Sorry to hear about your parents. My thoughts are with you.

excellent points jan

I listened to the rest of it. The thrust of it is that colleges extol diversity but don't actually practice it. They made the diversity experts look asses, but it seemed like they chopped up their sentences, so they couldn't get a point across.

I never saw this perversion of diversity when I was in school 20 years ago.

I didn't get what Chomsky was getting at WRT home. Was he saying the whole campus is their home? Their dorm room/suite is their home. Then there are classrooms, labs, lounges, and "public" places. It almost seemed like Chomsky was expanding the notion of home, so that we're all roommates and have to get along and decide which posters, language, foods, etc are offensive. People sharing an apartment do have to agree on things or move out. But he sees the whole college that way. In other words, he's anti-diversity. I wish they had politely asked him if that's what he meant.

I couldn't tell if the protestors were trying to silence the counter-protestor. I think it's a good idea for protestors and counter-protestors to be physically separated, just far enough to avoid a fight breaking out.

I strongly agree with what he said at the end about going to college for something specific, even if you're going to take an easy major, hand out, and drink beer; at least admit that.

This is an excellent post. Thank you.

In order to perform the profession of Medical Technologist, you need to have a lot of information. One of the ways to acquire this info is to go to college; another is OJT, and read a lot on the side. There are a lot of professions that are in this same class - you can go to college and get the info (and some extraneous stuff) dumped into your head in a compressed format, or you can work your way up through the profession (in states that do not require a license) and learn it on your own. College is worthwhile in such cases.

But. When I was at college, I did not give a hoot about the 'culture' of the college: I went to school, went to class and came home again. What the excellent Penn and Teller video is about is the culture of colleges, not whether or not they teach calculus. From people of my own age group and younger, it seems to me that college is regarded as a social venue rather than a place to learn.

My heartfelt sympathies to you, jbrenner. That is a tough place to be in. For your dad, the best that can be hoped is that once in a while a cheerful 'stranger' will visit and chat with him and make him laugh. I am glad your mother is on the mend and is able to sit for even a few hours per day.

If 'education' is what people are concerned about, then why are there not really hard tests that use secure identification procedures: If you pass the test, you have the degree, irrespective if you have ever crossed the threshold of a school/college or not? In an age where a lot of information is available online, perhaps this is the 'competitive' element that is needed to drive colleges back towards being institutions of learning.

Jan

I watched the first few minuets. I agree with the education experts you can get connections, fun, a time to explore different things, and job skills at college, but college isn't the *only* place to get those thing. You could explore different jobs, for example, by working entry-level jobs in areas near what you're interested in. For example, you might sweep floors at radio studio or clean beakers at a company making chemicals just to be close to people doing the work to see if it looks like something you'd like to do. If yes, the company will often pay for part of the classes in addition to normal wages. With all that you can still arrange time to play with beerbongs, drugs, g/fs and b/fs, and so on, which are important too.

Interest rates are only a small part of the problem with college graduates being burdened with huge debt. The Colleges and Universities are rolling in money coming in from student loans. The schools profit and the students accumulate debt. It is a very cynical racket and administrators are easily able to pull it off because many people feel a need to get a higher education. The money from student loans keeps rolling in. Like the op-ed above, the schools are using the fallacy of changing the subject and attacking the person. Instead of addressing the issue of high costs, they change the subject to interest rates and attack Republicans as being uncaring with no empathy for the students. In fact, it is the Democrats who cynically exploit their rather ignorant and gullible constituency. The high fees paid by the universities to politicians for speaking are just a sneaky way of contributing to political campaigns. If there were no government guaranteed student loans, schools would be forced to compete for tuition money by cutting costs and lowering fees. Students and parents would be encouraged to be more frugal.

I agree. I have BS (as it turns out that is the only degree that is not BS) in economics from way back when, JD and Ph.D. Plus ATP (licensed airline transport pilot--bus driver in the air) and few other initials. The ones that are important had nothing to do with college. Thomas Sowell (who I think is great on economics and terrible on politics because he sides with the traditional conservatives most of the time) said he did not learn economics until years after being a Ph.D.

