I'm Glad Berlin Agrees with Me

Parts I and II of Berlin’s Rhetorics, Poetics, and Cultures do a nice job of describing the dilemma facing educators today- particularly those in English Studies (although I feel they apply just as neatly to Communication Studies with which I am more familiar). It appears as though Berlin will propose solutions in Parts III and IV. In the mean time I’ve been thinking about my own approach to teaching (I currently teach two sections of Public Speaking).

Here's what I think.
I've been known to tell other public speaking instructors, as well as my own students that I'm really not interested in preparing them to a) get a job after college, or b) do well at that job. The problem isn't that I don't like my students, but maybe that I like them too much. I believe that at most jobs today, people are subjected to some sort of abuse - emotional, physical, psychological, whatever. People hate their jobs! Even if my students were to land precisely the job they think they want, I don't think they are likely to be any exception. So why would I want to help get them someplace they ultimately will not want to be? Instead, I figure I'll help people develop their communication skills, open their minds up to some new ideas, and let them do whatever they want with them.

Here's why Berlin is helpful to my argument.
While I truly hold the attitudes I've articulated above, I've also felt they were probably unhealthy or unhelpful – I’m not silly enough to put them in my formal philosophy of teaching statement. I've explicitly asked people to convince me differently - nobody has. But Berlin has supplied me with some ideas to at least help me articulate my ideas better and perhaps make them more palatable. For instance, he writes, "the United States has seldom considered it sufficient to educate students entirely for work" (p. 54-55). My arguments, therefore, may actually be in line with traditional education in the United States. Berlin also writes, “students deserve an education that prepares them to be critical citizens of the nation that now stands as one of the oldest democracies in the world" (p. 54). I could probably borrow this quote as a sort of mission statement. Further support for my ideas comes from Berlin’s confirmation of my view of today's workplace: “The net result of this new industrial organization has thus been a significant reduction in the ability of workers to organize for better wages, benefits, and conditions, particularly since they are isolated by the conditions of their employment" (p. 47).

Does this make any sense to any one else? Or is this a self-serving misappropriation of Berlin? I’m still willing to be convinced differently about the whole matter.