California Is Losing Its Edge In Higher Education, But Not For The Reason Gavin Newsom Says

From the major Sacramento newspaper:

More attention must be paid to the California State University system and to the state's community colleges if California is going to produce the educated workers its economy needs, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom says in a report set to be issued Tuesday.

The report commissioned by Newsom argues that the state is losing its place as a national leader in higher education.

The report, prepared by the nonpartisan Committee for Economic Development based in Washington, D.C., finds that the percentage of young adults earning associate and bachelor's degrees in California already is below the U.S. average and predicts the trend will persist unless the system is overhauled to serve an increasingly diverse and low-income population.

Perhaps we could start improving higher education by not brainwashing our K-12 students into believing that they'll only be successful in life if they go to college.  Perhaps we could start improving higher education by refusing admittance to our universities to students who need remedial math or English classes, and requiring them instead to attend community colleges until they meet university standards.

Cut down on the number of university students.  Restore importance to the bachelor's degree, and don't treat people who choose not to get one as pariahs.  When everyone gets a trophy, a trophy has no value.

And then let's cut all the absolutely useless courses and degrees.  I'm not saying there shouldn't be some fun, interesting, cool classes at universities, but let's not pretend that all courses, or all majors, deserve the taxpayer's consideration.

Are You Surprised? I'm Not.

For all I know I'm just as guilty as anyone else, but at least I don't "round up" grades at the end of the semester just so a kid can get a higher grade:

The average college student’s GPA rose from 2.52 in the 1950s to 3.11 in 2006. At many universities, the most common grade is an ‘A.’

These and other statistics show that American four-year educational institutions have massively shifted their grading systems to award ‘A’ and ‘B’ grades to most students, according to USA Today.

Is it a problem if the average college student receives above average grades? Stuart Rojstaczer, a former Duke University professor who studies grade inflation, thinks so.

“In a fair grading system, you reward people for their outstanding achievements,” said Rojstaczer. Grade inflation “lowers the intensity and intellectual level in many classes.”

Of course, grade inflation is not even across the board. Elite and private universities inflate more heavily, while community colleges give comparatively honest grades and even flunk students. Yale University, for instance, gave an ‘A’ grade 62 percent of the time last year.

Lake Wobegon.

The Collective Mindset

"We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ships. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile."

Here's another, if you need it:


That's really all the commentary you need from me about this story:

A plan to squeeze most residents of the San Francisco Bay Area into multifamily housing offers a test case of whether land-use bureaucracies nationwide, encouraged by the Obama administration, should be allowed to transform American lifestyles under the pretext of combating climate change...

Owning a single-family home has long been part of the American dream, but Plan Bay Area embraces a dramatically different vision of the ideal community: crowded rows of high-rises and mass-transit platforms.

Population density in the region’s urban areas would increase by 30 percent during the next two decades under the plan. Nearly 80 percent of all new housing and 62 percent of new jobs would be located in just 5 percent of the region’s surface area.

Planners admit this will make single-family housing in the already high-priced Bay area even less affordable.

Who would want to live like that? And of those who do, why would you want to compel others to live that way?  The answer to the 2nd question is simple:  compulsion is central to the liberal way of thinking.

The Stats Survey Write-Up

Each year in early November my statistics classes conduct a survey of our school's students.  We spend days brainstorming questions, winnowing down the list, rewording, etc, until we get 20 questions we can ask.  Then we go into classes all over school, randomly select students to survey, gather the data, and input it into a spreadsheet (it's just easiest that way).  Then there's a write-up.

I don't give a lot of written instruction on the write-up for a couple reasons.  The first reason is best explained by an analogy:

When you're taking your driving test, the instructor doesn't say, "Put on your blinker, check your blind spot, merge into the right lane, and then turn right up at the next corner."  He says, "Turn right up at the next corner," and expects you to know that you're supposed to do all those other things.

If I tell them what to do I'm not evaluating if they know that they're supposed to do it.  I am also skimpy on the instructions because the students are all, with the exception of one junior, college-bound seniors.  They should be able to synthesize and create, contrast and hypothesize.  If I tell them everything I want them to do I may as well give them a fill-in-the-blank sheet instead of assigning a report.

I do, though, give a lot of verbal instructions and reminders of what I expect.  If they take notes in class, or have exceptionally good memories, great.  If they don't, well, they're probably not going to do well.  The overarching instruction is to demonstrate what you've learned in class so far.  I do list some specifics I want them to address; how they address those topics, and the detail they choose to employ, are up to them.

The write-ups were due last Thursday; I'm not so mean as to require them on the Friday before a break, and I thought it cruel to have such an assignment hanging over students' heads all break by having it due after break.  The reports are written by teams of 4 or 5 so there shouldn't have been that much work for any one person to do.  After all the data was entered there was a week and a half to do the write-ups.

