This is a core issue, if not THE core issue. Conservative intellectuals like William Bennett need to step up and make that argument more often and prominently, IMO.Originally Posted by Solon
This is a core issue, if not THE core issue. Conservative intellectuals like William Bennett need to step up and make that argument more often and prominently, IMO.
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
My "degree to nowhere", Economics, has enabled me to be much more aware of things around me, led to a lifetime of exploring other topics, helped me make wise career decisions. Writing Econ and Poli Sci papers were invaluable preparation for being able to express myself in other contexts, for understanding broader landscapes.
I've found that critical thinking skills are essential when I hire people in important roles. I've hired a few very bright technicians who didn't have degrees, and though they're really good at tactical decision making and problem solving, they quickly get lost and make erroneous decisions when having to venture outside their immediate sphere of expertise. Experts at trees, can't see the forest.
My partner graduated from Georgetown and last week went to an alumni breakfast where the provost or dean or somebody like that spoke. He told them how much the landscape of a college education is going to change over the next 10-20 years, given on-line learning. He said they have a think tank set up to try to figure it out, and that people arent going to continue to spend $50K to $60K a year. He thought as many as 100-150 private colleges could close in that time because parents and students wont pay for it, although it wont affect the really selective private colleges. The entire model of higher ed is ripe for signficant overhaul.
Last edited by concerned; 11-04-2014 at 07:42 AM.
If I were starting over again, I would probably major in Econ. It's definitely my 2nd-favorite discipline.
It's probably more due to correlation than causation, but there is a gigantic relationship between women who have college degrees & kids' success in school. No other factor even comes close to matching the outcomes. I share this all the time with young women who are thinking they will drop out of college when they get married. College graduates have more successful children.
http://www.economist.com/news/united...ch-parents-can
σοφῷ ἀνδρὶ Ἑλλὰς πάντα.
-- Flavius Philostratus, Life of Apollonius 1.35.2.
This is how I learned multiplication as a kid. We had school and county championships for this game.
http://www.mathwire.com/games/contig.pdf
Some things not on the score sheet:
You can mark any number you want. You are allowed to bluff a result, but your opponent may ask you to give your calculation. If he/she correctly calls the bluff he gets the points and you get a 0 for the round. The number remains marked. The bluffing and lying part is what makes the game interesting for kids.
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
We recently took a college visit to Texas A&M with my HS Senior. Turns out the new president is Michael Young. Interestingly, he has been president of 3 of the top 4 choices -- Utah, TAMU and Washington. TAMU got crossed off the list this weekend.
“Children and dogs are as necessary to the welfare of the country as Wall Street and the railroads.” -- Harry S. Truman
"You never soar so high as when you stoop down to help a child or an animal." -- Jewish Proverb
"Three-time Pro Bowler Eric Weddle the most versatile, and maybe most intelligent, safety in the game." -- SI, 9/7/15, p. 107.
"Western culture has become inaccessible to the general public because we have lost the ability to see the world through the eyes of those who created it. A generation ago, the literary critic Harold Bloom complained in The Western Canon that it no longer was possible to teach English literature to undergraduates because they lacked the cultural references to make sense of it: imagine reading Moby Dick without knowing who Ishmael and Ahab were in the Bible, or Joyce’s Ulysses without knowing that someone named Homer had written an epic about a certain Odysseus. (Outside the English realm, Bloom is guilty of the same sort of ignorance, but that is a different matter).
"There is a deeper problem, though: Why should we read works by long-dead authors with concerns entirely different than ours, and if we should, how can we do so?"
-- A Thoughtless Age
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
Curious what Solon and others in academia think of this, by Peter Dreier. He "teaches politics and chairs the Urban & Environmental Policy Department at Occidental College."
Academic Drivel Report
Confessing my sins and exposing my academic hoax.
http://prospect.org/article/academic-drivel-report
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"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
Lawyers do obfuscate sometimes but when we are writing we have to convince someone (usually a judge) we are right, and we have opponents who keep us on our toes. What Drieier says makes me wonder if the same rigor is applied consistently these days in academia.
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"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
Wow. I had never heard of some of these institutions.
The 100 Highest-Paid University Presidents
http://colleges.startclass.com/stori....dt.8914#Intro
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
What's up with Ohio State?
And the North Dakota guy is getting rich.
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This is a fascinating window into what I suppose is Millennial thinking.
I am a nine-foot tall Vietnamese eagle, by the way.
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
A Confession of Liberal Intolerance
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/05/08...nTG%2Fs%2F6RVF
"It's men in shorts." -- Rick Majerus
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
Interesting short op-ed, expanding on Kristof's points in the op-ed linked in my last post. I worry about this happening to the U. of U. It could get ugly because of the added religious element.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...l-intolerance/
The effects of ideological orthodoxy on the quality of higher education may not spur university faculties to reform themselves, but self-interest might. We academics are a fortunate lot, increasingly divorced from society at large. At the same time, many universities are heavily subsidized by the state, and thousands of college grads are swimming in debt. I doubt this is a sustainable equilibrium.
