President Biden: The NEW one and only politics thread

True. If you're gonna have tenure and you're not gonna hire more faculty, you're gonna have trouble changing the composition of the group in short order.

 

What a retort!

 

I don't think I agree w/Alma on much, but outside of the possible poor phrasing of "fewer poor kids going there," I'm not sure I understand the vitriol here. I believe there was a discussion earlier on in this thread about how out of control college has gotten and how it's basically four years of vacation at $200K a pop (I'm paraphrasing, if I'm wrong please correct me). I went 30 years ago and there was definitely some element of Mom & Dad paying me to have some fun but the dorms, the buildings, the food, etc were all pretty rudimentary and I could be a general fuckup without bankrupting my parents. I never felt as if I was at a high-end resort where the academics were almost secondary.

Given the debt kids and/or their families are going into and the job markets these kids are graduating into, it's not a terrible idea in theory to streamline majors and offerings in order to maximize the usefulness of the degrees and the earnings potential for the graduates. And while I've never been in marketing, sold insurance or done anyone's taxes, I can imagine such skills can be learned in junior college or a trade school (I could of course be wrong). One high school friend has a son who is finishing up HS on a vocational track and will graduate right into the work force. My father-in-law's step-grandson did two years of junior college (and only did that to play lacrosse) and then got a union job with a local town. He'll make more before 30 than I ever will.

Now, I know red states would gut anything unique and interesting in favor of a patriotic core of bullshit, and I know it's essential that lower income kids be given an opportunity to attend college and get a chance at seizing potential career opportunities they'd never receive otherwise. So I understand this is complicated. But it doesn't mean the model isn't broken beyond repair.

 

Yeah, those darn poor kids trying to improve their lives. They should all be happy digging ditches or working in a food-processing plant for $12 per hour.

 

Can’t do that now because of the middle schoolers making $9/hr.

 

Poorer people tend to attend poorer schools that are wildly underfunded and typically underachieve. To say we need fewer of them to go to college and perpetuate the cycle of poverty is a farce. Not to mention, it makes higher education an upper class privilege and widens the divide. Oh and minorities are disproportionately affected by this. So I reject the notion without even getting into what a crock Alma is.

There are cases of people who would thrive in a non collegiate environment. But it has more to do with priorities of the individual and less the income level. Besides with all the financial help available, cutting people out for being too poor to afford it is a crock as well.

Alma is a lying troll who is spouting the same Betsy DeVos vitriol we’ve been seeing in public ed.

 

I’m all for education reform and rethinking the modern university.

That process should not start with the attitude of “Fuck the kids.”

For decades we paid thousands of dollars to live in substandard housing and use aging facilities. The shower in my dorm was a biohazard. For $15,000 a year (some class of 2027 kid just fainted), we deserved better.

Have we gone too far the other way? I’d argue yes. But there are so many sacred cows and so much extra fat to go after before we get to the living conditions in dorms and the German program.

 

Come on be real; yes a non grad could sell insurance BUT that’s not an underprivileged non grad., that’s a false narrative. You’ve got to have connections if you’re going that route.

Every time you point out what an underprivileged person should do you ignore the fact that you’re comparing that person to someone who has been privileged.

FFS, that why you’re constantly called on the carpet.

Just be realistic. That’s all we are asking.

 

I talked to one person in a New Jersey diner!
I was eating in a diner and was making chit chat with the waitress (I’m nice that way) when the alert went off. I asked her if she heard the conspiracy theories and she said “it can’t happen to me, I never got the vaccine.’’ Then she started in on the “World Trade Center never really was attacked’’ lunacy.
Note to Fred - these crazies really do exist.

 

So Madison Cawthorn’s thing about the orgies was true?

 

A co-worker has a daughter who is a low D-1 volleyball player. The daughter has chosen a college and is getting $35,000 in aid. It costs $72,000 to go to the school per year.

College is necessary for many careers. If you want to do a trade, which is a fine career, it’s not. If you want to go military, or police, or fire, it’s not. You have to have a skill, though, or your career won’t be much of a career.

If my daughter wanted to go the trade route, I told her she would need to go to community college, at least, and learn how to start her own business.

College is out of control tuition-wise. They are businesses who keep doubling down on shiny facilities, but keep jacking up tuition to pay for these facilities. That bubble has to pop soon. I think people might find this interesting.
Bridgewater College Lowers Tuition By 62%, Highlights Value Of Higher Education

Students now are looking very seriously at community college to get away from this cost.

Im pretty sure it’s a lot easier to get into college now and a lot harder to flunk out. It’s a for-profit game, but for many, a necessary game. Does it edge out the poor? It always has, and probably more so today.

I mean, like the wise man once said… follow the money.

 

One thing that some of these colleges are going to have to face is online education is going to be more and more of a factor, especially for those students who are more cost-conscious and less worried about frat party keggers.

The pandemic showed that, depending on the program, students don’t necessarily need to sit in a classroom in order to learn unless their major has a need for on-hand experience (labs etc.). Colleges who are spending these millions on fancy facilities may find themselves stuck holding the bag.