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Dr. Gregorian's 3 R's: Reading, Writing and Recession
That was quite a crowd at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, last week. Thousands of students took to the streets in protest. But it wasn't an antiwar march -- the campus has a reputation for a lack of activism. It wasn't even a pep rally for UNLV's beloved, championship basketball team, the Runnin' Rebels.
No, they came out to raise hell as they never have before because Jim Gibbons, the governor of Nevada, just proposed state budget cuts to higher education of a whopping 36 percent. At UNLV, that could mean a budget slash of as much as 52 percent and possible tuition increases of 225 percent.
UNLV student and employee Helen Gerth told the Las Vegas Review-Journal, "By the time they get through cutting the budget, this will be a ghost town."
Meanwhile, in Tucson, Arizona, a record thousand people crowded into a meeting of the Arizona Board of Regents to voice their outrage at a proposed cut of more than $600 million from the state's university system. School presidents there say such draconian budget rollbacks could force the elimination of academic departments, even entire colleges.
Lest you think this is a phenomenon limited to the Great American Southwest, things are bad all over. With state governments looking down the barrel of more than $300 billion worth of deficits this year and next, the long knives are out and money for higher public education is a serial victim. Twenty-six states already have either cut their budgets for higher education, raised tuition fees or enacted a combination of both. When it come to college affordability, a report from the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, "Measuring Up: 2008," gives a failing grade of "F" to 49 of the 50. Tuition at public four-year colleges is up an average of more than $6500; at two year schools, almost $2500.
Less and less of that money is going to actual teaching and more of it to administrative and support services. Despite that, The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that many college buildings are "outdated, inefficient, even crumbling."
The states are paring away at their future noses to save their current financial faces, say leading academics, denying dollars to higher education when it's more of an absolute necessity than ever, providing jobs, retraining those who've been laid off, generating the basic and applied research that in the past has driven a country once world-renown for invention and productivity. As one of those who spoke at the Arizona Board of Regents meeting said, "You cannot cut yourself out of a recession. You must grow your way out."
Last October, a meeting was convened in New York City, a gathering of leaders of higher public education who came here to try figure out a way to cope with the current economic crisis and its devastating impact on America's public colleges and universities. The conference was organized by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the philanthropic foundation that fosters and promotes educational opportunity and increased civic participation, and its president, a human dynamo whose career is testament to the value of a lifetime of learning.
Vartan Gregorian, the former president of the New York Public Library and Brown University, is a man of erudition and charm with a passion for philanthropy and wider education. The conference of educators he and the Carnegie Corporation sponsored last fall resulted in a two-page page ad published in major newspapers, an open letter to then President-elect Obama asking that whatever economic stimulus package comes out of Washington in the next few weeks, five percent of it -- around 40 to 45 billion dollars -- go to higher education that will "propel the nation forward in resolving its current economic crisis and lay the groundwork for international economic competitiveness and the well-being of American families into the future."
Gregorian spoke with my colleague Bill Moyers on the most recent edition of Bill Moyers Journal on PBS and noted that it was during another national crisis -- the Civil War -- that Abraham Lincoln had the foresight to sign the Morrill Act establishing public land-grant colleges and universities. Its purpose, the legislation stated, was, not only to create public institutions of higher learning that would teach the traditional curriculum of science and "classical studies" but "to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts... in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions in life."
Lincoln supported the law because he realized the value of education for people who could use the land grant schools not only to advance knowledge but also to learn a trade. Unfortunately, Gregorian said, the public "has the impression that the land grant universities are providing free education to the public. That's not the case."
Public colleges and universities can't compete with private schools, he said, because the salary differentials are so great, yet, "Eighty percent of our nation's talent, in every domain, from lawyers to engineers to doctors, come from public higher education."
Gregorian includes two-year community colleges as well as four-year schools. "We're talking about how to build the next generation of our youth to be able to compete globally, and re-engineer our nation's reemergence in the next phase of global competition," he explained. "We need all the infrastructure. We need all the engineers, all the doctors, all the computer specialists... We can no longer allow 50 percent of our students not to graduate from high school, or 30, 40 percent to drop out from our universities, especially minorities and others...
