Students, professors to protest education cutbacks
POSTED BY: Niki2
UPDATED: Tuesday, August 6, 2024 14:05
VIEWED: 9750
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Quote:Certainly. I think of little girls with good feet and bendy backs that got pushed into the Kirov. Made for some great ballerinas, but not for a lot of choice in lifestyle.
Originally posted by Niki2:
Well said, Mal. Wasn't Russia like that, too, at least at one time?
I thought of China first because I recently read a Pearl S. Buck novel about Chinese women raised in America going back in the 50s and 60s. Definitely a story about freedom of choice and what happens when you don't have it. The Chinese govt saw humans as cogs in their machine, and placed them for the good of the country. Absolutely stifling.
And thank you for the compliment! If I'm being eloquent, blame the painkillers. Broken bone last week - got it set yesterday. Ouchy. I'm having a lazy druggy day. :)
Gino: You confuse me. You brought up women's studies and said it shouldn't be a standalone major, but combined with something else. Then you immediately listed a bunch of other topic combinations. You really just meant taking some broad range of classes? Um... isn't that what people do, in undergrad at least? It's kind of required, at least at every school I've experienced.
Anyway, I'd like to see some stats on how much of our tax money actually goes to what you'd deem "worthless" education. I bet it's less than you think. Doesn't the govt mostly loans that get paid back? Sucks for the loanees with the debt, but that part is not coming out of your pocket in a permanent way. As for any money that might be fully given away as grants, perhaps it is a shame that you can't choose the recipient. I sure as hell wish I could get back all of my money that went, and is still going, to Halliburton and Blackwater. That was a helluva lot more than what all the Philosophy and Literature and Arts majors cost us!
And at least we get something back from education. Look what ignorance gets us - George Bush and Sarah Palin. Our only hope is to get people into school so they'll stop voting for idiots. You may not like folk's choice of major, but at least they're attempting to learn to think. That's never a bad thing. Unless you're George or Sarah or Dick.
But besides all that, I come back to the idea of the government controlling our ability to choose. I think it's completely whacked to hand over that power, even if it makes you feel better about paying your taxes. I wouldn't feel at all good about giving a dime to a govt that would tell us what to do with our lives, because being a useful cog and earning top dollar is more important than any personal goals. (Do you really think that? Or am I misunderstanding your point?)
I do heartily agree with what you said about yoru math teacher. I teach with many who did all those education degrees but have no idea about applied knowledge. Of course I'm biased, but it seems so much more useful to learn how to actually do shit before you teach. I may not know the catch phrases for various teaching techniques, but I can bring up cool real-life examples of just about anything, and that's what kids really respond to.
I mean, some teachers will argue all day about multiple choice versus true/false. How important is that, really?
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The topic of the thread ( where it all started )
was protests to the state gov for cutting back on the funding they put to the university
if it isn't that much money, then it isn't that big of a deal... problem solved
My point over the womans studies, is taking a class or two in it good... taking a full degree program in it bad
you say it is important to have the freedom to do it anyway... that is fine, but do it on your own dime or better... have the interest groups that support such programs kick in cash. You want Jewish studys, perhaps a rabbi school is the place for you, etc...
Halliburton and Blackwater, useless wars, pork barrelling politicos
all useless, but not the subject at hand...
state gov education funding... with the state in question almost bankrupt yet pinned by its own rules and unable to change its circumstances ( the super majority crap )
until that changes... what do you do
put what cash you have to where it does the most good...
Rue and Signy want to change society, and that being well and good is short term unrealistic... without a bloody revolution anyway, and even then I suspect they would lose.
Federal issues aside, the state needs to get its house in order, and providing services is top on that list. Roads need fixing, cops need to be paid, etc
I further say to stretch what funding goes into education at this time needs to be targeted
" Anyway, I'd like to see some stats on how much of our tax money actually goes to what you'd deem "worthless" education. "
I'd love to see that too
plus I'd also want to see employment stats for grads in said programs going back say ten years...
did they find work related to their field of study, were they able to repay their loans, where they are related to the poverty level, etc
those stats I think would settle this, in addition entry student should be made aware of those stats when choosing programs...
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I was certainly made aware of job stats when I started college. You think students aren't? This information is readily available. Again, what you don't seem to realize is that not everybody goes to college in search of the highest paycheck possible. And that's not a bad thing.
Back to CA: before the state went bust it was known as a damned fine university system to work for. That environment brought in a lot of good people, which led to some fantastic research that brought in tons of federal funding and got the whole explosion of Silicon Valley started.
What bankrupted CA was not the education system, and the fact that it's on the chopping block now just shows tremendous short-sightedness. The giveaways to business and utilities are where Arnold should start, except that business and utilities have the govt and court system by the balls.
So, Gino what you're after with cutting out whatever schooling you don't like may be fun to fantasize about, but it wouldn't save anything. It'd be like me "fixing" my own budget by buying regular coffees rather than lattes every morning, never mind that I'm paying out a lease on a new sports car and rent on a fancy downtown apartment. (Hypothetically speaking, of course. I have none of these things!)