Go FedEx and fight the bastards.

She lives on campus, but comes home more on weekends than most students. I see her about as much as I used to, but my wife and other daughter only see her a day or two every couple of weeks.

We'll get through the crisis, just like you did recently.

Thanks, k.

those are excellent points.

I think it would be so enjoyable to have your daughter on your campus. Is she living on campus or at home? It is the way of the world, but I miss my kids. That your daughter is not far away at school is a big help during this trying period. The crisis period resolves and you can't control everything. Keep that in mind. As to mortality, I have no doubt you are creating a brilliant intellectual legacy.

Thanks. Good to hear from you, conscious1978. October has been pretty rough.

Thanks, O.A.

Take care, JB....

I did both, attended and dropped out. Either way works and if you do it right or at least, learn from your mistakes, like I did it, you progress to bigger and better things. I took each and every opportunity I got and some I made and improved my lot in life. I did not come from a money family, one that would provide for my every whim. I came from lower middle class and I am not rich monetarily but I lived a rich life. Recently I fell into the issue, one that everyone has, of the more money you make, them more money goes out, I am currently trying to rectify that. Lots of things to consider and all sorts of opportunities to try. I had a new one pop up, thanks to Dr. Brenner and I am considering it but I have to take everything else into that conversation.

Interesting. Can't be sure... It could have been the Science Channel... I watch both quite a bit.

It has been many, many years now since she passed, but I still remember and can sympathize. It was difficult. She was my last living grand parent at the time. My father passing from stroke (also some time ago) was much the same as he had no cognizance for several months. The time frame of suffering was less for him, but the loss for me at least as painful.
If there is anything I can do... At this point all I can think of is to offer assurance that though difficult, one can carry on one day at a time.
Best of luck on your research and your Mother's rehab.

Dr. Oluseyi is teaching my daughter Physics 1 this term. During his first year here, he helped teach a couple of labs that I now teach for a nanotechnology lab course for freshmen. Is it Discovery Channel or Science Channel?

Thanks, Rich. If you are going to college to get a job solely for the money, then that job won't last long. To make it a fulfilling career instead of a job, you must have the passion that AR's heroes did. The biggest reason for college is the increased diversity of fields that one can go into now. When Lincoln was president, my field of chemical engineering did not exist. John Rockefeller and his Standard Oil Company invented that field. My other areas (materials science, biomedical engineering, and nanotechnology) are such recent inventions that there is a 25% content increase in those fields every couple of years. They require expertise in a number of different areas, rather than the single discipline problems of the 20th century.

I saw a Professor Hakeem Oluseyi (astrophysics) on a discovery channel? show a few days ago, I immediately thought of you and wondered if you knew him since they said he was a Prof. at your university. Small world...

My grandfather couldn't recognize family members by the end either, even my cousin who saw him daily. You have my condolences on your grandmother. I would like to know what AR said or thought about Alzheimer's.

I took away three things from that video I may like to apply to something later--
!. myth ruling reality (as does Chairman Obola)
2. cultural audit
3. the altar of do not offend

100 hours a week? How did you manage your DOTs?
I agree with you, btw.

Mom is getting better. She was in a chair for 2 hours yesterday. Until five days ago, she had been bed 24-7 for a week. She has a 6-8 month rehab, which is a long time for an 82 year old.

As for Alzheimer's disease, I had a project that ended a couple of years ago. The grad student had a lot of good data on how materials self-assemble / aggregate, including chicken egg lysozyme, which an earlier grad student of mine had shown was a really good model of amyloid beta protein misfolding.

I have a pretty poor grad student finishing up a thorough analysis of the protein misfolding literature related to Alzheimer's. In fact, I was editing that chapter of his thesis yesterday. In some respects, I feel like I am writing much of it, but I need to get a couple of papers out on this to get promoted.

Your parents have been in my thoughts as well, k. FIT is a strange place by academic standards, but we do our best to follow Gulch values. We have been rewarded for that.