Smug and mean’s an unlovely combination. When it has the arrogance to lay out a plan for everybody else’s life, it deserves a dose of sunlight. The worst is, its a dimwitted if not simply dishonest claim. Go back in time to when *she* was in school. Limit all schools to teaching only the things that would land you a job, right that very second, in say 1968. No other degrees or courses. No time wasted on critical thinking, on multi-frame skills like quantitative reasoning, or you know, those problems she shouldnt have been worrying her then-pretty little head about. What concern of hers things like war, environment, economy? Now ask yourself where youd be at with a skillset like that in 2014. My local daily doesnt list a single position for keypunch operators or typewriter-repair specialists. Theres a level of blinkered practicality thats the most impractical thing in the world, but plenty of hard-headed realists stand ready to say its just the ticket -- for somebody elses kid. Pulling up the ladder behind themselves. Lets get clear -- shes not counseling students to be practical in their planning -- shes saying things that dont serve business *shouldnt exist.* Shouldnt be available. Shouldnt be choices. Get rid of them. Im for public investment in a shared future, the possibilities we cant see yet, not a plan to perpetuate the privileges of the past. Summary: “Colleges should offer no degrees or courses that do not prepare students to be used profitably by business. Because that is why education exists, to mold very young human beings into meat-machines, for the profit of business. If the meat-machines learn to think, they will be less profitable.” The essay goes on to explain how the only reason there are any courses or degrees besides the ones that make stupid and useful meat-machines is because, unions. Oh, and students are lazy. There’s that. Yes, and professors are greedy. And, um, politics. Oh, and two parent families. But that’s another one of her articles. Problem with education is there aren’t enough two-parent families. She acknowledges there will be pain, but its ok, because, well, its somebody elses, and those people are bad. Really, read for yourself. This article is written by a bad person quite convinced shes a good one, and its getting a lot of sharing. “If one could go through the list of degrees at a major university and remove all of those that do not lead directly to a job; all of those degrees that students fall into because they can make good grades, or they require fewer hours to graduate or they have been recruited by professors who “need the numbers” for their departments; universities could cut the cost of a college education significantly. Would it be painful, yes, would jobs be lost, yes, would unions and politics have to go by the wayside, yes.” kansascity/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/midwest-voices/article857516.html?fb_action_ids=10152586809069663&fb_action_types=ogments
Posted on: Wed, 06 Aug 2014 15:44:57 +0000
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