Hey Where's Ravioli?

[azure]

LIz,

If I may be so bold as to question academia and their motives, I'm of the impression they are corrupting education with the intent of favoring one political side. I say that based on comments from a friend who was Dean of the College of Science at one of the smaller western universities and thought I was very literate with a high school education of the fifties.

She and the provost got into some serious disagreements over his policies.

Back when I was young "College Prep" was the course most of my fellow high school friends they preferred. I, OTOH, wanted vocational training and took courses that prepared me to follow that path.

I have no regrets that I followed what I thought best for me at the time. Sure, I did not become a highly paid corporate executive but in retrospective I was reasonably successful in life sans the sheepskin.

Does one need that piece of paper to be a successful businessman? I think not. My former employer built his business based on trust and honesty. He thrived while doing so and his business became one of the most respected aircraft maintenance shops in Michigan. I was honored when he and I had lunch together and he asked me to come work at his shop.

Degrees may seem impressive on resumes but are not as important as hands on experience in some cases.

I wouldn't deny that some universities are highly political in their mission, Norm, but I think it is a gross overgeneralization to say that all of them are like that. It's true that college faculty *tend* to fall on the liberal side politically, but that isn't universally true, and even for those for whom it is true, the degree to which their political persuasion colors their teaching to the extent of introducing bias is certainly highly variable. I'm not sure that political indoctrination is a net effect of getting a college education in a typical modern university. If students are emerging with a strong left-leaning bias, I would say that is more the result of the institution failing to challenge biases and paradigms that the students come in with, for fear of being accused of insensitivity (or worse) than actual teaching bias. The prevailing model at universities today where the student is the customer (as opposed to where the graduate is the product) does not serve the cause of education well in today's complex world.

I've never argued that you need a college education to be successful in life, and it sounds like you've done very well for yourself. Kudos to you! My dad, also, had an exemplary career as a government engineer with only a high school education. But that was in the post-WWII and cold war days. For that and many other professions today, even to get one's foot in the door requires a college degree. And even when the sheepskin is a prerequisite, I totally agree that experience often counts for far more in the long run. When we interview prospective faculty in my department, one of the things we look for is a proven track record in teaching, since teaching effectiveness is a big part of how we are assessed as a department, when review time comes around.

 

[azure]

In fairness, if your school is like most, some very large percentage of the tuition and fees is paid using government grants and loans that wouldn't be made if they weren't subsidized and guaranteed by the government.

And that's a fair point. It's definitely true here, I think over 75% of our students get some form of federal student aid from the Ed D. "Guarantee" is a strong word though, as the conditions for compliance to remain eligible are truly byzantine. But yes, the consequences of being held in violation would be catastrophic for the institution, so we know we're highly dependent on that source of funding.

 

[PaulS]

I don't have a clue. I went out to pasture in 2005 and am enjoying not seeing the time clock in the mornings. But unlike a good race horse I do not get introduced to enough fillies.
Please send a few to my corral.

There's your problem right there, you need to get out of your corral into the pasture once in a while, they'll come flocking.