Talking Out of Your @ss 101

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Want to know why our higher education system is such a mess? I present to you Professor Brent Terry at Eastern Connecticut State University (ECSU)… I did want to make sure I properly credited the college (that’s Eastern Connecticut State University or ECSU) even through they take absolutely no responsibility for anything said in their classrooms what-so-ever.

The funny thing is its conservative responses to morons like this that the left uses to paint us as anti-intellectual, and anti-education. [Eyes rolling]

As a followup, Brent did apologize for the statement… but what do you want to bet this isn’t the first time he’s done something like this or that it will not be the last time?

We need diversity (intellectual diversity) on college campuses; but that would mean releasing (firing) half the current faculty (practically all leftist) to make room for conservatives.

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Obama’s Next Conspiracy Theory

I know, I know, just think about them Birthers. Man those guys are so paranoid and goofy. Where do they come up with these conspiracy theories? Right? I say, let’s move on… to the next conspiracy theory?

Obama’s College Transcripts!

Why doesn’t he release them? Good grades, bad grades that happened thirty years ago? That can’t be it. Of course he wasn’t rich back then so he probably had loans and scholarships… which now that I think about it would have required him to maintain good grades. And he managed to jump from Columbia to Harvard… doesn’t that imply good grades? So why hide them?

Then I read a column by Greg Hengler. Who is he… well he’s not President of the United States. But he did graduate from Columbia University in 1983 and majored in Pre-Law and Political Science. Sound familiar? Probably not, but there must have been, oh, tens of people who did the exact same thing. Same major, same classes, same instructors, the same year (1983)… and ONE of them was Barack Hussein Obama (aka Barry Soetoro as he was known then).

Wow! What a conversation piece. [Hypothetical Quotes Here] “The President of the United States was one of my college alumnus, same year, same degree and everything… except… I don’t ever remember him in any of my classes…” “Yeah, that is strange but I guess it could happen… except… well… I’ve talked to other classmates and none of them remember him either… Yeah I thought I knew most if not all of them…” “He must not have been organizing too much back then, you know the quite kid in the back of the class… except… Fox News contacted 400 of my\his classmates and NONE of them remembered him either…strange.”

So what is Greg’s educated guess on what’s going on here.

“Obama got a leg up by being admitted to both Occidental and Columbia as a foreign exchange student. He was raised as a young boy in Indonesia. But did his mother ever change him back to a U.S. citizen? When he returned to live with his grandparents in Hawaii or as he neared college-age preparing to apply to schools, did he ever change his citizenship back? I’m betting not.” — Greg Hengler (Obama Columbia Classmate)

If you could unseal Obama’s Columbia University records (Greg) believes you’d find that:
1. He rarely ever attended class.
2. His grades were not those typical of what we understand it takes to get into Harvard Law School.
3. He attended Columbia as a foreign exchange student.
4. He paid little for either undergraduate college or Harvard Law School because of foreign aid and scholarships given to a poor foreign students like this kid Barry Soetoro from Indonesia.
   

If this just a fishing expedition… I’d say it’s a bit more, because at least the guy was there and can prove it. Which is more than can be said by one Barry Soetoro aka Barack Hussein Obama.

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10 Worst College Majors for Your Career

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What is the value of a college education? Well that depends…

Some stats on college degrees:
• An college degree can improve your chances of finding a job and how much you make.
• Just a high school graduate, then expect to make 40% less.
• Just a high school graduate, then expect to be twice as likely to be unemployed.

Well, shoot; my local community college offers a Bachelor in “Underwater Basket Weaving”, I can do that!

OK, before you hurt yourself, have you “thought” about that major of yours and what the consequences will be four years from now if/when you walk out into that big bad world with a degree?

Before you join the ranks of the 99% losers, protesting in tent cities, sleeping on mom and dad’s couch, demanding that Uncle Sam (and those with responsible degrees) pay for your mistakes, voting Democrat, and taking rather than contributing to society… why not think about your major?

Kiplinger recently studied the 100 most popular degrees. They considered recent and established graduates. They compared these degrees in terms of compensation, unemployment, and probability those with this degree work in retail (a profession not in their field and not requiring a college degree).

They found a lot of degrees that just weren’t really worth the effort or expense of four years of college. They even discovered that some majors fared worse than their peers who just went to work right out of high school. And remember those guys supposedly make 40% than average college graduates.

I know, I know… it’s not about the money; it’s the passion of what you love to do. You have no doubt in your mind that you will be in that 1% that makes it on Broadway or Hollywood, or the big Art Galleries… God luv’ ya!

