Tag Archives: academia

“Decolonize Academia”

26 Tuesday Nov 2019

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The wise, but nameless SJWs of South Bend attempt the destruction of a finer school.

Activists at the University of Notre Dame are demanding a radical transformation of school policies and curriculum to purportedly cater to the desires of non-white, LGBT, and female students.

A student group calling itself “End Hate at ND” has issued a list of demands and has held multiple campus protests in an attempt to bring about those changes.

Included in the list are calls to “Decolonize Academia” and “Implement Diversity Training In Each Dorm.”

“No course or program of study should have a view limited to white, western, and/or male voices,” the group says. “We demand that people who are of Color, Indigenous, Black, queer, or not male are represented in the authorship of at least half course and major required readings. Diversifying the canon helps eliminate the violence of only privileging white scholarship.”

Violence? Eliminate the white male scholarship, and you eliminate the University. And, the West. That, one supposes, is the goal. Maybe these rats should shun other white violence, like electricity, medicine, cars, computers, and making demands. I demand they do so – go protest in the woods somewhere.

My niece, one of them, attends ND. At Christmas, if I remember (probably won’t), I’ll have to ask her how they razz and ridicule the mental snowflakes.

Treaties are for Allies

30 Wednesday Oct 2019

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One does not make them with one’s enemies. Conservatives never get that. Tom Dilorenzo explains the rot:

Niall Ferguson ends his op-ed with a call for a “Nonconformist Academic Treaty” among university faculty and administrators who still defend freedom of speech. The communistic academic censors must be confronted with “massive retaliation,” just as the Soviet Union was threatened with such by NATO during the Cold War, he says. This is what he means when he says that “we” must hang together or hang separately.

Such a “treaty” would likely garner very few signatures because of the fact that, with few exceptions, American academe is a socialist institution. Almost every last college and university is partly or totally funded by government, and with government funding comes government control of the means of production, the very definition of socialism. Almost all university professors are therefore essentially government bureaucrats and, like all bureaucrats, they understand that the way to survive is to never, ever, break the rules or rock the boat, no matter how rotten the rules may be. They understand that if they do, the Red Army of Mediocrities will take its revenge, fire them if possible, or at least never again give them a merit pay raise. They may also end up being assigned an 8 A.M. class on the main campus along with an evening class at one of the far-away branch campuses on the same day as an added touch of petty revenge.

University boards of trustees are mostly useless since they are easily bamboozled, lied to, or intimidated by academic administrators. Many of them remain quiet, for to complain and not be asked back as a trustee may harm their social lives. (At my own place of employment alumnus Tom Clancy, the famous author, once complained at a trustee meeting that the tuition was so high that the son of a mailman like himself could never afford it. He was dropped from the board the next year). There are no shareholders since universities are either government bureaucracies or “nonprofit” institutions, so there is no shareholder pressure either. It is even confusing as to who the real “consumers” are since the students who sit in the classrooms are rarely the ones paying the extortionate tuition bills – at least until they graduate and are confronted with mountains of government-guaranteed student-loan debt.

If you’re reading The Substitute, then know that, in the end, Tom relocates to a small private college and from it opens the ultimate classically-based private prep school. Small schools. Private schools. Homeschools. Big Ed, Inc. is really no better than the “public” K-12 mess. Get out.

From Common Core to Common Language, Orwellian Collectivism at Amherst

30 Saturday Mar 2019

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We had, upon a time, a common language. It was called “English.” Much has changed. Now, Amherst College in Massachusetts has a new Common Language Guide, which looks uncommonly idiotic. From the Boston Herald:

A politically charged glossary for Amherst College students that disparages capitalism and dictates a broad range of PC gender terms has been withdrawn after campus Republicans howled in protest, saying the Orwellian language guide threatened to stifle free speech.

…

The document defines “capitalism” as a system that “leads to exploitative labor practices, which affect marginalized groups disproportionately.”

“White feminism” is “predicated upon the erasure of women of color and the ways in which racism and sexism converge and compound one another.”

“Homonationalism,” per the document, is used “to explain the ways in which cis-gay and lesbian veterans of the Iraq War were celebrated as proof of American exceptionalism in contrast to racist/orientalist discourse about Iraqi combatants and other people in Central Asia racialized outside of U.S. understandings of whiteness.”