"We need... to participate as citizens in the fate and future of our country... We cannot have a democracy without its foundation being knowledge, in order to provide progress."
That need is all the more critical in times of economic crisis and if the states are unable or unwilling to come up with the cash, at least the House version of President Obama's economic stimulus package that passed this week include billions for higher education, so apparently someone in the administration is listening to the entreaties of Dr. Gregorian and his colleagues. Nonetheless, the legislation still has a long way to go.
There is an upside to the gloom, Gregorian noted. "Merit always counts, especially when the economy tanks. You find the true value of individuals. I can't tell you how many people are calling me about going into non-profit business... People have suddenly stopped in their tracks and they're looking to see what they could do otherwise... People confront themselves, their values. It's like when you leave a hospital with catastrophic news. You see the world differently."
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53 Comments so far
Show AllTax the property of the uber rich until there are no more rich and the USA will have plenty of money for health care, and superior education.
Why should we treat rich people like kings and queens? They have not earned a special place in the human pantheon. Indeed, most of the uber rich, upon close inspection, show that they are the criminal class of rogues. The rich contribute parasitically not altruistically.
Why should we treat rich people like kings and queens?
Excellent question. And WHY do "we"? Your comment regarding their lack of worthiness among the human pantheon, criminality, and parasitic nature should be included in every media outlet that follows their exploits. Of course, the media (et al) that inculcates this mass deference to the uber wealthy is the reason why they get any "royal" treatment.
Why should we treat people like anything other than people? Where does the idea of treating one person different than another come from? Treat this person worse than the rest, treat this person better than the rest? Are we all equal or not, and what creates inequality? What justifies unequal treatment?
What happens when snowflakes stick together?...............friends come together and have snow ball fights. :)
Leea
If a farmer or rancher has to pay tax on his livestock shouldn't the banker pay tax on his stocks and bonds?
I have seen estimates that indicate the Bush tax cuts, if made permanent, will cost this nation over one trillion dollars a decade in lost tax revenues. Considering that the uber-rich do not pay payroll taxes, do not collect pay checks per se, manage to create deductions on wealth accumulated through investments and have access to a wide ranging number of loopholes and possible deduction one might be safe in saying that they fail a test of good citizenship, paying ones fair share.
It seems time to take our ridiculous tax code and the system which benefits the privileged all out of proportion to the way it treats the working class and revise it dramatically to reflect a fairer and more democratic outlook. How about a flat tax on all earnings, you pay the same percentage of income as does everyone else, whether or not you can afford a $600/hour tax attorney.
Sidebar alert.
I was unfortunate enough to be audited some decade back. The auditor , a self described Attila the Hun, readily admitted that they cannot go after the super wealthy as they simply hadnt the resources to combat the battery of lawyers that would be ranked against them. I guess one can achieve a position of wealth wherein one is truly above the law. Democracy?
"Most people would sooner die than think, in fact they do so. Bertrand Russell
Red Rick
"It seems time to take our ridiculous tax code and the system which benefits the privileged all out of proportion to the way it treats the working class and revise it dramatically to reflect a fairer and more democratic outlook."
Huzzah!!
The vast inequalities in our system are finally being widely recognized, but now what are we to do? In my state, Pennsylvania, the state system of higher education is struggling, and being asked to make drastic cuts in our academic divisions. Meanwhile, Consol Energy and CNX Gas are posting record profits (and despoiling the already devastated landscape of Western Pennsylvania). Just yesterday, Consol posted obscene fourth-quarter profits of $176.3 million, while a year ago it was merely 6.8 million; CNX Gas reported profits of $57.5 million nearly double its year-ago profits of 29.9 million (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 1/30/09). At the same time, PNC and S&T Banks, both deemed "healthy" banks, are receiving hundreds of millions in bailout money. Thanks to taxpayer bailout money, PNC acquired National City and expects to report a profit on February 3. Indeed, its stock jumped on Friday a wopping 16 percent.