Worse, your solution as you've presented in previous posts would destroy some pretty basic freedoms.
ETA: A better analogy would have been me eating at McD's every day to save money. Would save relatively little compared to my other expenses, and also would leave me fat, unhealthy, and covered in zits. Much better to invest in being healthy! Yes, I think education makes people healthier. Mentally.
ETA2: The fact that you don't find women's studies or Jewish studies worth a full major is another can of worms I'm trying very hard not to open.... can't resist... So you think that only research that very specifically relates to *you* should be supported by our government? What are you, PN?
(And where's Niki with a cuckoo!cuckoo! emoticon when I need one?)
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Quote:
It's also been proven again and again that raising the level of education in a country raises the quality of life and improves the country in question.
It seems to me that a government- particularly a democratic government- has an interest in a generally well educated population. And in my view, knowledge is never wasted. Quote:
BINGO! The biggest thing education does is widen one's horizons and hopefully help one learn to think, reason, wonder, question.
Look what ignorance gets us - George Bush and Sarah Palin. Our only hope is to get people into school so they'll stop voting for idiots. You may not like folk's choice of major, but at least they're attempting to learn to think.
Right here Mal: 
--take your pick! 
Sympathies on broken bones, poor baby; whadya break? How bad? What's recovery time? I sympathize deeply, trust me; gone through two operations and loooong recovery on a bad wrist break/ligament tear...and after all of that, it will still never be the same! Hope yours were clean and heal well, and hey, enjoy those drugs!!
"I'm just right. Kinda like the sun rising in the east and the world being round...its not a need its just the way it is." The Delusional "Hero", 3/1/10uorw]
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Broke a bone in my foot. Luckily not near my ankle, so I should be at least able to hobble soon. But the pin in the bone is not the funnest.
Learning how to think... I know very well that most of my students won't use the particulars of my class again. What I hope sticks is the basic approach to problem solving: what do I know, what do I need to know, how do I get there, and how do I know if I'm wrong? It's shockingly hard to get them to think in these terms, but it's worth trying. Who knows what it'll help them get through in the future.
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Ouch, ouch and double ouch! I sympathize with the pin; they put this metal "claw" in my wrist, and it was awful. It's almost lucky they found the torn ligament, 'cuz it meant they had to go back in, and in doing so, it was healed enough they could remove the claw. I don't know how I would have lived with that thing, it was damned painful!
Hope you recover soonest, and your students are VERY lucky. Too many teachers/professors don't give a damn...too many teachers have class sizes that are too big and classes with unmanageable students; I think you're probably in the minority. Nonetheless: YES! That's one of the most important things about education; if we're lucky, it teaches us to think, question and learn different ways of being.
"I'm just right. Kinda like the sun rising in the east and the world being round...its not a need its just the way it is." The Delusional "Hero", 3/1/10
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Claw? Eh! Sounds awful! Ligament damage is the worst. I'm actually pretty lucky with this one - clean break and all.
The circumstances at my school are pretty good. I'm able to care more than many teachers can. Which is why it confuses me that we need to cut back on education spending and not defense. Speaking of stats I'd like to see: how many teachers can we hire by building one less F16 or 1 less U-bomb? How much would class sized be decreased if we hadn't invaded Iraq?
I know, obvious hippy talking points. And yet, still so relevant.
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Hah! Silly person, what a question! America put education ahead of military might? Poor baby; have you seen someone about those delusions? Yeah, you MUST be one of those damned hippies Wulf hates so much! Shees...
I'm glad your school is like that, it's always really a good feeling to hear about one that is, so few are (or are able to be!).
As to the ligament, yes, I agree. It will always be malformed and always hurt, I've finally accepted that. My only wish is that it had been the left...sigh. Sux. But it, and other things, could be SO much worse, I can't complain.
Last two years: did physical therapy for that, now been in PT for seemingly AGES for achilles tendonitis, with a short break in the middle to try PT for degenerative disc disease--which made it TEN TIMES worse so I quit and went back to the tendon.
Pfffft...getting old SUXXXXX!!!
"I'm just right. Kinda like the sun rising in the east and the world being round...its not a need its just the way it is." The Delusional "Hero", 3/1/10
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Well... big caveat that I teach at a private school. The parents pay a lot for the attention their kids get. It's a shame. Every school, public or private, should be able to do this: I feel reasonably informed about every kid I teach. Not just academics, but their social and home lives. Enough that I understand why they might be having hard times so I can work with them.
I wish it didn't take a big tuition to make it happen. I can imagine what a difference it would have made for me if I'd had this kind of support and attention in high school.
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Oh, heavens: AMEN to every word. I wish I knew what we could do to bring our education standards back up aside from big tuitions and private schools. When I was young California had one of the highest educational standards of anywhere; now, it's pathetic.
You keep doing what you're doing, kiddo; we need every one of you we can get to help turn out well-rounded kids who've learned how to learn and how to think!
And take care of that foot, eh?
"I'm just right. Kinda like the sun rising in the east and the world being round...its not a need its just the way it is." The Delusional "Hero", 3/1/10
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