Well, at least they’ve found one form of nationalism to approve of…

This week’s TPC column focused, largely, on the systemic fraud of college admissions. At many schools (Amherst ain’t the only one with a book like this) the fraud continues through the curriculum and student life. This is part of it.

THE WHOLE PC/BS GUIDE

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They left out “Anti-Christianism” and “Europhobia.” I also saw nothing about the sacred wonders of Pedo-Cannibalism. Bigots.

More College Cheating

23 Saturday Mar 2019

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Walter Williams (yet again) sheds light on the extent of college admissions cheating and fraud. The “ordinary” system blows the Hollywood trash out of the water.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 70 percent of white high school graduates in 2016 enrolled in college, and 58 percent of black high school graduates enrolled in college. However, that year only 37 percent of white high school graduates tested as college-ready but colleges admitted 70 percent of them. Roughly 17 percent of black high school graduates tested as college-ready but colleges admitted 58 percent of them.

About 40 percent of college freshmen must take at least one remedial course. To deal with ill-prepared students, professors dumb down their courses so that students can get passing grades. Colleges also set up majors with little or no academic content so as to accommodate students with limited academic abilities. Such majors often include the term “studies”: ethnic studies, cultural studies, gender studies or American studies. The major selected by the most ill-prepared students, sadly enough, is education. When students’ SAT scores are ranked by intended major, education majors place 26th on a list of 38.

One gross example of administrative dishonesty surfaced at the University of North Carolina. A learning specialist hired to help UNC athletes found that 60 percent of the 183 members of the football and basketball teams read between fourth- and eighth-grade levels. About 10 percent read below a third-grade level. These athletes both graduated from high school and were admitted to UNC. More than likely, UNC is not alone in these practices because sports are the money-making center of many colleges.

Maybe the DOJ needs to look closer at the system itself. And given what we know about the quality, who the hell would pay extra in order to have a child admitted to such lunacy?

The Corrosive BS of American Academia

21 Monday Jan 2019

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As seen and chronicled by an American academic, Prof. Christian Smith of Notre Dame’s School of Sociology:

I have had nearly enough bullshit. The manure has piled up so deep in the hallways, classrooms, and administration buildings of American higher education that I am not sure how much longer I can wade through it and retain my sanity and integrity.

Even worse, the accumulated effects of all the academic BS are contributing to this country’s disastrous political condition and, ultimately, putting at risk the very viability and character of decent civilization. What do I mean by BS?

BS is the university’s loss of capacity to grapple with life’s Big Questions, because of our crisis of faith in truth, reality, reason, evidence, argument, civility, and our common humanity.

BS is the farce of what are actually “fragmentversities” claiming to be universities, of hyperspecialization and academic disciplines unable to talk with each other about obvious shared concerns.

BS is the expectation that a good education can be provided by institutions modeled organizationally on factories, state bureaucracies, and shopping malls — that is, by enormous universities processing hordes of students as if they were livestock, numbers waiting in line, and shopping consumers.

BS is universities hijacked by the relentless pursuit of money and prestige, including chasing rankings that they know are deeply flawed, at the expense of genuine educational excellence (to be distinguished from the vacuous “excellence” peddled by recruitment and “advancement” offices in every run-of-the-mill university).

BS is the ideologically infused jargon deployed by various fields to stake out in-group self-importance and insulate them from accountability to those not fluent in such solipsistic language games.

…

Read on and on about what BS is in higher “education.” Understand that, “the long-term corrosive effects on politics and culture can also be repaired only over the long term, if ever. There are no quick fixes here. So I do not speak in hyperbole by saying that our accumulated academic BS puts at risk decent civilization itself.”

Hope remains:

… We will need people with the capacity to retrieve and revitalize the best of higher education’s past and restructure it organizationally in ways that are most effective in the future.

History gives us some reason to hope that creative women and men will, over time, develop fruitful experiments and build new institutions that lead to a reblossoming of excellent higher education worthy of the name and help revitalize culture and political life. …

I’d like to help with the retrieval and revitalization. In addition to posts like this, a very few of you know of my ongoing covert work in this area. And, boy, does it need work.

Sad Truth: Amerikan Akademia No More Wants Intelligent Professors Than It Does Intellectual Honesty

13 Thursday Dec 2018

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After all, one wouldn’t want religion taught as religion, would one? That would be like teaching chemistry as the science of chemicals or French as the language of France.

