sykick
Joined 7 years ago
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274
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Member since
Dec 1
Recent submissions
Comment · 6 years ago
Comment · 6 years ago
You are correct. H.L. Mencken once defined puritanism as the haunting fear that someone somewhere is having fun. The essence of this definition does well to capture the psyche of America. We Americans tend to be very vindictive and have an almost pathological need for revenge and punishment. We simply do not like it when the “undeserving” get something they don’t deserve. You see this in our legal system, our foreign policy, and in our healthcare system.
Comment · 6 years ago
Your goal is noble. I think it is believed by you because you don’t have extensive experience teaching in a classroom. Everyone talks about teaching concepts and whatnot. I used to think this way. But the reality of the classroom and the reality of what the average person is capable of understanding and what they are willing to try to understand is at odds with this noble view.
Comment · 6 years ago
Your first sentence sounds plausible and could be true. Do you know that it is true? Do the demographics of the country support an increase in higher education capacity? Do the realities of what it means to become educated support a percent increase in the number of highly education people?
I currently teach at a community college and have taught at some major universities. What I consider passing today is far less than what I would have considered passing 25 years ago. My anecdotal experience is that too many people are going to college. Standards have decreased and we are passing people through the system who should not be graduating. Even so there is increasing pressure from administration and politicians to increase the passing rate.
At my college tuition is increasing because state funding is decreasing. We are advertising to a population who realistically aren't college material. But we need the enrollment and I need a job. So I pass people who shouldn't pass. I strongly disagree with the notion that we need more colleges.
EDIT: What I perceive as a degradation in undergraduate degree quality has led to the present state where a Master's degree today has the same intellectual signaling value that a Bachelor's degree had 40 years ago.
Comment · 6 years ago
Enrollment in higher education is down over the last 10 years. There are already too many universities/colleges in the U.S. There are too many Ph.D.'s being granted in a quite a few areas. The funding per student today is much less than it was 20 years ago which again was less than it was the 20 years before then. This is not going to change. Building more physical classroom space is not needed and is too expensive. Society is not willing to fund these places. Around 50% of higher education courses are taught with adjunct labor that typically pays little and without benefits. I don't see that building more universities would change this. Especially when demand is decreasing.
Comment · 6 years ago
I think no sufficiently intelligent person thinks that hospitals deciding who lives/dies will be done capriciously or by cruel doctors. But on the other hand there were large numbers of fools in the U.S. who thought the ACA would create death panels. So maybe for the U.S. your point is valid.
Comment · 6 years ago
A withdraw means they still have to pay for the course and given that student loan debt is largely not dischargeable in bankruptcy I won’t ask them to withdraw. My college has not gone with the option of pass/fail. I’m giving all of my students a grade and no grade will be lower than a C this semester. I don’t have the ability to let someone take a course without paying for it.
Comment · 6 years ago
Millions of people have suddenly lost their jobs. Millions are ordered to shelter in place. Millions are going to go stir crazy. Child abuse and spousal abuse will increase. Mental health issues will be exacerbated. I have no desire to contribute to someone’s anguish or anxiety in such a time as this.
If they fail the next course because they don’t know this semester’s content then they’ll probably need to retake my class. Which is what they’d have to do if I fail them. If they pass the next course then they shouldn’t fail my class regardless of the work they put in this semester.
I teach mathematics.
Comment · 6 years ago
My college switched classes to an online format and we closed the college for two weeks to give faculty time to make the switch. So in addition to hastily converting classes to an online format we lost two weeks. I’m passing all of my students. There’s no way I’ll fail someone. I’m keeping my courses open until 2021 and will answer emails from current students until then so that they can get help with the course content they need in the classes they take in Fall 2021.
I know some of my colleagues don’t share this view. At least, they don’t openly share this view. Administration is making a show about keeping up standards and rigor but this is simply not doable in the present situation. Help those students who have the time, means, and luxury to continue their studies and don’t punish the ones who don’t.
Comment · 6 years ago
Here is why the situation in the U.S. does not nearly perfectly mirror Zimbabwe. One word: confidence. People have far more confidence in the dollar than they do Zimbabwe's currency. As the global financial system is currently setup losing confidence in the dollar is highly unlikely. You might lose confidence in the dollar and buy gold and I might do the same but we aren't the people whose confidence the dollar's value relies upon.
I'm not an economist but as far as I understand these things we won't get hyperinflation as long as there is confidence in the dollar as a currency.
Comment · 6 years ago
It may be a false choice now but it might not be a false one in the future. At any rate, it is worth exploring the idea and it’s an interesting question regarding the circumstances that must be present in order for it to longer be a false choice.
Comment · 6 years ago
I think your point could be stated better but the sentiment behind is worth exploring. If the economy collapses there will certainly be an increase in misery, spousal and child abuse, suicides, and murders. This may be a time where hard choices need to be made. Maybe we really are confronted with a "lesser of two evils" type situation.
Comment · 6 years ago
I see. As you have phrased it just now; this seems sensible. Thank you for the clarification.
Comment · 6 years ago
Making guns illegal will do little if it is not accompanied by getting rid of the existing guns. People are poor judges of risk and it would not surprise me that cops are more fearful of guns than they are of cars even if it ought not be that way.
You may be right in the direction of causation that questioned. I look at it this way. Suppose we create a more prosperous, egalitarian society and find out the cops are still jerks. The experiment shows you are correct but at least we'd end up with a better society in other ways. There does not appear to be any harm in performing the experiment.
Comment · 6 years ago
I feel sure the vast majority of Police officers are doing upstanding work, so it's a matter of identifying and punishing the bad apples.
I strongly disagree that the vast majority of police office are doing upstanding work. Officers don't testify against each other. They refuse to help investigations of colleagues. The whole thin blue line mentality is a stain on the whole profession. As Edmund Burke said, "All that is necessary for evil to prevail is that good men do nothing." Police officers that refuse to call out the bad apples are themselves bad apples.
His supporters are incapable of critiquing him. They are impervious to logic and reason. I no longer care to hear about his crimes and incompetence. I no longer care what he does. He is the President the United States deserves. In response to having elected the most incompetent, corrupt, and stupid President in history the opposition party is going to nominate a senile dinosaur who has no desire to upend the corporate dominance of our elected officials.