The survey asked 20 questions on a variety of topics, and each team had to choose a topic of interest and focus their write-up on that topic of interest.  Some teams chose specific questions, others chose groups of questions that all related a topic; for example, some groups chose to focus on the three questions that had slightly different wording on the two different versions of the survey, and to write about the differences in responses to those questions.

I usually don't bring work home with me but chose to bring these surveys home over break and to grade only 4 per day; that should get me through all of them by the end of break.  The grades on the first four?  15/30, 17/30, 27/30, 29/30.

Update:  I've graded the next four.  The scores were 17, 21, 24, and 27.

Update #2, 11/26/13:  Tonight's scores were 24, 28, 29, and 30.

Update #3, 11/27/13:  Today's results were 24, 26, 27, and 29.

Update #4, 11/30/13:  I graded the final four today:  18, 28, 28, and 28.

Only In Education Could Someone Say Something This Stupid and Not Be Called On It

When men outnumbered women on university campuses it was a "problem" that needed a "bold solution".  Now that the numbers are reversed, though...

Alix Higgins has a total of three men in her four classes at Sacramento State. The gender imbalance is also apparent in campus libraries, restaurants and social spots where students – mostly women – gather...

While women have outnumbered men on college campuses since the 1980s, the gap has widened significantly over the last 15 years at local four-year public universities. At Sacramento State, nearly 3,400 more women than men are enrolled as undergraduates, a 30 percent difference. At UC Davis, the gender gap is nearly the same...

“I think this is just an exciting time,” (department chairwoman) Bellon said. “I think we are starting to see the real flowering of those seeds that were planted in the ’80s and ’90s, to make education more equitable between the genders.” 

How is this at all "equitable"?  This has been my point for decades--people who claim to want "equity" don't really want equity.  They want their people, whoever that may be, to be the ones on top.

Also interesting are the charts at the bottom of the linked article.  They show that at both CSUS and UC Davis, our two local universities, women undergraduates have outnumbered men undergraduates every single year since the 1980's.  This has been going on for 30 years now, and the charts show the trend is accelerating.  Worries about the patriarchy are a bit outdated and perhaps we should move past them, despite the howls of the entrenched interests who would lose power by accepting reality.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/11/20/5928262/gender-gap-widens-at-csus-ucd.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/11/20/5928262/gender-gap-widens-at-csus-ucd.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/11/20/5928262/gender-gap-widens-at-csus-ucd.html#storylink=cpy

Too Much Government, Redux

Yesterday I wrote about Vancouver's decision not to allow builders to install doorknobs in new houses.  Today's story comes from the People's Republic of California (as if you're surprised):

The city of San Rafael, CA, recently passed one of the most restrictive smoking bans in the whole country -- it’s now illegal to smoke in your own home if you share walls with another residence.

There is no more ardent opponent of cigarette smoke than I am.  To me it's just nastiness and I don't like being around it at all.  But is it the place of government to make this rule?

But that’s privately owned property. As a landlord, you have every right to ask your renters to not smoke inside. Or have dogs. Or paint the walls neon pink. That’s fine and dandy -- but it shouldn't be illegal...

Over-regulation is ridiculous and unnecessary. There is absolutely no reason for the government to come into our private homes and dictate which legal activities we may or may not participate in.

This is what happens when one group of people think they're smart enough to tell the rest of us how we're supposed to live.  Prohibition didn't work.

Juxtaposition: Race and Harassment in Higher Education

First, from UCLA:

Student demonstrators alleged that there is a “toxic” racial climate in the graduate school, including in Rust’s classroom...

In a letter sent to colleagues in the department after the sit-in, Rust said students in the demonstration described grammar and spelling corrections he made on their dissertation proposals as a form of "micro-aggression."

As the Instapundit said, "If you can’t take having your grammar errors corrected, you’re too dumb and immature to be in college, much less graduate school. Unsurprisingly, this was in the school of Education."

Next, from Minneapolis Community and Technical College:

The reprimand was due to the discomfort of two white male students who said they were being personally attacked while Professor Gibney led a discussion about structural racism in her political science and communications course.  These very students interrupted Professor Gibney during the discussion, expressing that it was upsetting to them that it was being discussed at all.   MCTC went so far as to identify Professor Gibney’s conduct in the class as a violation of the Non-Discrimination Policy and she was directed to meet twice with the Chief Diversity Officer to learn how to be more welcoming to people of  all backgrounds.

It is an outrage, albeit not a surprise, that MCTC would embrace such a backwards philosophy that places the comfort of two white male students as a healthy center for a discussion on structural racism.

If you think there should me two (or more) standards for discussion, (at least) one for dark-colored students and one for melanin-challenged students, then you are a racist--and a real one, not one of the fake ones that liberals always scream about when they don't get their way or someone criticizes the president.