The tone of the business pages of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has been downright gleeful about these profit reports. Further, the remarks of bank analysts indicate they are consciously gaming the system. For example, one analyst remarks that PNC "did not expect to ask for more government money than the $7.6 billion . . . because it will carry much greater strings and penalties" (PPG, 1/22/09). So are we to conclude that the banks only take government money when they can profit? What do Pennsylvanians tell college students who have to work two jobs, deal with huge classes, and assume massive debt? Besides the underfunded universities, the PA state of infrastructure, in general, is crumbling. How about an extraction tax on gas and oil drilling, and a tax on financial transactions (mergers, for starters) to support public roads, schools, and environmental initiatives?
So what should we do? WE MUST DEMAND CHANGE!
Camille
Sioux Rose
CAMILLE: Righteous right-on post. The $ exists, it's a matter of priorities, and who determines them. There's $ for the bloated energy monopolies, $ for guns for hire (Blackwater), $ for war, $ for bailing out banks who BROUGHT THE ECONOMY to its knees... but health care? education for the mere proletariat? decent jobs at home?
If Obama does NOT deliver when the NEED is so vast and runs across the entire political spectrum, then angry masses will emerge. If that proves the case, we progressives had better pray that these individuals not determine a strong father figure leader will save them/us... fascism foments in times of vastly unequal wealth distribution and the U.S. is a petri-dish of exactly that potential outcome.
"So what should we do? WE MUST DEMAND CHANGE!"
Camille,
I agree - we must demand change. The question is - from whom?
Do we demand change from the bankers and Wall Street tycoons? Do we demand change from Congress or from the well-heeled lobbyists who wine and dine Congresspeople to keep the money rolling up? Do we demand change from the rich or the rich wanna-be's?
None of them want things to change. Yeah, there are histrionics and kabuki theater, but THEY won't change unless they have to, and as of yet, they don't have to. Even when they rob us of trillions of dollars (it will get there sooner than we think), they will not change. They are immovable. Money and power does that to people.
I have asked myself this question over the years, and while I used to rail (still do on occasion) about the inequities and demands for change, I have been forced to finally look into the mirror and see that I am the only one who can really change. Oh, I think we must demand change from those who mis-represent us, but what is their motivation to change for us? We're chump change to them.
This whole system requires energy. Think copper-top energy, ala "The Matrix." We, you and I, are the batteries that work and earn and toil and exhaust ourselves so that this system can keep funneling our money right up the pyramid. If events from the last year don't show that to us, then nothing ever will.
So, I agree - we must demand change. However, that change must come from us. It can only come from us. Once we stop buying into the system, literally by refusing to buy (as in purchase) the goods and services that support those in power, the system will start to change. No other way can work, IMO. The game is rigged, it's ginned up. We can demand that THEY change all we want, but they won't - they will not change. We, must change. We must band together and help each other out to live as simply and cheaply as possible. We must put everything we can into personal savings and local economies and direct support of those with less. We must start living a black market life - bartering, giving, getting, growing, lending - outside the system as much as possible. Yes, it will hurt, but the pain we will feel otherwise will be much worse if we don't change ourselves.
"All Nature's difference keeps all Nature's peace." Alexander Pope
"None of them want things to change." Is that true?
What happens when snowflakes stick together?...............friends come together and have snow ball fights. :)
Leea
History says it's true. The well-heeled don't want change to that which brung 'em and will rig the game to make sure things don't change for them.
That's not to say they won't or can't change - they can, but only by force.
It has been ever thus.
"All Nature's difference keeps all Nature's peace." Alexander Pope
Universities and colleges would seem to be the natural jumpstart infrastructure for locally based training, research and service programs. Train and institute service - grads serve x years in the the immediate and regional community, have their tuition paid and grow local technologies and services.
Looking at New England and the question of getting alternative energy retrofits going, health clinics, local transit networks... funding resources including those posted above...
one major problem is that an educated person might conclude they don't want to play gregorian's game of nationalism and economic competition.
how about education for democratic participation and to enjoy one's life?
it makes me cringe that when our 'leaders' talk about ed. all they can think of is how the u.s. is losing ground to the chinese or whatever.
to which i say, who gives a crap? if i and my fellow citizens can't enjoy life, who cares if we outcompete the chinese? isn't this 'ed. as path to increased production/consumptin' what got us in this mess in the 1st place?
