Europe's Left has suffered a calamitous six months. Socialist governments have met historic defeats in Portugal and Spain. Greeces Pasok party was toppled by an EU technocrat Putsch. Irelands soft-Left Fianna Fail lost every seat in Dublin
h/t Instapundit
The Associated Press recently detailed the desperation of our public universities as they strive to protect the humanities from budget-cutting state governors and legislatures. The story focuses on comments made last month by Florida governor Rick Scott. Citing the miserable economy, Scott argued that precious state tax dollars should go to support science and tech studies, not educate more people who cant get jobs in anthropology.
This has sent shock waves through faculty lounges across the country. The story quotes University of Connecticut president Susan Herbst, who worries that an overemphasis on job training will rob students of what is truly higher in higher education. Not only do the humanities teach critical thinking, says Herbst, they also teach us how were supposed to live.
As someone with a Ph.D. in the humanities myself, Id share Herbsts sadness if I thought there was much left of the genuine humanities still being taught that needed saving. Instead, Herbst is right for the wrong reason: The humanities are indeed in mortal peril, if not dead already But neither our governors nor our state legislators are the assassins. Our humanities professors are.
#1
Completely on target. They no longer teach how to think, nor do they encourage truly free inquiry - they only rigidly enforce what to think, and only allow question of those they perceive to be enemies, and never allow those "allies" in authority to be questioned.
#2
Scott argued that precious state tax dollars should go to support science and tech studies, not "educate more people who can't get jobs in anthropology."
The economy is so bad that many engineers graduating with a bachelors or masters degree are having difficulty finding jobs. Moreover, there are many experienced engineers who are unemployed and looking for work.
I can see where education in the soft sciences and the more recent PC disciplines (social and political sciences, women's studies, black studies, gay and gender-related studies) are going to get starved for money.
#3
engineers graduating with a bachelors or masters degree are having difficulty finding jobs
Nephew graduated 3 1/2 years ago with engineering degree. Just unemployed again, after his third job of a year or less ended. He's worked for Worley & Parsons (twice), and Bechtel, and has burned no bridges behind him, so he'll catch another job in a few months, I expect. The Bechtel job was a government boondoggle designed to spend money and produce nothing, as far as I can tell.
#4
hiring a new Assistant engineer. One candidate has a BSCE, MSCE from Stanford and is a licensed engineer. He's not even my first choice. Buyer's market
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/19/2011 19:45 Comments ||
Top||
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