Please read PROFESSOR Brown’s post, here.

An outstanding scholar denied full, complete tenure in the name of Baal diversity.

They said: “Professor Brown promulgates a view of religion and theology that is not widely represented among the Divinity School community’s diverse views”—which is telling, given that what I had argued in my account of “why Milo scares students and faculty even more” was that students need practice talking about religion as religion, not just as a lens for talking about something else.

If a view isn’t shared by the diverse faculty, then wouldn’t adding it increase the all-important diversity? Probably, if it wasn’t for the White Christian thing.

In a strange way, the lowlifes at U of C have done Brown a favor. They’ve also shed new light on the nature of the Amerikan Diversitocracy. The esteemed Vox Day expounds:

A Victory is a Victory…

23 Friday Nov 2018

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I’m not as upset as some about the vindication of a loser who probably doesn’t deserve it.

Last June, James Livingston, a history professor at Rutgers University, has been at the epicentre of a racism scandal, as on his social media accounts he wrote that he hates white people. The university punished Professor Livingston for violating the institution’s discrimination and harassment policy.

After an investigation into the Rutgers University professor’s social media posts was concluded, the university decided to revoke its earlier imposed sanctions, despite the Rutgers Office of Employment Equity (OEE) had previously confirmed that there were “numerous complaints about the purported racist content of the posts” made by Livingston.

Calling his posts “satirical” criticism, Livingston commented on the Rutgers administration’s decision, expressing his satisfaction by saying “I’m relieved that my right to free speech and my academic freedom have been validated by this retraction.”

During the investigation process, Livingston was represented by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), a civil liberties advocacy group. After reversing Rutgers’ initial decision, Marieke Tuthill Beck-Coon, an official representative of FIRE, issued a statement.

I am so sorry to hear the “man” suffered bad thought at a cafe. One struggles to think of a worse offense against the dignity of mankind. Seriously, free speech and academic freedom are more important now than ever – even for those of limp wrist and weak mind.

He’s even sort of right about while people, for reasons he could not fathom. White people, especially white men, are mostly responsible for the present plight due to their constant bowing down and allowances in the culture wars. This victory provides some cover for those who would still actually fight the good fight.

And … shame, shame on those comfortable cafe talkers. The horror…

John Taylor Gatto (1935-2018), American Hero

03 Saturday Nov 2018

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You may not know his name but he fought for you and your children. On the battlefield of America’s public schools. His only interest was in the promotion of learning. What a concept.

Gatto was the teacher we needed. He will be missed and hard to replace.

Over the course of his career, Gatto was recognized by other educators for the rapport he had built with his students. While other teachers were spending much of their day on behavioral management issues, Gatto’s students were actively engaged in his lectures and genuinely excited about learning. When faculty members would come to him seeking advice, his prescription was simple: treat your students the same way you treat anyone else.

Above all, Gatto understood that his students were not mere underlings, but individuals with unique skills and talents to share with the rest of the world. They didn’t want to be talked down to but longed to be treated with respect and dignity. He recognized that their worth was not determined by the neighborhoods where they lived, their parents’ annual salaries, or the scores they received on standardized tests. He concluded that “genius,” is “as common as dirt. We suppress genius because we haven’t yet figured out how to manage a population of educated men and women. The solution, I think, is simple and glorious. Let them manage themselves.”

After three decades in the classroom, Gatto realized that the public school system was squashing individualism more than it was educating students and preparing them for the real world. To make matters worse, his later research would reveal that this dumbing down was not just by accident, but by design.

Upon his realization, he resigned in protest and in order to further the truth and freedom. We, now, must take up the work.

U.S. Education: Up, Down, and … Ouch?

12 Wednesday Sep 2018

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There a seldom-discussed phenomenon which, given enough time, will invariably affect any large institution. There evolve two classes of people therein. The first carry out the core functions of the outfit. The second consists of support and administrative functionaries, often important but not critical. Eventually, the second class almost always comes to control operations within the institution; their compensation usually outpaces the core function class.

In an example related to American education, we once again have the yearly college salary numbers from CUPA. Interesting, telling numbers.

The Tenure-tracked professors:

They’re doing better with the Trump economy.

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But the Executive-level Admins are doing much better.

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Some of these jobs are arguably important to a large school. But, who does the educating??? And all of the professorial numbers ignore the trend of the adjuncts, poorly (POORLY) paid and overworked – teaching 50% of all classes.