Yah, when the motivation of our leaders is drummed up by comparing our education to a dictators country, it shows how well our current education system taught our "brightest" and "best".
What happens when snowflakes stick together?...............friends come together and have snow ball fights. :)
Leea
The less government solution is to cut costs.
Stop buying copy paper. They tried this at my grad school department. It cut costs just a bit, and everyone hated it.
Cut janitor costs. Our department cherished its key to the toilet paper closet.
You can always blame the teacher unions for football programs that suck up the university's energy. Or you can turn the building heat off.
Seriously, colleges don't have a clue about the invention side of research and development. Yes we need trained engineers for product development, but the tooth fairy is going to perform the invention side?
"Less and less of that money is going to actual teaching and more of it to administrative and support services."
This is at least 50% of our problem. Too many teachers in administration, too much administration.
The cost of textbooks is scandalous. The number of superfulous courses in universities has been growing for years.
"Public colleges and universities can't compete with private schools, he said, because the salary differentials are so great"
I believe the talent in the private universities is overated. They have some heavy hitters but the majority aren't that much different. Its not teaching talent thats at fault here. Rules and regulations drive out some of our finest teachers, especially at the primary and secondary level.
Many years ago I was the Data Processing Manager for a County Office of Education. We oversaw the business of 14 school districts in the County, and at a time when parents were requested to send their children to school with pencils and paper as the schools could afford none.
I submitted a proposal to consolidate computer paper purchases ( I used nine tons a year) that would have saved the Office $24,000/quarter, chump change in a multi million dollar budget to be sure but enough to buy paper and pencils for crying out loud. The proposal was rejected because to do so would have deprived various dept. heads of their salespersons thus eliminating free lunches, gifts and golf. Further I was informed that the budgets of the schools and the office were separate and could not transfer money from one to the other, yet, each year, in order to fully spend the budget, we received new furniture to replace last years new furniture!
I hated that job and when mandated to cut 12% out of my budget I streamlined the DP dept with new Sun Micro computers that cut payroll from 16 hours to four, eliminating 25% of the workforce including my own job....I felt very good about leaving!
This story is pretty typical of governments everywhere.
"Most people would sooner die than think, in fact they do so. Bertrand Russell
Red Rick
Great post! A perfect example of what I was trying to say.
"This story is pretty typical of governments everywhere."
True. But for a town of 11,000 we have both a superintendent and an asst. superintendet, they each have an assistant and each has a secretary....we have 3, count em...3 curriculae directors, etc.
So I submit that education is even more overloaded....at least in Texas. Some have argued we need more help of course.
alfredog
Academic freedom is extremely important as long as it goes hand in hand with academic responsibility. In college you can't teach in a straight jacket can you.
You say folks are a lot dumber than they used to be. Not dumber maybe, just not as well educated? but isn't that because our government schools have failed them?
Wasn't there more to Churchills dismissal than his "little Eichmanns" statement?
Send some of that sun up here!
"That's what I said, Thomas. Try reading my post again rather than ripping it off.
I believe I scolded you a couple of days ago about plagiarism...?"
Hummm...I didn't read "serves the political interests of control to have ignorant "citizens"--sort of like "keep 'em barefoot and pregnant" to be the same as "our schools faied them." Still don't.
"because they had tenure, which is another system problem that goes directly against academic responsibility. I could tell some horror stories about that, but probably don't need to."
No you don't.
"Thomas--pure (white) as the driven snow, just like your racism that you post daily here"
Thats just uncalled for and offensive. At no time have you ever seen a racist remark from me. Please put it up if you have. Where today for instance?
By the way, where in the world did you get the idea I was white?
Sun's out!
Thats what I thought.
Thomas,
Ward Churchill , who was in the Bay Area as late as 2007, noted that those who worked in the WTC participated in the global ripoff of the worlds resources and the unfair distribution of said resources ( my words not his) and thus were the real culprits responsible for the actions of those who fight against said ripoff. For that and that alone he was axed.
