Maggie's Farm

If you have been raped, you dial 911. If in danger of being raped, you try to use 911 or else pull out your Derringer or your Glock if you have one. Rape and assault are felonies. Why one would phone a campus administrator is beyond me because law enforcement is not their job. They do not live in reality. 

Swarthmore, Occidental and Their Kangaroo Courts.

Too busy today to comment, but these of interest:

College Administrators’ Priorities Not Always The Students

Is college worth it?

Are we Slaves to the Algorithm?

 Last year Target, a marketing company, yet again proved the power of algorithms, in a startling way. Its software tracks purchases to predict habits. Using this, it chooses which coupons to send customers. It seemed to have gone wrong when it began sending a teenage girl coupons for nappies, much to the anger of her father, who made an official complaint. A little later, the New York Times reported that the father had phoned the company to apologise. "It turns out," he said, "there have been some activities in my house I haven’t been completely aware of." He was going to be a grandfather—and an algorithm knew before he did.

It would take me all day to solve simple problems with algos. My brain thinks by jumps. Computers need them though.

Poll says almost half of American college grads are underemployed

There is not enough work for college grads. There's plenty of work for people who know how to do something.

Wyoming liberal coed uses Facebook to set-up rape hoax

Good grief. Rape and assault can be real wherever males and females and alcohol are in close proximity, but why fake it and get in real trouble?

News somebody you know can use: 5 Money Lessons Every New Graduate Needs to Know

If a kid needs remedial reading, writing, or math, were they really "college ready"? Of course not.

A Liberal Solution for Lousy Performance

The Road to Totalitarianism is Paved with Good Intentions.

"Good," of course, excludes freedom considerations from the equation. I'm with Coyote: Individual freedom is the greatest social good.

The growth of school administrators, from public primary schools to private colleges, has been much commented on. I have no idea why it has been such a strong trend.

Here's  Who Runs Our Colleges-- Administrators or Faculty?

You have to have a few grey hairs to remember the Free Speech Movement of 1964. Maybe it's time for another one.

From one of our Maggie's heroes, Bruce Thornton: 

...dangerously, schools of education impose “political litmus tests” on those who want to become public teachers. They vet students’ “dispositions,” especially their commitment to the left-wing notion of “social justice.” One of the most prestigious education schools in the country, Columbia University’s Teachers College, tells its students that teaching is a “political act.” Aspiring teachers are expected to be “participants in a larger struggle for social justice” and “to change the system and make schools and societies more equitable.” 

Lukianoff points out the problem with such politicized pedagogy: “Vague, subjective, and politicized evaluation standards are dangerous. They invite administrators and faculty members to substitute their own opinions and political beliefs for fair, professional criteria to evaluate students’ demonstrated skills as members of a profession.” Competence, then, takes a backseat to political correctness, a problem rife in K-12 teaching credential programs, where knowledge of subject matter is less important than political ideology.

Germany, historically the model for the American educational system, has a far more practical system than America does today. We often forget that the traditional model for higher ed was designed for scholars, and teachers, some wealthy elites, and Protestant ministers.  

We know that a minority, probably a small minority, of American college students are natural scholars or passionately curious. More want, or need, the credential.

40% of Germans become apprentices. In America, 0.3%.

A few more links on the topic:

The Secret To Germany's Low Youth Unemployment

In eurozone crisis, Germany benefits from its apprentices

Frank Bruni wonders, in the NYT. The comments there are interesting.

It seems to me that much of the discussion of "mission" has to do with confusing "higher ed" with Liberal Arts education. I do not know how much of Higher Ed today is Liberal Arts and how much is vocationally-oriented (eg Nursing, Agricultural, Hospitality, Education, Law Enforcement, Business, Engineering, Communications, Performance Arts, etc etc, but I know that a lot of it is.)

Cornell for example, a strange hybrid of state university and private university, has 7 undergrad colleges. Only one of their undergrad schools is Liberal Arts, and many large universities are similar. It's been many years since "college" has meant Liberal Arts.

I think most of the angst is only about the "mission" and "purpose" of Liberal Arts higher ed. Nobody is confused about the "mission" or "purpose" of degrees in Nursing or Civil Engineering.

