Posted on 05/05/2008 6:18:42 PM PDT by brwnsuga
If they didn't, they'd have to close their doors. I recently received a resume from a UC Berzerkeley grad, with a B.S. in Civil Engineering. One of the qualifications about which he bragged:
"I no AutoCAD 2008 and have passed there level three sertication."
I've had it framed! :o)
The easier to peel tax dollars from, my Pretties!
“Aird thinks the phenomenon is due in part to the evolution of a “consumer culture” in higher education.”
....the attitude is “I am the customer, you must please me”...the kid turns their work in late, cuts class, takes cell phone calls in class, flunks the mid term ect. and then bitches when they get a D....we gotta bring the draft back.
“That colleges actually offer remedial math and English AND accept students who need those classes still astounds me.”
....I get exactly where you’re coming from Lizavetta but please, we can’t use the term “remedial” OK?....it might lower some one’s self esteem ;-) ...the appropriate term is “developmental English and Math”....my wife used to be a “developmental English” professor and it’s guaranteed job insurance for life....the supply of high school screw ups who can’t write a simple declarative sentence is endless....problem is, many of them are also lazy and indifferent and no fun to teach....five years was enough for my wife...
“What’s really sad now is that I hesitate going to a “minority” doctor.....”
....I don’t hesitate at all...I don’t go to a minority doctor because they have the lowest MCAT scores*....med schools overlook that, and race norm the admittance standards to have “diversity” in the freshman class....this is just another way political correctness hurts society.
*MCAT is the med school aptitude test....just like the GRE for grad school
that same year,though, I was pleased to find out that a kid that was way down the list at #17 who had taken all the hard science courses got a full academic ride to Notre Dame....
That minority doctor still has to pass the medical boards. If that person was passed through school due to minority status, they'd get caught at the boards. In fact, I think they'd have problems in med school and wouldn't be able to coast on grade-inflated As and Bs received in undergrad.
I'm a minority and have a JD as well as a PhD. I am getting sick to death of the anti-minority bashing that seems to be more frequent on these boards. Obama hatred seems to have brought out the worst in my FReeper brothers and sisters lately. (I'm not an Obama supporter, nor a soldier in Operation Chaos. See the tagline; I don't vote for Dims.)
btw - White kids cry and moan about their grades all the time. They threaten to have their parents call, their parents' lawyer call, to go to the Dean, and everything else. It's NOT a minority issue, it's a 'students as customers' mindset held by the universities and colleges.
Why - because teachers and professors are almost universally liberal and not working for what they get is a religion to them!
Do the laws of chemistry or biology change at MIT? Facts are facts. Why not make NSU as good as MIT rather just another school for shirkers?
It’s not possible to fully evaluate such student failures without looking at the course materials, exams and assignments, etc. to see if the instructor expectatons seem reasonable for an introductory course in that subject. It does sound like he is facing classrooms full of unprepared and non-performing students, but it is possible to crush just about any group of freshmen in the country if you make the exams hard enough and/or present so much material and such a difficult level that few freshmen anywhere would pass. Still, it doesn’t sound to me like that’s what is happening here — from the administrator comments it sounds to me as though they probably do have an extremely unprepared and ill-performing group of students, and the administration simply wants to keep passing bodies through the mill to keep the $$$ flowing.
I would ask you to look a little deeper as that is much too capitalistic for our educators today. Why are prices (tuition) going up so rapidly lately? Hint: Government grants and subsidies based on number of students and the number of students is based on how easy and fun the school. That amount is also effected by the tuition - the higher the more money from Uncle Sam.
"Students as customers" implies a buying and selling arrangement. In fact, it is more like farm subsidies and central planning with the "customer" just being a pawn between the seller and the government.
Eventually, no one will be able to afford to go so the government will be "forced" to provide Universal Education, like Universal Health Care.
In its purest sense I agree that this particular situation is not a minority issue but minorities do play a part in the bigger scheme of things.
A large number of minorities, including women who make up nearly 50% of the population, have been encouraged and propagandized into becoming victims to set up this kind of arrangement.
Give them (minorities, meaning all but white men) enough government money and support to keep them functioning as victims but not enough direction to get them out of the victim class, add political correctness and the glorification of a misused definition of diversity for special considerations and you have the recipe for our present situation.
These are not unintended consequences but, instead, are the desired results of those intent on using our freedoms, moral beliefs and generosity to destroy our strong and great society for their own benefit.
I’m not “minority bashing”.....I’m reflecting the skepticism that comes from 20 years of Affirmative Action....that’s the reality. And, I agree it’s students of all stripes who are lazy....and whining.
see Post 47....your comments?
You are right on the money RH. This isn’t a minority issue. Weak students are weak students. Skin color is irrelevant to this problem. Any community college in the country, along with any city or regional state school (not the figurehead state universities) is in the business of converting federal financial aid dollars into bureaucrats’ salaries.
Black, white, brown or green, these schools are not going to punish weak students. They are going to pass them along, hoping that despite the students’ weak skills, weak motivational patterns and weak environments, there will eventually be some worthwhile learning.
Finally, remember that being academically weak doesn’t mean that your educational case is hopeless. People grow and mature. Give the schools a little credit.
You don’t have to worry about your doctor. Pass or fail, there aren’t many Norfolk State Students who are going to survive the grind long enough to complete medical school anywhere. The few that can survive— they are very strong people, dedicated to their goals, and not a bad bet for competent care.
Well said. If I ever need a neurosurgeon I’d definitely go with Benjamin Carson.
http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/car1bio-1
Yes, I can understand having a "wash out" class early in the game, so that students who are not going to make it can find out early enough that they can switch to a different major. In that context it makes sense
I am a black nursing student and I know more than a few great nurses who graduated from NSU. I did not feel that this article was an issue of race, but an example of how we cripple our children by not requiring or expecting excellence from them. I hesitated posting it because, all the under-cover-Kluckers seem to come out of the woodwork if they smell the chum of RACE in the water. And unfortunately, my predictions were correct.
You got it wrong. It's:
"Obama's hatred seems to have brought out the worst...
I wouldn't expect that at all. Why would you expect that?
This is college biology.
The natural rate of high school biology mastery is probably around 25% of the 18-year old population.
With an "ethnically and culturally diverse population", it's probably much less.
"Different learning styles" is a code phrase. It doesn't apply to hard sciences.
Of course, poor Dr. Aird knew he was walking the plank. Congratulations to an honest man.
>> Do the laws of chemistry or biology change at MIT? Facts are facts. Why not make NSU as good as MIT rather just another school for shirkers? <<
Fine, if he can do that, wonderful. But the professor is obviously failing to get his kids to learn. Not saying it’s his fault: if his students could’ve gotten into UVirginia, they’d’ve gone to UVirginia. But if he’s expecting them to perform like MIT students, what he’s doing is a little like a Little-league coach benching his clean-up hitter for not being able to hit a home run out of Yankee Stadium.
Sure, every Little-league slugger should dream of smashing a home run out of Yankee Stadium, but is it a realistic expectation?
OTOH, I don’t know that’s what the professor is thinking. But if he’s so wonderful that he can expect his students to learn as much as MIT students, maybe he should have applied to a teaching position at nearby William and Mary?
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