Just as Bill Maher was fired for noting that it took more courage to fly a plane into a building in support of ones cause than it took to fire missiles from twenty five miles offshore. Just as a man I truly admired for his life's work as a Chicago teacher and his lifelong activism , including marching with Dr. King in Selma and Montgomery, was banned from democraticunderground. His crime , in response to the question,"why were we attacked on 9/11" was simple, direct and quite accurate.He noted,"because we deserved it."
"Most people would sooner die than think, in fact they do so. Bertrand Russell
Thanks very much for the information. Serena gets carried away sometimes.
So the official letters went out to all the children, mothers, fathers, wives, husbands, grandfathers, grandmothers, friends.
We are sorry that your child, lover, daughter, son, mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, died. They deserved it, and so did you.
????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
What happens when snowflakes stick together?...............friends come together and have snow ball fights. :)
Leea
Are government schools the apex of a child's education?
What happens when snowflakes stick together?...............friends come together and have snow ball fights. :)
Leea
Good comment. I was a Teacher/Principal in public education for the last 12 years and recently left education to work in the gas fields. Number 1 reason: Academic Freedom. The NCLB leaves us with a "canned-curriculum" that ultimately destroys public education and leaves our children far, far behind.
I fear for the future of this country.
Which do you imagine will win in the end, change or stagnation?
What happens when snowflakes stick together?...............friends come together and have snow ball fights. :)
Leea
Sioux Rose
ALFRED: With all due respect you just fell into what George Lakoff would define as the TRAP of framing. Why lend credulity to Leea's either-or premise? Some stagnate and some learn, some are NEVER held back even if that is the intention of the system. Some believe that when the controls get the thickest, it indicates the elite recognize the power of change rumbling through their midst. The "frame" of "winning" is itself absurd. It's such a limited way of looking at the PROCESS of human beings and the long education that constitutes their evolution.
LEEA: Your earlier post about obeying what is right is VERY troubling. It sounds like you come from an authoritarian background. Generally to OBEY is to cast aside one's innate sovereignty. Respect for law is another matter, following a gifted individual's LIFE example is another matter; but obey? Time after time history shows what happens when people "obey." The military trains its members into obedience and look where their efforts are directed? 90% of the time at destroying, not BUILDING or CREATING or HONORING.
Sioux Rose
ALFREDOG: Excellent post. Thank you for sharing it.
Speaking of education, I've been coming across an increasing number of students every year who are the victims of college professors failing entire classes like crazy. David Horowitz would never bother nailing such crooks.
"In fact, for a number of years there has been a real gutting of academic standards and a serious problem of Grade Drift--C students getting Bs, B students getting As--and very few being failed--especially in the private universities where they are, after all, paying customers."
Absolute truth. And its not just universities. Its rife in elementary and secondary schools. Its becaome a real problem in Texas.
"And its not just universities. Its rife in elementary and secondary schools. Its becaome a real problem in Texas."
The NCLB Act has been the real culprit that accelerated this kind of desperate propping and cheating. Of course, even in the 1980s I would hear of reports about students getting promoted to the next grade despite having badly failed.
The problem with the school system is that K-12, nothing useful really gets taught. By the time college arrives, the instructors assume that the students know everything and often absolve their responsibilities of teaching.
My opinion is that NCLB is a useless can of worms. I understasd from teachers here they spend time teaching the test rather than educating.
That kind of testing is useless.
Well known private institutions are always known for buttressing students on grades but not all are the same. I'm already well aware of those institutions that cheat the system and devalue the value of grades as you've described.
"If a student who failed tells you that everybody failed, I would take that with a HUGE spoonful of salt. He probably doesn't want to admit he didn't bother to go to class, do the work or take the exams and was actually out partying all the time."
In fact, sir, I actually saw the proof for myself to confirm that this was for real so you cannot say that students are always lying.