If any reader can find those Higher Ed stats, I'm sure we'd all be interested. Specifically, I'm interested in what % of US undergrads are attending vocationally-oriented colleges and programs compared to those doing Liberal Arts programs.

Thanks for comments and help, readers. From Undergraduate Fields of Study, info below -

 In 2009-2010, "college" in the US yielded 800,000 Associate degrees and 1.7 million Bachelors degrees.

Of the 1.7 million bachelor's degrees awarded in 2009–10, over half were concentrated in five fields: business, management, marketing, and personal and culinary services (22 percent); social sciences and history (10 percent); health professions and related programs (8 percent); education (6 percent); and psychology (6 percent) (see table A-38-1). The fields of visual and performing arts (6 percent), engineering and engineering technologies (5 percent), biological and biomedical sciences (5 percent), and communication and communications technologies (5 percent) represented an additional 21 percent of all bachelor's degrees awarded in 2009–10.

"College" doesn't mean what it used to mean. It used to mean Liberal Arts but now it can mean Hotel Management. The change has already happened.

After all, Spring is here and it's been a long cold winter in New Hampshire. Here 'tis: Dartmouth Calls Off Classes to Discuss Diversity, Civility. Toga! Toga! Toga!

Related:  Diversity Re-Education at Northwestern

Related:  Students Today Are Afraid to Say Anything That’s Politically Incorrect

So are most employees. They've tried this junk on me but it didn't take. It just makes me worse.

Mayor Mike, the Nanny of all Nannies, is a control freak. He could have been the inspiration for the quip "If you're so rich, how come you ain't smart?"

Mayor Bloomberg: Interpretation of Constitution Will ‘Have to Change’ After Boston Bombing (fixed) I think he'd prefer a police state. He already instituted Food Police in NYC. "Freedom" is not in his lexicon.

"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

Benjamin Franklin, 1759

I think Georgetown qualifies as an elite school. As a private school, I think they can take whoever they feel like taking.

Still, this story must upset some people, and some alums: Georgetown University, a cover-up?

From Lindsay's essay:

     Students learn the new orthodoxy quickly. Fearing classroom humiliation, they keep any reservations to themselves, instead regurgitating on their exams their force-fed lessons. As a result, they learn little. The landmark national study, Academically Adrift, finds 36 percent of students show little to no increase in fundamental academic skills—critical thinking, complex reasoning, and clear writing—after four years in college. Their natural desire to know gives way to repeating whatever is required for a good grade.

    And what good grades they get! Under the new student-teacher compact, professors award more A’s than ever in exchange for students’ acquiescence in the transformation of classrooms into ideological training camps. Fifty years ago, 15 percent of all college grades given were A’s. Today, an A is the most common grade (43 percent), despite the fact that, during the same period, average student study-time has fallen from 24 to 14 hours a week.

Come on, we all know that nowadays it's just a credential for most college attendees except for the special ones for whom it is a wonderful opportunity for intellectual adventures. The business needs to please the consumers. "The customer is always right."

Sad to say, an Ivy "A" means nothing today and everybody knows it.That's why so many firms these days avoid hiring Ivy grads. Too arrogant and entitled for today's world, often. I am happy to report that they still like Dartmouth kids, though.

Via AVI's doctor's wall,  A 1950s Creed:

    I do not choose to be a common person.

    It is my right to be uncommon—if I can.

    I seek opportunity—not security.

    I do not wish to be a kept citizen,

    humbled and dulled by having the state look after me.

    I want to take the calculated risk,

    to dream and to build, 　　

    to fail and to succeed.

    I refuse to barter incentive for a dole;

    I prefer the challenges of life to the guaranteed existence;

    the thrill of fulfillment to the stale calm of Utopia.

    I will not trade my freedom for beneficence

    nor my dignity for a handout.

    I will never cower before any master

    nor bend to any threat.

    It is my heritage to stand erect, proud, and unafraid;

    to think and act for myself;

    to enjoy the benefit of my creations;

    and to face the world boldly

    and say "This, with God's help, I have done."

