used in that sector of our field.
>
>(The opinions expressed above are entirely my own.)
>
>Susan B.F. Wageman
>Senior Manager, Interpretation/Visitor Experience
>[log in to unmask]
>The Tech Museum of Innovation            408-795-6303
>201 South Market Street                  fax: 408-279-7167
>San Jose, California USA 95113           http://www.thetech.org
>
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