Feeling Violated and Not Fully Heard
"A months-long conflict has been simmering between a group of faculty and staff members of color and administrators at Queens College after a racist message was found written on a bulletin board on campus. Some professors, employees and students say campus leaders lagged in responding to their demands for new safety measures and mental health supports, which—even after some significant wins—left them feeling burned out and disheartened. Administrators say their response to the incident was thorough and immediate." - Inside Higher Ed, 5/25/22
Gates Foundation pushes to scale dual enrollment and early college
"The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on Tuesday announced a series of six-month grants each totaling about $175,000 to support regional design efforts to boost dual enrollment and early college credit offerings. A dozen groups of organizations around the country are receiving the grants under an initiative the foundation calls Accelerate ED: Seamless Pathways to Degrees and Careers. Students should be able to earn enough credit to finish an associate degree a year after graduating from high school, all while earning career experience at little or no cost, according to the foundation. These pathways are meant to lead to a good job or enable students to transfer to a bachelor’s program." - Higher Ed Dive, 5/25/22
Student Debt’s Impact on Perceived Value of College
"The Federal Reserve Bank does more than set the nation’s monetary policy; it also keeps close tabs on Americans’ views of the economy and their own financial well-being. And the latest iteration of its closely watched household survey reaffirms the people’s belief in higher education but offers some significant warning signs for college leaders. Some of the findings of 'Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2021' buttress those who believe higher education remains essential for individual economic success and satisfaction in the U.S." - Inside Higher Ed, 5/25/22
After splashy opening, Whittle School faces financial struggles
"Three days before Christmas, the founder of a private school with global ambitions sent a bombshell note to families, faculty and staff of the D.C. campus. Paychecks for employees of Whittle School & Studios were a week late, Chris Whittle disclosed, and the financial situation looked dire. It was unclear whether classes would resume after the winter break. ... The school survived that scare, with parents pitching in to help cover the payroll. It plans to hold its first D.C. graduation this week for 14 students in the Class of 2022 — a milestone for an educational start-up that has struggled to live up to grand promises. Uncertainty hangs over the Whittle School nearly three years after it opened in Northwest Washington with about 185 students in tandem with a sister campus in China." - Washington Post, 5/25/22
Blind Review Is Blind to Discrimination
"The blind peer-review process has long been a hallmark of academic research. Blind review ensures that research is evaluated based on the merits of the work, not the individuals who did the work. In theory, this results in better-quality research and mitigates the impacts of bias and gatekeeping in academic publishing. In reality, however, blind review can facilitate the perpetuation of institutional discrimination by turning a blind eye to the identities of those whose work is disseminated and the agendas of their institutions. It is time for academia to rethink the consequences of blind review and create processes to evaluate research that promote the sharing of high-quality work without the unintended consequence of reinforcing legacies of harm." - Inside Higher Ed, 5/25/22
To Restore American Liberty, We Need Colleges that Actually Teach the Liberal Arts
"Collectivists of many stripes—but one aim—have been eating away at our free society for over one hundred years. If we want to reverse America’s current slide into authoritarianism and actively move towards a fully free society, we need to be as clear about our goals as the collectivists have been about theirs. And theirs have always been power and control—to that end, ingeniously using indoctrination masquerading as education. To counter this, our educational goal should be to vigorously nurture that autonomous, active minority in every profession who are capable of being society’s change agents and who are entrepreneurial." - The James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal, 5/25/22
Indiana Lawmakers Override Transgender Sports Veto
"Republican lawmakers in Indiana on Tuesday banned transgender girls from playing on girls’ sports teams at their schools, overriding the veto of Gov. Eric Holcomb, a fellow Republican who said the measure did not address any pressing problem and exposed the state to lawsuits. The override made Indiana the latest conservative state to enact legislation blocking transgender girls or women from playing on sports teams that align with their gender identity. Though the details of the laws vary from place to place, at least 17 other states have introduced restrictions on transgender sports participation in recent years, according to data from the Human Rights Campaign, an L.G.B.T.Q. advocacy group." - New York Times, 5/24/22
Ohio School District’s ‘Transgender Guidelines’ Instruct Teachers to Socially Transition Students without Parental Consent