The English were pretty good about coming up with "rules of thumb" about life, and there's one that fits this latter example to a T:  what's good for the goose is good for the gander.

Petty Thuggery and Snobbery

I know what's best for your child, and if you don't see things my way, I'll make life difficult for both your child and you.

That's essentially the message that was sent to parents in this note:

What is the single most depressing aspect of this letter? Is it the idea of labelling eight-year-olds racists? Is it the moronic conflation of religion and ethnicity? Is it the ugly grammar ("As such our expectations are that all children in years 4 to 6 attend school on Wednesday…")? Is it the bullying tone? Is it the unconscionable choice of font? Is it that someone can write that way and yet hold a position of authority in a school?

Or is it this: that how ever many times prime ministers declare multi-culturalism to be a failed ideology, a petty, officious, bossy, self-righteous, self-serving, Leftist chunk of the public sector remains stuck in 1980?   link to the original story

Guys Won't Be Railroaded As Fast As Some Want Them To Be

Again, thank God for FIRE:

The federal government is backing away from the nationwide “blueprint” for campus speech restrictions issued this May by the Departments of Education and Justice. The agencies’ settlement with the University of Montana sought to impose new, unconstitutional speech restrictions, due process abuses, and an overbroad definition of sexual harassment and proclaimed the agreement to be “a blueprint for colleges and universities throughout the country.” 

But in a letter sent last week to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), the new head of the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR), Catherine Lhamon, said that “the agreement in the Montana case represents the resolution of that particular case and not OCR or DOJ policy.”

They will still be railroaded in Montana, but not in other places--at least, not by federal fiat.

Too Much Government

Good idea or not, why would anyone need or want government to make this type of decision?

In Vancouver, the humble doorknob is being phased out. Kind of. Effective in March, new housing will be required to install levers on doors and faucets, instead of the good-ol' round knobs of our forefathers.

If you want a handle, have handles installed in your house.  This is the very definition of nanny state.

Teachers Wouldn't Support Their Current Unions If They Weren't Required To

This is why states like California, with strong unions, are not right-to-work states--because given a choice, teachers would opt out of unions:

Two Wisconsin public sector unions failed to achieve re-certification Thursday, the latest sign that Gov. Scott Walker's sweeping reforms to the state's rules for public employee unions are causing workers to abandon labor organizations.

Wisconsin Association for Correctional Law Enforcement and the education unit of Council 24 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees both lost bids to re-certify Thursday, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

In the case of the teacher's union, it just barely missed, winning 49.5 percent of its 664 eligible members. It needed a bare majority of 51 percent to continue. The union said it may challenge the results.

If allowed to I'd voluntarily join my local teachers union. Their rule, not mine, states that if I want to be a member I must also be a member of the CTA and the NEA, which I absolutely do not want to be.  Mandatory association--it's thuggish, it's wrong, it's a sign that they don't really have anything of value to offer that people would choose.

Good Advice, Or Bad?

Mike Rowe, host of Dirty Jobs, didn't like one of the posters in his high school counseling office.  He's now made a new one.

Was he right?  Was it the worst advice ever?  It's certainly kind of elitist....

Tell Me Again How Democrats Are "The Party of Women"?

I'm not going to argue with this lady:

Why are women finally beginning to reject Mr. Obama? Because he betrayed their trust. It’s personal. With the truth of Obamacare on the table for all to see, including the higher premiums, the canceled policies, the excluded doctors and hospitals, the original targeted marketing of Obamacare to women has now been exposed as the cynical and manipulative fraud it really was. It would have been bad enough, but perhaps forgivable, had Mr. Obama simply been wrong or made a major mistake. To have flagrantly lied, though, about an issue fundamental to our health and future, is particularly unacceptable to women — the very people on whom he has relied for his elections and for support of his legislative agenda.

Crying Racial Wolf

Everyone but the diehard Obama fans is admitting what is clearly obvious--that the planning that went into this socialist disaster was horrible, that the president lied about being able to keep your insurance if you like it, that it's a screw-up of monumental proportions.  So what do those diehard defenders do?  They break out the race card!  I like Instapundit's response:

Yawn. Race-talk is employed when Democrats are losing. Nobody takes it seriously anymore, not even Democrats. “The charge of racism is a sign of desperation. Expect to hear it more and louder in the coming weeks and months as the ObamaCare failures multiply.”

The Last 24 Hours Have Been Very Difficult

No blogging today....

You Think Media Bias Is A Myth?

Were these reporters reporting fact or opinion?