And there I was living/stuck upon a planet called earth..that is as good as name as any to call a planet I guess..that is located somewhere in a rather large vast universe. Another problem came upon Caesar's world it appeard as suddenly States did not have the money to subsidize the Knowledge Hoarders so students were going to have to pony up the money to attend the schools of the Knowledge Hoarders out of their own pockets..or their parent's pockets...
Or get a job.
Even though lots & lots of people were losing their jobs...
The Knowledge Hoarders had Hoarded lots & lots of knowledge, tons of it, and they said..if you want the knowledge we have hoarded you must pay us...MONEY..to get the knowledge we have hoarded...and the piece of paper with words printed on it so you can prove you have learned the knowledge we have hoarded then you must pay us.
Sounded real fishy to me, but I am only on my journey through this world. Perhaps if human beings only hunted, fished, grew & gathered some food, lived simply with the earth, simply with each other, were friends, & shared the bounty the earth provide for them they wouldn't even need money to live upon the earth?
As the tribes did for 1000's & 1000's of years without any need for the schools of the Knowledge Hoarders.
Life is good. What an experience!
Awesome shadow dancer! We may not do as we did for thousands of years exactly, but hoarding bad knowledge and paying for bad knowledge hoarded is a recipe for disaster, we will need to live differently and back in tune with natural life no doubt.
What happens when snowflakes stick together?...............friends come together and have snow ball fights. :)
Leea
Sioux Rose
This metaphor would make for an excellent children's book, a cautionary tale like The Emperor's New Clothes. Thanks for sharing it.
Dear Patriots:
Funding Education? Wake up! Trillions for the War Machine. Trillions to criminals on Wall Street. We are bankrupt...so what! On and on.....Nothing has changed!!
The ruling class teaches their children to govern. Our children are taught to Obey!
The cesspool of corruption is so filthy and deep! The usual cabal of neocons and their billionaire bosses continue in power and are herding us into TOTAL slavery! Sharpen your pitchforks!
"When once a republic is corrupted there is no possibility of remedying any of the growing evils but by removing the corruption . . . every other correction is either useless or a new evil".
- Thomas Jefferson
"Our children are taught to Obey!"-yes but they are taught to obey wrong.
Children should be taught to obey right, what they perceive as right by exercising critical thinking. Right and wrong becomes a toss up when higher thinking combined with anchored morality are brought into action.
What happens when snowflakes stick together?...............friends come together and have snow ball fights. :)
Leea
"We need... to participate as citizens in the fate and future of our country... We cannot have a democracy without its foundation being knowledge, in order to provide progress."
"Merit always counts, especially when the economy tanks. You find the true value of individuals. I can't tell you how many people are calling me about going into non-profit business... People have suddenly stopped in their tracks and they're looking to see what they could do otherwise... People confront themselves, their values. It's like when you leave a hospital with catastrophic news. You see the world differently."
These two quotes seen together, say it all.
What happens when snowflakes stick together?...............friends come together and have snow ball fights. :)
Leea
I've placed some comments on this situation at this web site: -
http://www.usaliberalism.com/
the ghosts from past excesses and flawed economic policies are coming back to haunt us.
1. Deindustrializing the nation was not a good idea. Passing investment on to Singapore, Taiwan, the Dominican Republic or Honduras was not a good idea when it left this country with a factory base for generating good paying job. We have become an economy of bankers who oversee foreign investments indirectly.
2. A nation of workers whose income is less than sufficient to pay for their own housing costs will not be willing to pay $8-10,000 per year that the average state supported college course now costs in Michigan.
Looks like they censored my first post in this discussion.
So I'll write a reasonable facsimile.
They used to call such episodes panics. Just acceptable perterbations by the banking and merchant class where very few of THEM get hurt, while they, their military and police elite, overseers, favored yeomanry, and artisans conduct and ignore genocide, slavery, murder, oppression, etc.
This is NOT a recession.
This is NOT a depression.
This is the END OF THE CAPITALIST SYSTEM!
And GOOD RIDDANCE!!!
It would be a good idea to begin working on replacing the dead system with one that cheishes life.
Mike Morin
www.peoplesequityunion.blogspot.com