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As an aside I have to smile when I read the comment about supporting someone who wants to learn to dig up bones.
I have an ex-stepson who stays in touch with me who did not take after his father (or me for that matter!) and showed no interest in science / engineering. From day one he was fascinated by the pyramids, ancient middle eastern culture etc and said he wanted to get a degree in archeology.
Fast forward to now where he is a grown man and has a Master's in Middle Eastern studies. Totally fluent in Arabic, understands middle Eastern culture, started a business in Cairo. And who woulda thunk it 15 years ago?
I used to tell the kids to try to pick a major that they really enjoy. For one thing you could end up doing it for a LONG time. For another, if you really enjoy what you do, you're more likely to go the extra mile, keep on learning because it is fun and if there is a downturn in your field, you're more likely to survive because you'll be one of those who is better at it than someone who only studied it because they thought it would be a good meal ticket.
How about telling us what that stepson is thinking these days as to who will be running the Egyptian government after the coming election, if it ever happens. I hope he no longer takes part in Christian things because that is not very popular there. The day is near when that nation will be governed under Shariah and that just wouldn't seem too good to me.
So, you actually do believe that government can pick winners and losers in an economy?
Now if the argument that the State of Florida was going to end funding for anthropology because there wasn't the demand to support the department... you might have an argument but to believe that the governor, or the university can in effect decrease the market of anthropologist because it has determined that the demand for anthropologist, not the market, isn't much different than how the Soviets ran their educational system. Now the merits of such an approach is open for debate, but to argue that it is some how different than how socialist countries operate would be just an out and out lie. So the question remains, when did you become a socialist.
By the way, my personal view is that universities aren't vocational schools, they aren't just another program for producing human widgets, they are places to advance knowledge whether that knowledge is readily transferable to the private sector or not. But then again this is just another example of Stupidification of the U.S. by the anti-intellectual know nothings otherwise known as Republicans.
A historically black college in a Democratic city making program cuts due to funding issues and a lack of overall need. Now THIS ought to REALLY chap your ass, right?
No matter how hard you try, your view suffers from objectivity and a lack of basic research skills....which causes you to make absurd statements.
This would make Florida more competative in the long run. There are plenty of colleges and universities outside of the state system which offer those majors with little economic return to the state.
Many states are going through the same thing. Recomendations of majors to cut state funding to or delete form the state university systems are usually made by the state univeristy board of governors based on statistics offered by the universities themselves.
No one is entitled to have the major of their choice funded by the state.
Life is hard and gets harder if you have an anthropology, general studies, psychology, sociology, women's studies, or art history degree and over $100K in student loan debt.
Great post!
I have a psych degree and agree it is completely useless. I had planned to go on to a master's program in either counseling or social work but we relocated and plans changed. I'm not complaining, though. I only have $5k in student loan debt as I only took out a loan for my last year of schooling.
Funny that a conservative such as yourself suddenly believes that the government is capable of seeing into the future and picking what skills are economically more viable than others. Call it educational central planning if you like, but it certainly has nothing to do with the free market principles that you espouse when it is intellectually convenient.
Free market? You believe a state-funded school is a product of the free market? It is entirely a conservative position to remove funding for programs that are not working...such as an anthropology major at a public university.
There is a reason that there are so many little liberal arts colleges popping up. Those majors are cheap to offer.
Science and engineering degrees are expensive. You have to not only offer lab courses, you have to give the professors / instructors a really good reason to be teaching as opposed to being in industry earning good money.
Add to that the fact that not everyone has the aptitude for science / engineering AND there is a distinct anti- science climate that mkes it ok, even cute to be a dummy in things having to do with science. It's no wonder we've lost our competitive edge as a country.
Nice try, Rick, but like most politicians he doesn't have a clue as to how higher education works.
Actually, he is spot on. We do not need people to be going out to get a degree just to have one. This phenomenon has devalued education already, it can be hard to find a good job in many fields without at least a bachelor's. Some jobs want you to have A degree, doesn't matter what it's in. This has to stop, pretty soon we'll all need master's degrees to get anywhere in life. That is not how it should be.
Those who do not have the aptitude for a science related degree should find something else to do, there are other majors offered (like education, for example) and plenty of other technical certificates available at community colleges and the like.
You know what is funny is that he wants to fund degrees in science, technology, engineering and math departments instead. Do you what happens to graduates who obtain these degrees? They move out of Florida because it's a low wage state!
As usual Scott is helping other high income states just like he did when he killed High speed rail and gave $2.1 billion to states like NY & California!
Free market? You believe a state-funded school is a product of the free market? It is entirely a conservative position to remove funding for programs that are not working...such as an anthropology major at a public university.
The topic is the role of government in making making production assumptions (college graduates) upon perceptions of market demand. According to most conservatives (I would have assumed that Gov Scott counts himself as one) this is a function that government is ill suited to take on.
Which raises and interesting question, will the Florida Department of Labor supplant the Florida Board of Regents when it comes to college and university curriculum or will that job just be handed over to the Chamber of Commerce?
Get it now?
By the way, folks who pick undergraduate majors without understanding that their UNDERGRADUTE major is only the beginning of their occupational studies aren't exceptionally bright. For example; undergraduates who pursue a pre-law degree without realizing that they then have to go to law school, pre-med students who don't realize that upon graduation that they have to attend medical school, or psychology majors who don't realize that they must have at the very least a masters degree to be licensed to practice as a psychologist.
Last edited by CaseyB; 10-15-2011 at 08:49 AM..
Reason: rude
A historically black college in a Democratic city making program cuts due to funding issues and a lack of overall need. Now THIS ought to REALLY chap your ass, right?
Do you understand the difference between making curriculum decisions based upon perceptions of what fields of study are "marketable" and a school of only 10,000 students that offers 171 majors while experiencing declining enrollment?
Do you have any other logical fallacies that you would like me to dispose of?
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It is entirely a conservative position to remove funding for programs that are not working...such as an anthropology major at a public university.