But can’t you have a backup plan… maybe a minor in something marketable or useful?

OK… So here are the Bottom 10 majors from Kiplinger’s study. These majors will return the least amount of compensation and steady employment for your four year college investment. Please! Please consider the implications or at least be prepared to accept the consequences.

Worst College Majors for Your Career:
10. English
09. Sociology
08. Drama and Theater Arts
07. Liberal Arts
06. Studio Arts
05. Graphic Design
04. Philosophy
03. Film and Photography
02. Fine Arts
01. Anthropology

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Higher Education Needs Total Overhall

The issue of higher education has hit the news lately because of Rick Santorum calling Obama a snob concerning his comments that everyone should be able to go to/afford a college education. This is one of my pet peeves about American society today.

I think Santorum and I are on the same page though neither of us can articulate our positions very well. Should we strive as a society to get everyone though a basic level of education? Yes. Should we strive to make college (junior and university) affordable and be sure that everyone gets his/her chance at higher education? NO.

Yes, Obama is a snob when it comes to higher education; but so are most politicians (because of polls) and maybe even most Americans. The very definition of success in this country has become a college degree; and THAT is the problem. The idea is flat out wrong AND very Un-American. Can college be a path to success, yes… but it can also be a path to failure as many in the Occupy movement have discovered. Anyone who can do a little cost/reward analysis can deduce where the educated losers went wrong.

We have lost our industrial and manufacturing spirit in this nation. Why?
• Work Ethic – young people don’t have it anymore (largely because of entitlements, and unions) Just getting people to show up every day and on-time is a nightmare. It wouldn’t be if they knew their food and shelter were dependent on those traits.
• Drugs – People can’t pass a simple drug test; causing attendance, quality, safety, and litigations problems that make them unemployable. That’s OK though, we have a safety net. Again, it would be less of a problem if people knew their job, food and shelter were dependent on not taking drugs.
• Education – Yes, manufacturing jobs do take a different set of skills today than years past. So? Apprenticeships and trade schools are more than enough to handle those challenges; even though high schools should be meeting them. We just need people to realize and take advantage of that.
  

Everyone is about training, training, and training. Newt Gingrich thinks it should be a requirement for unemployment. Obama and others think we need to fill the junior colleges and universities to the brim. But if all we’re doing is producing educated idiots, what good have we done? We’ve done no favors to the “educated”, the employers, or society… In fact we’ve done all three great harm.

That’s where we’ve got to fundamentally change the American attitude about education… all education at all levels.

Start with; Public education is not a decade plus baby-sitting service. It’s not an entitlement. Nothing will get that point across like the parents suffering some of consequences of their kid’s bad behavior. And set standards. Once a kid reaches a certain age and still disrupts the teaching of his/her peers… cut your losses. Offer attitude adjustment and “training” in the rehabilitation centers.

We should transform our schools into institutions that help kids transition into working adults; with some attention to higher education (already in place), some attention to useful trades, and a lot more attention to common sense.

By useful trades, I’m talking about those skills needed in agricultural, retail, manufacturing, transportation, and even some business positions. They don’t require “higher education” but good training in the skills related to those fields would really give the kids a leg up. This area of education is completely ignored in our culture, and here’s proof…

“Factory jobs have become both high tech and high salaried. An aspiring machinist—a popular factory job—can start training at 18 and then do a one-or two-year manufacturing apprenticeship. In five years, he or she could be making more than $50,000. In 10 years, that could double to $100,000.” — CNN Money (Most college educated workers would (should) kill for that kind of salary and stability)

“5 percent of manufacturing jobs remained unfilled simply because they could not find workers with the right skills.” — Deloitte Consulting LLP survey (I shudder to think of how many jobs go unfilled because of substance abuse.)

“That 5 percent vacancy rate meant that an astounding 600,000 jobs were left unfilled during a period when national unemployment was above 9 percent.” — Wall Street Journal (Yet the safety net worked just fine during that period.)

By common sense I’m talking basic skills needed as an adult. How many kids coming out of High School can balance a check book or create a budget? How many really understand the dangers of running up credit card bills?

Now, I’m not saying that we direct students to this or that field based on what some school official thinks that kid can handle. I still have my healthy distrust of anybody working for government at whatever level. I also have a highly developed sense of individual freedom. These decisions squarely belong to the child with guidance from the parents. The only purpose of the school is advice and implementation.

Yes, we need an educated populace to compete in this new world economy. But just educated isn’t enough (as I hope we are discovering). We need people educated in useful fields. And need people educated in a cost effective manner… and higher education as it exists today is not designed to do that.

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