the fuck is wrong with this country today.

especially this: "Modern politics is drawing bizarre new battle lines between “family values” and a halfway decent education." So true and so very scary.

You mention Santorum having degree , well so does Romney and just think his children are going to college while he was telling the rest of us our children do not need to go. A long time ago I met the GOP chairman and was talking to him I told him I was just about to graduate from college and what he told me changed my whole political view. He said I did not deserve to go to college. That with a degree I could get a better job than I deserved for my station and was taking a position from one of their children or family members. I would like to say that is wrong but I ended up working at the only place near my home it is completely friends and family, or go to the right church. They are put in place based on relationship but if someone not in the clan put in for the job they get told qualifications and they get longer each time. For instance you have to have a college degree, they hire theology and photo journal degrees but my son who has a medical and science degree I get told they are only hiring people with this degree ( based on physics and science), even better being told that to be eligible for supervisor position you have had to work everywhere on plant site. Be in a lead position for 7 years and not only have a bachelors degree but must be certified. They hire someone who has been there less than 5 years only worked in one building and an associate degree in business. Sorry about getting a little off topic but I do believe this is what is wrong with the whole country. Social filtering.

or people serve the economy, it is pretty clear where Walker stands, isn't it?

And it's pretty much as common among democratic voters as it is in the teahadists.

I did much of my teaching career here in 'comprehensive' colleges. Comprehensive is a term that is intended to suggest programming in vocational carreers, they stand in less and less contrast to "Liberal Arts Colleges". As a consequence I'm more familiar with this attitude than I would like to be.

Kids and parents frequently complained about 'liberal arts requirements' meaning 'general studies requirements'. The argument was that it wasn't stuff that would ever help them on their job. The short version of my response to them was "adult Americans are awake about 105 hours a week, a work week is 40 hours, most people need some education and training for a modern job. But to really appreciate life and contribute to the richness of lives of others, most people need education for those other 65 hours.


The more polemic version remains: During those 65 hours we practice citizenship, neighborliness, parenting and act as counselors and advisors to family and friends. General education benefits our ability to function in -all- those roles. And the general education helps us appreciate and enjoy the world around us, whether it's art, music, natural history or an appreciation for the physics involved in the tight spin of an ice-skater, or 'door drafting' in the Daytona 500. General education is a great gift, people who don't acquire it are at a handicap to live well and enjoy the greatest part of their waking life, the part of life that is so precious we want great jobs so we can buy it. But that precious life isn't for sale at WalMart. It's available in a time efficient way through education in general studies.


It's the difference between driving cross country and being bored to death, and driving cross country and being amazed and entertained by reading the landscape of America.

and the regional colleges (all the other UW campuses aside from Madison which will get by w/its grant money, high tuition, and alumni bequests) to stay open and provide jobs he should rethink his message.

When I was growing up in the 70s in Wisconsin (in the poor, rural area in the middle of the state) it was not uncommon for someone like me to end up at University. It didn't matter that my parents were high school graduates from small towns who worked in factories - it was a badge of honor that a child from the family would get excellent grades and go to Madison. The campus accepted the top 10% from the state high schools and they charged us reasonable rates (my tuition was under $1000 per semester in the 80s).

I don't even recognize Wisconsin anymore.

Reagan's recessions and GHWB recession had students and parents wanting more vocational and less general studies, and that's what the little schools mostly did.

I think many people in WI still want their kids to get a college/university education... but more and more they don't want that education 'burdened' with things that aren't related to working lives.

I'm glad to be beyond it.

This:

The Tea Party thrives on blue-collar “common sense” that is composed of a combination of ignorance, superstition and fear. A literate and educated populace is an existential threat to the kind of thoughtless rage that has consumed the right over the past few years.

Besides, there is inherent value to education even if someone isn’t paying you for it. I know my life would be less satisfying without it. For instance, if I had turned my back on education, I could have ended up as an ignorant asshole trying to turn back the very hands of human progress, much like the party to which I once belonged.

I wish it was a "tired" attack. But they never get tired. That's the problem. The conservative movement has a hyperalloy combat chassis and a 120-year power supply.

Education gives you ability to think for yourself and to come up with your concussions for the greater good of the masses.

Indoctrination gives the ability of the few to lead the masses without being questioned.

This is the continuing discussion of what is needed in today's educational service i.e. 'how much do we teach to the test?'

HereSince1628 nailed it with the following:

Kids and parents frequently complained about 'liberal arts requirements' meaning 'general studies requirements'. The argument was that it wasn't stuff that would ever help them on their job. The short version of my response to them was "adult Americans are awake about 105 hours a week, a work week is 40 hours, most people need some education and training for a modern job. But to really appreciate life and contribute to the richness of lives of others, most people need education for those other 65 hours.

something to say about that.

or achieve their full human potential, or open their minds to new possibilities, or use critical thinking to know when they are being BSed, or develop empathy for other sentient beings, or unite in the struggle for equal justice, or learn what history can teach us, or be exposed to dangerous ideas -- ideas that are contrary to religion and laissez faire capitalism? Why indeed?

Which path to take? Acceptance and compassion require energy. Base instincts, basic needs, hatred, fear all require little thought. The wise man understands that he is ignorant. Education is an end in itself. I would much rather work with a philosophy major than a 'business' major because philosophy is much more interesting.

