Tag Archives: education

UC Sez: Avoid All Protests

“Now that the university that has gone into the business of suppressing peaceful assemblies — the Davis campus in particular, a center of agribusiness research, has become synonymous worldwide with one of the less edible products, namely, pepper spray — the powers that be now signal their official view that public demonstrations are poison. No doubt the rationale is one of convenience. ‘Convenience’ is an all-purpose reference-point for authorities. All hail the great God Traffic!” From: U. of California Administration Disgraces Freedom of Assembly (Again) – Brainstorm – The Chronicle of Higher Education.

The University of California is just begging for the full re-flowering of the Free Speech movement, isn’t it? Of course, that might be the plan–at least it’ll get the kids to protest something aside from massive inequality and the unwholesome influence of money over our electoral processes, right?

Unquestionable

“New York educators banned references to ‘dinosaurs,’ ‘birthdays,’ ‘Halloween’ and dozens of other topics on city-issued tests. That is because they fear such topics ‘could evoke unpleasant emotions in the students.’ Dinosaurs, for example, call to mind evolution, which might upset fundamentalists; birthdays are not celebrated by Jehovah’s Witnesses; and Halloween suggests paganism.” {From: NYC Bans Mention of Dinosaurs, Dancing, Birthdays On Student Tests – Slashdot}

This all sounds highly ridiculous, but I can’t say that it doesn’t make at least some small amount of sense. Back when I was in school I saw many students try to argue their way out of having to answer story problems in math class by picking apart the logic of their narratives:

“A train leaves Cleveland going west at 30 miles per hour? Trains can go faster than that! And everyone knows that the tracks to Cleveland aren’t laid out due west–it’s more like north-north-west! I should NOT have to answer this question!”

It’s not too unreasonable to imagine a student trying to get a question thrown off a test on the basis that it mentions dinosaurs, which never existed.

Incidentally, if I ever start a band, there’s a high probability that it will be called Dancing Dinosaur Birthday.

No Man Born Of Woman

“There are many questions a school should ask parents of new students during the enrollment process — age, previous schools, proof of identity and residency, vaginal delivery or C-section — wait… what was that last one again?” {From California School Wants To Know If Your Child Was Born Vaginally – The Consumerist}

What a bizarre question to ask; there’s simply no sensible rational for it. Who cares how your child tore its way out of you? I swear, Principal Macbeth has been acting all weird since the previous principal died under mysterious circumstances.

Trouble With The University of California

“[T]he University of California is now being slowly dismantled, and its mission of public education perverted, thanks to the budget cuts it has had to absorb over the last few years. My friend and colleague Tom Lutz, who teaches at UC Riverside, and who was, until last week, the chair of the Creative Writing program, has written a letter to explain what the cuts mean to you, the average Californian or the average American. With his permission, I am posting it on this page. I urge you to read it and to distribute it widely:” {From: Laila Lalami » Blog Archive » University of California: Is This The End?}

Seriously worth reading. It might take awhile though, so, I don’t know, Instapaper it or something, but still.

Who Else Will Teach Drinking And Football?

“But when talking about expanding access to college and increasing the number of Americans with degrees, it’s useful to ask, to paraphrase another president: ‘Is our children learning?’ According to a new study by two sociologists, the answer for students enrolled in college is ‘No, not really.’” {From: Nothing for Something | The American Prospect}

I promise, it is not “anti-college” week, here at Oddlots. I just figured this was worth posting, as my own experiences in working with degreed professionals have generally boiled down to, “It sure takes a lot of education to prepare a person to fool around on the Internet while waiting to take their two-hour lunches, eh?”

Equivalency

“’About 70 percent of middle grades students in the United States exhibit misconceptions, but nearly none of the international students in Korea and China have a misunderstanding about the equal sign, and Turkish students exhibited far less incidence of the misconception than the U.S. students[.]‘” { From Texas A&M, via Slashdot }

I don’t know if today’s generation lacks the intellectual rigor to understand these things, or if today’s generation-but-one lacks the intellectual fortitude to actually teach these things, but damn.

Still, thanks to the internet, students can educate themselves. Like this handy webpage, entitled “What is Mathematical Symbols?” Eh, oh never mind.

Academia Nuts

“To their minds, little of what takes place on college campuses today can be considered either ‘higher’ or ‘education.’ They blame a system that favors research over teaching and vocational training over liberal arts. Tenure, they argue, does anything but protect intellectual freedom. And they’d like to see graduates worrying less about their careers, even if it means spending a year behind the cash register at Old Navy.” {From The Atlantic., via Slashdot}

For someone who dropped out of college more than a decade ago, and who has no children whose educations I’d have to provide for, the state of our universities is a subject that makes me feel ill.

Of course, I wasn’t exposed to much of it: I abandoned my education in order to chase that sweet, sweet Internet money.