Yea, but that's because the feds haven't figured our how to get into the Dakotas without going through Red Bud Reservation and they all want to keep their hair.

Actually, the cute little blond that owned the company said she would pay the fines for us for the first six months until we learned the "tricks." She never did have to pay any by the time the gas prices dropped to the $3 range and the lease holders quit drilling.

No DOTs for the gasfields at that time, so much of the mileage was off road. Last year of driving we had to start that crap and it was "creative writing" at the end of the day.....

This starts MUCH younger and I lived in hostile environments just trying to stay NEUTRAL, or letting my students express themselves according to their beliefs and interests.

That was in ELEMENTARY school.
Despite decades as an educator, there is a SET of reasons I home school my daughter.

I stand corrected. The article I read a while back actually said all of the materials for most of their courses is free online (about 2,000 of them at the time). It also has a number of other sources for free educational materials: http://www.iflscience.com/technology/tak...

He cheated! That's why their called Swindle Sheets. And many employers place production before the risk of fines, not caring about any risk of life.

Beauty, and the antithesis thereof is in the eye of the beholder, and many of them see monetary forms as the only measurement.
But lets just say that you are interested in pure science and knowledge, where are the schools of hard knocks for those disciplines. How many of us would be dead if Jonas Salk had not graduated from NYU. How many would have gotten sick and possibly died if Louis Pasture hadn't graduated E'ccole de Paris.
Sure, there have been many without degrees and education who've done well, the list presented by P&T is only a small start. But reality must enter the program because the odds of you or I being one of them tomorrow, is so far beyond binary odds (50:50) that it is ridiculous.
Salient, statistically viable fact says that an individual who attends college will earn 25 percent more in a lifetime. A person who graduates will earn 33 to 45 percent more, and a person with an advanced degree will earn, depending 45-70 percent more than a high school graduate. Life is full of personal choices, we all have to make them.

Totally agreed on those points.

"Most people don't realize what they are buying when they choose a university."
My comments about being akin to a racket are more the perception that college is just what you do after high school, with no regard to price or what you get. If people look at the price and what they get, I'm fine with that, even if they just want to party. My problem is with consumers rightly deciding things like education, getting married, having a baby are important and then turning off their brains and writing a blank check.

I think it's possible that because you were an engineering student, you may have seen less of what the agitating professors do. I was in college 30 years ago, and it was everywhere. Not broiling like the late 60s but simmering under the surface of a prosperous and productive 80s. There was lots of resentment against capitalism and business. Professors were somehow pure because they weren't in business, and there was great antipathy for pro-business minded students. I had a sociology professor who wore a suit and Birkenstocks to class (even in winter). Sociology was required for my degree. Anyway, by the time he was done hammering away at the private sector, you were nervous to challenge his lectures, let alone write a paper asking questions I'm sure many of his students had that conflicted with his views. But you were paying for that class, so why would you risk a C or a D on your paper? It got so , for me, I just wanted to hurry up and get done with it all. Luckily in grad school, I had some great economic profs.

Read my comment below about how it occurs in Florida on the state level.

Regarding my paragraph regarding "most people don't realize what they are buying when they choose a university", I believe the Hallings would refer to this as "fraud in the inducement", if "inducement" is a word.

I agree with most of what you say. At Florida Tech, we are just plain different. To provide what the students and parents pay for, it costs about $33 K per year + $15 K for room and board if the students so choose. If someone pays appreciably less than that, then they are getting subsidized through state taxes or property taxes or they are not having their classes taught by Ph.D. faculty (i.e. most faculty at community colleges). I agree with your comments regarding politics and frugality.
One thing I particularly detest here in Florida is how many of the state senators and representatives (particularly the Republicans) get themselves appointed as part-time adjunct faculty at the state universities and community colleges for when they are not doing government business. Needless to say, now I am forced to subsidize my competition!

Just to be clear, I never vote for Democrats, but more often vote for libertarians or conservatives. In Florida 90% of the elected Republicans are RINOs.

Most people don't realize what they are buying when they choose a university. Almost everyone is buying an undergraduate degree, whereas at most major universities (not Florida Tech), the emphasis is on research because more money comes in that way. National rankings are based much more on the quality of research and graduate education, so people are buying something other than what they think they are buying. Some places like Florida Tech will tell you that. I provide High Tech with a Human Touch, primarily at the undergraduate level. Yes, we benefit from the student loans, but we give value for value.

like the US government

great story jim.

exactly.

They have free online courses. They do not offer all their courses online. and it's separate from tehir degreed programs. My son has made use of their free program for some time now.

It's becoming so akin to a cynical racket that I don't think they'll be able to maintain it for much longer.

"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"

I love this idea! I've heard MIT has all their classes online free. And there are always books, the internet, apprenticeships, and on-the-job training. It's the knowledge that's important, not where an individual received it.

I explicitly tell them that I am teaching them how to think because that what was what my dad insisted on. This is why Florida Tech and I are truly different.

Thanks, straightlinelogic. I'm looking forward to your next novel.

Thanks, Technocracy. It's been a rough go of it this month.

I hope things get better for you soon on the family front JB

Going to college has simply lost it's original meaning. It has become, instead, a rite of passage for certain people who can afford it. First of all, only 25-30% of those starting college, ever graduate. Then, when they do, many are ill equipped to get a job because they often know less than some of high school nerds. Technical schools and trade schools are the only ones in today's society make any sense for anyone who wants training for a future career. Most of the rest are participating in a very expensive social experience.

"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."
There's that joke about it being a huge year-long party with a $25k cover charge. There is some truth to it. There are cheaper ways to party and hang out and make connections.