Monday, May 19, 2008

You Need an Education to Become Educated

What happens when a society (the US, in this case) decides that everyone should be able to have a college education? It's an admirable goal, no doubt about it. Except that some people don't have the tools to acquire a college education. Then what?

2 comments:

Lydia McGrew said...

Then we should question our premises.

By the way, there's another story I'm about to blog about that has recently been reported: A professor at a college for disadvantaged students tried to enforce the college's written attendance policy. Since the school takes so many students who need remedial education, the policy states that students can be failed if they don't attend at least 80% of the classes. The teacher was failing a large proportion of the students in his classes for not following this attendance policy, and he didn't get tenure. The administration told the professors they had a "goal" to pass at least 70% of students in each class. Of course this wasn't a quota--no, no. But the smoking gun is the guy's tenure evaluation from the dean (who is the one to whom the "pass 70% of your students" directive is attributed) in which she expressly lists his failing so many students as the problem.

You can't help them if they don't show up to class. This seems obvious. But we now live in an alternate reality in which people's actions are not supposed to have consequences. This matter of actions and consequences enters into the Israeli-Palestinian issue, too. A certain type of liberal believes that the world can be made to turn out the way he wants it simply by fiat, and that the people who are smarter, richer, stronger, or whatever are responsible simply to make it turn out that way, no matter what abilities anyone else has or what anyone else does.

Anonymous said...

FROM CAROL HERMAN

If you read books, you'll be educated. And, if you always read books, you'll never stop learning.

While most Americans think colleges are just a chance to leave home. And, drink beer. With the luckiest students also finding they can have sex, "so they can discover who they are."

To make it safe, the schools give out condoms.

As to the COSTS, let me share a secret with you. Schools in America are designed to keep kids OUT of the work place!

That kids get summers off? Well, once upon a time, kids came to school from their farms. And, the summer months were full of toil from sun up to sun set.

The next thing to notice; similar to the way you'd notice the "amateurs" on the Net, began in the garages of parents houses; without degrees at all. Some kids became very rich. (Bill Gates left Harvard after one year. Never looked back. But he does hire a lot of people who've gone Stanford. Why? It's the top 1% of high school graduates, who get accepted, year in and year out. Call it "culling.") Call it anything you want.

But colleges today? Besides costing fortunes, and sticking kids with debt, what you see is that the military is still not a big option for most graduating high school seniors. And, the job market isn't particularly kind. So kids filter towards schools.

Where the Saud's bought the best places. (Like Harvard. Known to have quotas against Jews.) And, then? Something's been going wrong.

Just as it's been going wrong at the NY Times!

Too many women. And, black programs. Where you're brainwashed. But then? No one hires you to help defray your costs.

The other thing to notice? Today's college environment skews heavily towards women.

So where did the men go?

And, what's the future going to be like?

While high schools are just unionized factories for incompetents. (While blue collar jobs went to China.)

Heck, even customer service jobs have gone to China.

Is America in recession? Only if you want to count individuals who are hurting. (Winston Churchill, in America, in October 1929, wrote a column about how the Big Depression was something the government could deal with ... without losing "parliament." Because we don't have one!)

As Churchill phrased it: "Americans understand the inherent nature of GREED. People can do these risky things. Without having their governments collapse.

Basically, it's a clean up operation.

Just like after a big earthquake.

Or 9/11.

Come to think of it, why didn't Bush accuse the Saud's for their involvement in 9/11? Why has he, and his Nixonian crew, working so hard to give the Saud's a "king-maker's role" in the Mideast."

Of course, you'll notice IT FAILED!

It failed because so many arabs hate the saud's guts. It's not just me.