Add into the mix that many believe in pre-destination and it's next to impossible to have a thoughtful conversation about a meaningful topic. Are we killing the planet? Of course we are. It's the stupid people that will bring about the destruction of humanity, certainly not the smart ones.

James Inhofe? A senator? Dumb as a bag of hair, but the people of Oklahoma elected him multiple times apparently. Talk about a State where the people are too lazy to think. Educated people don't elect James Inhofe or Ted Cruz or Michelle Bachman (my States contribution) or Scott Walker.

The fact is that in order for a democracy to work, the population has to be educated and involved. Conservative attacks on education and our own citizens apathy have eroded our democracy to the point that now we have an oligarchy.

I used to think I'd see single payer health care in my lifetime. Now I know I won't. Maybe this is what we deserve. Maybe, like drug abusers, we'll have to hit rock bottom before the population decides to exercise its muscle. Certainly during the next reformation, these years will be considered the dark ages. I think Orwell knew a long time ago what the world was heading toward.

"Morans" get bent out of shape because two men want to marry but could care less that the Pacific is dying. Idahoan gun nuts hoard ammunition fully knowing that our own military could kill them from a console room in Florida.

Oh well. I'm telling myself things will be much better under Hillary....

When I joined the army in the mid 2000's I was a hot headed conservative 19 year old. Fast forward 6 years and a combat tour in Afghanistan I realized the very same conservative "supporters" were the same people not funding the troops when we come home. Main stream conservatism has blinded America into believing the fact that they want a better America. In fact they don't support anything, most importantly education and healthcare. I am out of the Army and am very much a democrat now because in my opinion, in order to have a great strong country, we have to take care of our own.

My father was in the Army in the early 50's and fought in Korea. After returning home with wounds, he took advantage of the newly created GI Bill and earned a degree in chemical engineering.

Our political leaders at the time, including Republicans, understood the importance of education and realized investing in free educations for our returning veterans of WWII & Korea would pay great dividends to the nation in the long run. They were right to believe that because using my father as an example, our country earned back the initial investment they made in his education, and benefited from the high taxes he paid throughout his very successful career.

Imagine what our country would be like if we just took a small portion of our military budget each year, and offered our young adults a free college education. Instead we are witnessing the decline of education and college degrees are quickly becoming a mere pipe dream for most young adults.

I really do fear for your generation's future and hope to see, one day, a concerted push back against our devolving nation.

Good op-ed!

has this quote:

Without a broad, general education, people can become subject to the ignorant beliefs of the uninformed, misinformed, and brain-washed. I believe destroying intelligence and replacing it with "Republican common sense" is the essential platform of the Republican party. That and their willingness to force their ignorance onto the entire population.

They believe the Senator With The Snowball. Or put another way, ignorance is bliss, making Repugs blisters.

Some say failing is the beginning of learning, and the American society under the surface is loaded with old world behavior and habits that are not fading fast enough to help Americans move forward.

Actually it is the Conservatives of today that are incorrectly defined. The best example is the University person so embedded in the social structure, so embedded in our government. Think about it, the massive majority are college educated people that run our government.

Then why is it so corrupted, brimming with false positives, our language carries over from the old world referring to Latin an old tyranny is brought to this age.

Americans are swamped with marketing lies, political lies that are not challenged yet a citizen has the right to challenge each other in the court of law.

It’s obvious those political people are building their family fortunes within the context of a super-code built in the legislation by our very University system.

Americans endow the University with billions of dollars in funding via taxes with good connections through our military industrial complex.

Further media professionals denounce Unionism a basic fundamental to the first amendment, yet ignore crime families like Bush that profiteer with arrogance in warring, politics and sacked the treasure for the last century, all college people.

My new endeavor is to study Shakespeare or old English King James and master the iambic pentameter to understand how to interpret language and examine the syntax and semantics. A key reason it is necessary to peel away from the old world fascist mental mind.

We can define that notion of hands on as a first level. However and most important it takes a mental perception of a new degree, a new pedagogy to understand life not taught in the tradition of the last century, or centuries. Mastering an intuitive method is key in the next millennium. Hands on is ok but not good enough.

Many of the learned society know that the mathematics taught of this age by computer is far more comprehensive.

It is exampled by the Calculus taught out of a two dimensional book, or the blackboard, white board, is not as good with a sense perception being able to visualize key concepts to reason.

The days of using words without too much explanation are fading, example words like; thus, let, it follows, further, or we will let the reader work out the proof, are examples of insufficient discussion. Most of all nothing is satisfied in mathematics. And the kicker zero is defined in advanced math.

Especially within a thought process as through computer vision carefully labeled by programming just like the food we eat. We need to know what mental algorithm is in the learning process or what it was mean to be.

This new age of computer based education with new video communications make the old college methods outdated bringing in a new and more ambitious student with teachers that will have far more recognition.

It’s interesting that Da Vinci was the Grandmaster of a secret society, moreover one of the first to study photo diffraction yet music in acoustics of the time, with art and painting was the only audio and visual meter that blended in the senses to help analyze the phenomena. Today with the computer we make a quantum leap.

Modern Democratic politics push the notion that education is a business to be privatized and run by corporations, because actual educators aren't competent.

in Jamaica and lived in one of the poorest areas there. We adopted her when she was 7 and she lived here in very Democratic family. She received a good liberal education. Then she joined the Marines and graduated from the Citadel - first black woman. She came out of that school a died in the wool R. I think she has rethought much of what she was taught there but she and her husband are still connected to the Army.