After all, how long will taxpayers in red states be willing to subsidize universities that appear to be their ideological enemies? In a politically polarized nation, why subsidize the other side?
"It's men in shorts." -- Rick Majerus
Last edited by LA Ute; 05-29-2016 at 03:22 PM.
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
Wouldn't be surprising. Brigham Young shut down the U in the mid 1850s because it didn't teach courses in a manner supportive of his theology.
In many ways it would be nice to go back to the old model where state universities were effectively free.
Not until they shut down the liberal BYU Bookstore first.
http://archive.sltrib.com/story.php?...store.html.csp
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Or due to lack of funding and feeder schools in the still-settling salt lake valley, but hey........
Funding was a real problem, as was finfing a continuous location. This is the reason we should revere John Park as the true founder of the University of Utah. And perhaps this is the reason Park chose the site on property owned by the US Army at Fort Douglas.
This quote gives a peek into the mind of Brigham Young:
"We have enough and to spare, at the present time in these mountains, of schools where young infidels are made because the teachers are so tender-footed that they dare not mention the principles of the gospel to their pupils, but have no hesitancy in introducing into the classroom the theories of Huxley, or Darwin, or Mill and the false political economy which contend against co-operation and the United Order. This course I am resolutely and uncompromisingly opposed to, and I hope to see the day when the doctrines of the gospel will be taught in our schools, when the revelations of the Lord will be our texts, and our books will be written and manufactured by ourselves in our own midst. As a beginning in this direction I have endowed the Brigham Young Academy in Provo."
Brigham Young, Letters of Brigham Young to his Sons
On a serious note, we recently saw just how petty the state legislature can be. It only takes a couple of legislators to get a bee in their bonnet to create a significant problem for the University. State Universities exist on funding from the state, but if the state refused to find them based on an ideological basis (whether religious or political), them they will scramble to find funding in other places including through raised tuition.
Here in Washington, UW makes up budget shortfalls by accepting an increasingly higher percentage of out-of-state students rather than in-state. OOS tuition is $20k+ higher than in-state ($34k vs $12k).
People would be shocked if they saw how small the states contribution to the U really is
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The problem is the fact that the Universities accept an amount of anything over $1 means the state legislature still holds the school by the short hairs. Their power over the school likely outpaces the expectation based on the dollar amount given.
We used to see this at the U hospital. The state have us around 2% of our budget (including reimbursements), and in return we had to treat all of the prisoners, as well as having all of the homeless or indigent people shunted away from LDS Hospital.
Well treating the prisoners is a good thing. Having worked in billing at the U the best paying patients were prisoners. They paid more than Medicare
The last year I worked there the U wrote off about $250,000,000 in charges.
In 2016 the U likely carries no more burden than any other hospital for initial care of those who can't pay.
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I didn't mind the prisoners at all, and many of them had a good story to tell. The lone exception was there guy who shot up Alta View Hospital. That guy was terrifying, even though he was shackled to the bed, was wearing a face shield, and had two guards inside the room and two armed guards outside.
The bigger challenge for me was in the ER and hearing over the radio as the ER at LD was refusing patients and redirecting them to the U, despite being much closer to LD. It seemed kind of shady at the time, especially since I was a starving college student making less than $7/hr while my friend doing the same job at LD was making $12.50. At least the U hospital was an easy commute from campus.
Note this was 20+ years ago.
LD would get in a lot of trouble for doing that now, unless they truly had no capacity to take the patients. "Capacity" is defined pretty broadly.
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
Exactly. Capacity is flexible.
Also IIRC, LD is no longer a Level 1Trauma center. They moved that capability to the IMC ('The Death Star'). It didn't make sense to have the two flagship T-1 centers only a few miles apart, at the North end of the valley. So now you have T-1 at IMC, 5400 S and State, and at the U on the North East bench. Much better distribution of capabilities.
Now it is almost impossible to justify shipping a patient to the U over IMC. Even via heli it is ~8 minutes longer. Via ambulance it would be 20+ minutes.
Here in Seattle we are lucky to have Harborview close by as the T-1. It is the only T-1 for all of Washington, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho. (Harborview is the UW hospital).
Last edited by NorthwestUteFan; 05-31-2016 at 11:03 AM.
Often the U is in Trauma divert or vice versa these days. We probably go equally to both ER's at work, and of course I work exclusively in the city.
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Lincoln University just got rid of its History major. Sorry - "suspended" its History major.
https://www.insidehighered.com/views...s-web-du-boiss
σοφῷ ἀνδρὶ Ἑλλὰς πάντα.
-- Flavius Philostratus, Life of Apollonius 1.35.2.
Loosely related:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/georgean.../#2416e49f5a75That 'Useless' Liberal Arts Degree Has Become Tech's Hottest Ticket
An interesting article on the subject of how to grade. It has some cutting edge ideas.
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/09/11...p=cur&referer=
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