Young people, please consider all of this along with the rising, always rising costs associated with the process. And consider the following trend:

With the improving economy and the diminishing quality of the degrees, more and more companies and whole industries are abandoning the quest for credentials.

No diploma? No problem.

More and more companies are scrapping college degree requirements for jobs. They’re not saying you shouldn’t seek higher education, but not having a degree won’t be a barrier for you to work in certain jobs at their companies.

Some of the 15 big companies saying “no bachelor’s degree is fine” include Google, Nordstrom, Bank of America, Ernst & Young, IBM and Apple.

The changes are coming as job seekers, as well as high school graduates, consider whether college is worth the skyrocketing cost.

Something to think about, degree or not.

Also, and semi-related, a few lower schools are bringing back the paddle.

An area school recently sent home consent forms informing them of a new corporal policy at an area school. The superintendent says they’ve received a little over a hundred forms back, a third of them giving consent to paddle their child.

“In this school, we take discipline very seriously,” said Jody Boulineau, Superintendent of GSIC.

GSIC is going old school with a new policy for this year.

“There was a time where corporal punishment was kind of the norm in school and you didn’t have the problems that you have,” the Superintendent said.

You heard that right. Georgia School for Innovation and the Classics, a K through 9 charter school, is bringing back paddling students as a form of discipline.

Younger young people, think about that.

If students engage in anything even resembling “violence,” even in self-defense, they may rest assured that they will be disciplined, up to and including possible arrest. But, what’s forbidden to the child goose is a-okay for the sinecure gander. And, this particular school, new and innovative as it might be, is in a district with an utterly dismal academic success record. So, the kids can expect to literally take a beating in exchange for a fraudulent, substandard education, for that unnecessary credential.

During another age and in another century, your young author was a frequent target of the “board” of education. As such I can kind of sympathize with the administrators (always the ones in charge) who seek to use it again. However, if I recall correctly, all those whacks did little (nothing) to deter boys from being boys. In other words, it usually doesn’t work. And much else has changed in the past 100+ years. Then, schools expected order just as students expected instruction. Both usually got what they needed. Today, it’s a different, worn and sad story.

All things to think about, if that’s still acceptable.

Harvard’s Secret ‘Special Sauce’

05 Thursday Jul 2018

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The Crimson have a lot riding on their defense in a particular lawsuit (filed by Asian students alleging racial discrimination in admissions). The revealing or keeping of this important trade secret (it’s probably politically correct racism, BTW) will affect other groups of potential students.

“Colleges are looking for a student who, yes, is bright” and has a resume full of traditional accomplishments, like leading the student government or an athletic team, said Mimi Doe, the co-founder of College Admissions Consultants, an independent college counseling service. “But they’re also looking for a student who can add that special sauce to a campus.”

I didn’t make up the sauce part.

Of course, there is some publicly available information about what’s required to get into a top college, such as average standardized test scores and grade-point averages. But meeting that criteria will only get students in the door, Doe said. Harvard could admit several classes worth of students with essentially perfect academic credentials. Of the roughly 26,000 domestic applications Harvard received for the class of 2019, 3,500 had perfect SAT math scores, 2,700 had perfect SAT verbal scores, more than 8,000 had a perfect GPA and nearly 1,000 received a perfect composite score on the SAT or ACT, according to court documents. The incoming class had about 1,600 spots.

The nation’s “top” college has 1,600 spots. And they say the first trait they look for is brightness. So … they have, any given year, several times as many bright applicants as the number of available slots. Surely all of the newbies will be drawn from those highest echelons of SAT and GPA performance, right? There has to be some sauce somewhere amid 1,600 young people.

The secret – like it’s really a secret – is that they draw from outside, from below, the top applicants in search of that very special and very secret sauce. (“Special sauce” is about as lame of cover for discrimination as “tasty ethnic food” is for the wholesale destruction of Western civilization). Given the money at stake, this secret could have huge ramifications. Also, given that anyone even of plain sauce variety can grasp what’s going on, there’s the loss of credibility.

There’s a good reason why Trump is pushing to abolish race-based college admissions.

And, since Harvard have moved onto the incredible and they want sauce, then they should launch a special recruitment drive to get this guy to attend. Just think of what fun and excitement he’d add. I’m sure his SAT is close enough…

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Gooseberry Patch.