“Well, go eat crap, you pathetic pink-o.”
What follows is the lament of a young, conservative history professor.
So many on this site tend to view education as field beneath them. Fine.
So these folks tend to denigrate those of us who work in education, social sciences, etc. The problem with this is that this tends to shift the ideology of the social sciences to the left, that is, smart young conservatives who listen to your advice will only chose degrees that lead to financially rewarding careers, rather than face the challenges of a demanding but not particularly financially rewarding profession.
So then we end up with history departments like mine, where there are 3 Communist, 7 socialist, 2 Anarchist and a token Republican. And my friends on Free Republic wonder why academia is infested with loony liberals.....
If this young man were willing to work, he would find a job. The fact that he didn’t get a degree in engineering, law or business is the least of his problems.
But go right ahead, mock teaching, make fun of “stupid history majors”, the university system, the social sciences, etc. And you will continue to surrender academia to the left.
For me, I’d rather encourage young conservatives to teach, research, write, and retake our education system. Even if that means they can’t drive a car as cool as you...
Keep up the good work, Will. Keep encouraging 'em. If there's anything this world needs, it's wise teachers--and expecially on our college campuses!
Another thing. (This is not for you, Will, but for everybody else out there.) My mother taught me something important.
She was born with a silver spoon in her mouth, but before she could go to college, her father--a highly promising attorney--succumbed to alcoholism and dragged his family through hell--and also through the slums of several cities while he was at it.
She wound up sacking groceries.
She told me this: "Any honest work is honorable."
She did manage to complete one year of college.
After she married my father and had children, she went back to college, at night.
She worked hard. My father, who had not finished high school, helped her. They both worked hard.
My father died while I was still a kid.
My mother persevered--though it was very hard and we had very little money. We were quite poor.
When I was a senior in college, she had two courses to complete before getting her college degree: chemistry and physics. She flunked physics. She didn't think she could pass either one. She had very little self-confidence.
I told her not to worry, that I had studied both chemistry and physics in high school, and that, after I graduated from high school, she and I would enroll together in the nearest college, and I would get her through those two courses.
I did.
Every night, all summer long, I sat there with her. I would read a paragraph, and explain it to her. Another paragraph, and explain that.
I really learned chemistry and phisics well.
And she earned her college degree.
She could not have been happier or more proud.
Neither could I.
If I can do it--anybody can.
I had five semesters of history in college because it was that good (would’ve taken six of it, but all of my electives could not be in the same subject so I took sociology instead, which was boring).
My main history professor is now kind of famous. He’s written some books and I’ve seen him on C-Span a couple of times. One time in class, he started out by saying, “The following is the most financially valuable thing you will learn in this class: Don’t buy on credit!”
After explaining that “financially valuable” is not the same as valuable, he proceded to plow through the motions and debates in various colonial assemblies leading up to the Declaration of Independence. He was right about the valuable part, but he was also right about “Don’t buy on credit.”
My point in this is the young man complaining about being in debt for $32k. He should have paid his way, or he should be willing to get a regular job to pay off his debt instead of whining about it. We don’t need another daggone government program to pay people who aren’t willing to work.
For my part, I’ve long forgotten the names of the non-famous local colonial representatives who voted to break away from England, but I’m glad that I was able to study that. It made watching “The Patriot” much more fun.
I don’t think any of us would mock him if he was actually working and living on his own.
Teaching is a great field. I think if someone wants a history degree, they should also get credentialed to teach.
This young man did not.
He just got a degree without considering what kind of job he was going to do.
If someone wants a job teaching, then they should get that degree.
I said earlier, you find the job you want and then figure out what kind of degree you need to get that job.