Posted on 01/16/2004 8:17:04 PM PST by techie12
It was Lenin:
"Sell them enough rope and capitalists will hang themselves."
HA!!
Hear that Sultan & Mudboy!?
(~from one cynic to another techie, it's a private joke.)
"Scrutiny? For education? The education lobby could say that we need to sacrifice our first borns for them, (we basically do already anyway) and most would go along."
I'm telling you, the world of acadamia has been without a *shred* of accountability for wayyyyy too long; &, yes I *hope* that's about to end.
That said, lemme share a recent experience I had which parallels this discussion in a neat kind of way.
In the process of buying an item I had the opportunity to have a conversation with a very nice young man from the great state of North Carolina.
The youngster's attending a university somewhere in Charlotte & 2 years away from earning a BS in EET with IT his interest.
Since he claimed the economy in his home state (& city) for his area of interest was presently in the shitter, that'd mean he'd -- begrudgingly -- probably have to begin thinking about the necessity of his having to move to another city if he wanted a chance of landing a job.
After telling him IT was in the pits nearly everywhere (and why), that I'd been a EE & know how tough engineering can be to break into if one has no experience? He had a host of questions concerning what he might do to enhance his employment opportunities.
I told him matter-of-factly & without hesitation what he should do is go down to the local electrician's local, just prior to graduating, & sign up for a union apprenticeship program.
The kid was floored that I'd suggest such a thing.
He was naturally very curious *why* I'd tell him to become a "grunt"; especially, after he'd invested the time, effort & expense of acquiring a BSEET.
I simply said you'll be an attractive candidate to the union with your formal education & viewed very employable. What's really needed in the nation [now] are people with real skills who can make things happen, not another shirt & tie.
That he must consider pursuing the apprenticeship with the idea that when he reached "Journeyman" status he'd work another 3 to 5 years in the trade. With the Journeyman's experience he could, if he chose, start his own residential/industrial electrician's business. I stressed the Universities will NOT & are NOT teaching students 'how' to become an independent businessman but that if he watched closely the business(es) he'd be working for during the entire union electrician trining program, will. That exposure & the hands-on experience will permit him to make a job for himself rather than rely on somone or something else.
This young man told me no one ever advised in in such a common sense way, thanked me -- profously -- & we concluded our business.
What I didn't tell the kid was the universities don't teach entrepreneurism because they've no one who'd know how if their lives depended on it. That most of acadamia couldn't find their ass with both or either hand.
Y'know the old saying, right? "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach."
Well I think it's true & never been truer than it is today.
The education establishment, all of it -- the whole shittin' kaboodle -- motivated by their selfcentered haste to featherbed themselves have finally stepped on it. Their socialist touchy-feely, completely worthless gobbledegook pap's gonna be comin' home to roost because after being soaked for 4 to 6 years there's nothing but a hellova logjam of "unskilled" college grads out there.
That's a reality parents with college bound children better think about.
The nation's educational system has failed our citizens in many more ways than most of us even realize; if, my conversation with this rather bright 20 year old means anything.
...& I think it does.
I've Been EveryWhere
It is stunning how ill prepared for industry some of these BSEE graduates really are. I've had to pick up the pieces of several failed projects from kids I didn't have the opportunity to mentor. I've endured many a late nite call from Singapore over one such failure . . .
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