Every four years I let my Dermatologist buddy scope out my skin with his special lights and magic glasses. He doesn't miss a single square centimeter of it, scalp to anus to the bottoms of my graceful feet. I'd like to avoid death by melanoma, if possible. Not sure what I want to die from, but I just want it to not be right now.

$175, cash for 1/2 hr. consult (he won't do insurance), including the good conversation and comraderie, plus a pile of samples for my spot of eczema and a little nitrogen zapping of some ancient sun damage to my face. 

He knows that I have spent all of the time I could in my life outdoors, usually without hat and never with disgusting sunblock (except maybe on the nose when the Mrs. makes me). When I was at prep school, we termed sunshine "catching bennies," ie the beneficial rays of the sun. Studying Latin or dozing on the lawns.

I have happily spent all the time I can on boats, soccer fields, lacrosse fields, golf courses, tennis courts, tractors, trout streams, skiing, beaches, gardens, and hunting fields since I was a kid.

As he scrutinized my beautiful, well-fed, pasty-white-skinned body, he told me that one problem he has is people with sun phobia. He said people require an hour or two daily of exposure to unblocked sunshine (not sunburn), and that sun phobia (especially with kids covered with hats and sunblock) is a more important health hazard than benign sun-related skin cancers (which are pretty much all easily-curable when found in a timely way).

Our skin produces instantly-bioavailable and natural Vit D, necessary for normal bone growth, vitality, and disease-avoidance (cancer, heart disease, depression, osteoporosis, etc.). In the US, they add Vit D to milk (but only enough to prevent rickets in little kids) and it's far from enough to substitute for wholesome playing in the sunshine.

Sunburn bad (possibly but not definitely associated with melanoma, but definitely associated with wrinkles), but wholesome sunshine (even through clouds) is good for us. Not to mention the reality that a little tan makes us crackers look more attractive.

My dermatologist claims that we evolved to live in the nude, outdoors. Sheesh. I'd try it, but I would get arrested because I do not live in San Francisco - and I would have to fight off the women.

Fascinating essay: The Signal and the Silence - When is prediction useful—and when is it dangerous?

...what about those future financial crises and terrorist attacks? For that matter, what about the risk of deepwater oil wells’ rupturing or of tsunamis’ hitting nuclear facilities? And those are just the “known unknowns.” What about the truly unknown unknowns? If we are to draw a useful lesson from Silver’s and Taleb’s excellent books, it is that we need both of them. As Silver contends, we should improve our forecasts whenever possible. But as Taleb cautions, we must have the modesty to admit that some matters do not lend themselves to sound forecasts—and plan accordingly.

It's about nationalizing public education. Common Core: Nationalized State-Run Education.

That means to me that the feds want to politicize and control it. That's pretty much all the feds ever want to do, isn't it?

Dog Bites Man; Man Rapes Girl: Journalism and Other Crimes

And if you got your news from the MSM, you might not even hear about the Gosnell story. Here's another that you won't hear about: Another abortion clinic horror story: Planned Parenthood of Delaware.

Stories that do not fit The Narrative are no longer deemed newsworthy.

The (excellent) Columbia Prof Andrew Delbanco:  MOOCs of Hazard Will online education dampen the college experience? Yes. Will it be worth it? Well...

A quote:

The Luddite in me is inclined to think that the techno-dreamers are headed for another disappointment. But this time around, something does seem different—and it’s not just that the MOOC pioneers have an infectious excitement rarely found in a typical faculty meeting. They also have a striking public-spiritedness. Koller sees a future in which a math prodigy in a developing country might nurture his or her gifts online and then, having been identified by a leading university, enroll in person—on a scholarship, one might imagine, funded by income derived from Coursera. This idea of using online courses as a detection tool is a reprise (on a much larger scale) of the one that spurred the development of standardized tests in the mid-twentieth century, such as the SAT, which was originally envisioned as a means for finding gifted students outside the usual Ivy League “feeder” schools.

A Lefty wonders why. He thinks it's mostly self-selection.

I think a more interesting question is why so many of the successful people in business are Obama people. Over half of the very wealthy people I know are ardent Democrats, and are people who understand how the real world works. Of course, I do inhabit New England where blue is the cultural color of choice.