What They Said Before the Train Wreck: The Top 10 Worst Quotes Pushing ObamaCare

Safe Schools

It's either funny or sad that so many teachers truly seem worried about what we should do if we were ever in an "armed intruder" situation on campus.  The probability of ever being in such a situation is very close to zero:

It'd be easy to conclude that school has never been a more dangerous place, but for the USA's 55 million K-12 students and 3.7 million teachers, statistics tell another story: Despite two decades of high-profile shootings, school increasingly has become a safer place.

I'm glad someone's looking at statistics here, as if emotion and scare tactics and dramatic reenactments on the evening news are how we should arrive at good decisions.

By nearly every measure, safety has improved and violence has dropped for students and teachers, according to recent findings issued jointly by the Justice Department and Education Department...

"We can't make our schools into fortresses — they can't be prisons. If you look at the frequency of these (shootings), it's not what we need to do."

A ghost of sanity?  We can hope. 

I'm Glad The Court Took This Seriously

As someone who's been falsely accused of improprieties before--thankfully the school administration discounted them as baldfaced lies, so I wasn't permanently harmed by the accusations--I'm glad that the teacher saw this through and that the court/jury not only took him seriously enough to rule in his favor but imposed some fairly strong penalties against the lying scum kids and their parents:

Two years after San Jose schoolgirls branded a teacher as a "perv" and "creeper" who inappropriately touched kids and peeked into their restroom, a civil jury Friday found the children and their parents financially liable for defamation in a case that pitted the rights of the accused against the aim of reporting perceived abuse.

The jury awarded $362,653 in compensatory damages to former Catholic school physical education teacher John Fischler after finding the families spread false statements about him that damaged his reputation. The 49-year-old broke into a huge smile Friday when he heard the favorable verdict, which his lawyer characterized as "complete vindication"...

The Santa Clara County Superior Court panel also found that one of the girls -- who was 11 years old at the time -- acted with malice and is liable for punitive damages. The jury will decide how much during the second phase of the trial, which begins Monday. Judge William J. Monahan admonished jurors not to discuss the trial until it's over...

Fischler claimed several other causes of action, including negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Jurors had to weigh the evidence against each of the seven defendants -- three girls and their four parents. They found the former teacher was only 10 percent responsible for the harm he endured.

They came down hardest on the "ringleader" student and the mother of the other two girls.

I'd be curious what the teacher did that merited his 10% of the fault.
 

Why Are Ordinances Like This Ever Passed?

What possible good comes from such rules?

Darren Miller, owner of CJ’s Hot Dogs in McDonough, was cited on Friday by a code enforcement officer for flying flags above his restaurant that honor the military.

The restaurant, Fox 5 reports, is dedicated to police officers, firefighters and those serving in the military and Miller says it’s his right to pay tribute to each group -- both inside and outside his restaurant.

Three months ago, Miller put up the American flag, the Georgia state flag and banners for every branch of the military.

I may need to create a label called tyranny.

The Source of All Information...Isn't?

Some believe that Wikipedia is falling off its pedestal:

Yet Wikipedia and its stated ambition to “compile the sum of all human knowledge” are in trouble. The volunteer workforce that built the project’s flagship, the English-language Wikipedia—and must defend it against vandalism, hoaxes, and manipulation—has shrunk by more than a third since 2007 and is still shrinking. Those participants left seem incapable of fixing the flaws that keep Wikipedia from becoming a high-quality encyclopedia by any standard, including the project’s own. Among the significant problems that aren’t getting resolved is the site’s skewed coverage: its entries on Pokemon and female porn stars are comprehensive, but its pages on female novelists or places in sub-Saharan Africa are sketchy. Authoritative entries remain elusive. Of the 1,000 articles that the project’s own volunteers have tagged as forming the core of a good encyclopedia, most don’t earn even Wikipedia’s own middle-­ranking quality scores.

The main source of those problems is not mysterious. The loose collective running the site today, estimated to be 90 percent male, operates a crushing bureaucracy with an often abrasive atmosphere that deters newcomers who might increase participation in Wikipedia and broaden its coverage...

The project seemed laughable or shocking to many. Wikipedia inherited and embraced the cultural expectations that an encyclopedia ought to be authoritative, comprehensive, and underpinned by the rational spirit of the Enlightenment. But it threw out centuries of accepted methods for attaining that. In the established model, advisory boards, editors, and contributors selected from society’s highest intellectual echelons drew up a list of everything worth knowing, then created the necessary entries. Wikipedia eschewed central planning and didn’t solicit conventional expertise. In fact, its rules effectively discouraged experts from contributing, given that their work, like anyone else’s, could be overwritten within minutes. Wikipedia was propelled instead by the notion that articles should pile up quickly, in the hope that one Borgesian day the collection would have covered everything in the world.

At best I've always considered Wikipedia only a good first stop; usually I'm for more interested in the sources for a particular article than I am in believing the article itself.