College tuition is going which direction? At how many times the rate of inflation?
Here's a comment on that post:
There are people out there who don't want me to have my Boom-boom? I'm probably oppressing him or something.I have never – NEVER - seen academia described as accurately as this. I swear on my life, these people do exist in every institution. I have been ostracized for everything about me, down to the mundane fact that I own a dog, by people like this.
3 comments:
My point about the tuition is that this is what you're paying for with your higher tuition.
I totally agree that the liberalization of American academia is a bad thing… not because liberalism is bad, but because academia should be governed by the winner of the battle of ideas, and any such bias towards one side or the other, without addressing the merits of the case at hand, is a threat to the continuing evolution of democracy.
Liberals and lefties aren't evil -- they are just usually wrong. But most are well intentioned. I prefer to think of liberalism and conservatism as processes and not ideologies, because then it's not so personal. Some times one is appropriate, sometimes the other. In my view, most of the time the conservative way is the way to go, but on occasion it's not getting the job done and you have to go left. Kind of like football. you might prefer to run the ball, but if the DBs are up on the line, sometimes you have to pass.
But that's where the marketplace of ideas comes in. Confront the issue head on, address the pertinent points, and let the people decide.
Given all that, I fail to see what purpose this silly little article serves. I'm not sure how making fun of fat people and gays is an indication that conservatives have the answers. Funny? I guess, maybe, sense of humor being a personal thing. But I consider myself a conservative and I still thought Stephen Colbert was funny, so what do I know? I won't argue funny. But other than creating another silly acronym, which a particular sub-group will now use as their secret call sign (kind of like moonbats -- means nothing except to signal each other that the user is part of a particular group), what did it accomplish?
There's something accidentally ironic about so-called conservative teachers complaining about how liberal their schools have become. First of all, hello, duh, wake up --you're in a public school! The very notion is the epitome of liberalism -- state funded and sanctioned education. Of course it's going to liberal. It's like moving to Wyoming and then being surprised by how cold it is. Sorry, but you don't get points for "discovering" that schools are too liberal. You get an "I was asleep at the wheel" button for taking so long to get to that conclusion.
But to fix it, we need more than just petty, hateful articles full of extremist stereotypes. Somehow, I've taught for 12 years and have never run into the caricatures that this piece portrays.
Articles like this are why I can vote Republican for the last six elections yet still not feel comfortable registering with the GOP. I'm not ready yet to resign myself to a life of bitter, paranoid, contempt for my fellow man.
I like it when you talk education without letting your political paranoia take over. But it is your site, and I'm just a visitor, so there you have it.
Ira G.
Dogs are patriarchal. Cats are nuturing. I'm perfectly serious. I have been told that, numerous times.
As for tuition, well, university revenues and costs are another pandora's box. In the business school, we get corporate sponsors for classes, our grads give us lots of money, and most faculty positions are corporate sponsored. We're the only part of the university that has money, and isn't screaming for more.
Here's my rant on the topic.
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