"In recently developed K-12 'transgender guidelines' circulated among principals and school counselors, the Olentangy Local School District in Ohio instructs teachers to begin the social transitioning of non-gender conforming students without parental consent. The guidelines, obtained by non-profit Parents Defending Education, would advise teachers and staff on how to treat students who identify as a member of the opposite sex, though it’s not clear whether they’ve yet been issued to teachers." - National Review, 5/24/22
Consumer groups seek to force Ed Department to forgive Westwood College students’ loans
"A group of higher ed and consumer advocacy groups filed a lawsuit last week against the U.S. Department of Education requesting debt forgiveness for students who took out federal loans to attend the now-shuttered Westwood College, a for-profit chain. In late 2016, the attorney general for Illinois filed a group borrower defense to repayment application to the Ed Department on behalf of the state’s students who enrolled in Westwood’s criminal justice program. But the Ed Department still hasn’t made a decision on the application, which would grant defrauded students debt forgiveness if approved. The lawsuit follows a letter sent to the Ed Department earlier this month by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul." - Higher Ed Dive, 5/24/22
When Privileged Students Protest
"It occurred to me that the Sarah Lawrence student protesters had quite naturally assumed the position of the weaker party vis-à-vis the college’s administrators. But from the van driver’s perspective, by going public in a self-righteous way, the students had widened their audience to individuals who had a very different understanding of what constituted identity privilege and who held it. To the high-school educated, hourly employee that drove Sarah Lawrence students and visitors around, it was the college students she chauffeured around campus, regardless of race, gender or sexuality, who had quite a bit of power." - Chronicle of Higher Education, 5/24/22
The “woman earn 77% of what men do” is nothing short of dishonest. Fact: It is against the law in the United States to pay two people doing the same exact job different wages. Signs to that effect are posting in countless work places. Not a single person can identify a single job at a single company or organization where a women and a man have the exact same qualifications, do the exact same work, for the exact same number of hours, with the exact same experience and get paid differently for it. No such work place exists in America. If any women actually gets paid less for the exact same job—go get a lawyer, immediately—you’re about to become rich and can then quit your horribly discriminating job.
The answer is obvious, if maybe unpalatable.
The legal and social culture of many higher education institutions has made them very unattractive, even unsafe (in the legal sense) for men. Young men need the information to be able to make an informed choice of the risks they take, both in legal, and academic terms, by attending those institutions.
This is nothing new, and is part and parcel of properly valuing the total worth of higher education, the institutions, and the majors that are offered, as a whole.
Where does consciousness raising begin in a sea of mistaken beliefs?
By raising the question!
I was a blue collar kid who went to a state school- sure- the school made it clear that they felt a need to indoctrinate me away from my incorrect thinking. I specifically remember talking to a dean about a charity event we were involved in- I casually referred to some of the females involved as “girls”- I was ostracized as if I had used the n word (probably not- that would have resulted in a suspension)
While that was frustrating- the main problem with college is that it is too damn expensive for blue collar men. After tuition few of us can afford cars (registration requirements make the junker a thing of the past) or have any pocket money for dates or even beer.
I knew kids who dropped out to take construction jobs- can’t think of any dropping out because of PCism.
Frankly- its all about money.
I agree with the broad points. I have a son in college; I’m glad he’s socially awkward because it reduces the chance of him dating and being accused of things I doubt he would do.
A quibble: there is no conventional statistician’s view that discrepancies are imposed rather than chosen. The conventional statistician reports the discrepancy and asks for information on possible causes. The conventional social scientist or politician assumes a cause and tortures the data into confessing, but not the conventional statistician.
Why would anyone go where they are hated?
I’m not a student but I work at a university. This very day I went into the washroom to take a leak and when I stood at the urinal there was a poster right in my face. It was taped to the wall and asked for students who identified with a “dominant group” to volunteer for a study about how they saw themselves in a classroom built around “anti-oppression.”
Sometimes you can’t even relieve yourself in the men’s room without being shown what you are thought of.
The OCR has required universities to lower evidentiary standards in sexual assault cases to a level below those normally used in murder trials:
http://thefire.org/article/14005.html
I told my son to avoid dating fellow students at all costs.