The Swamp

Defense Against the Liberal Arts

The Sybian wrote: ↑Wed Mar 21, 2018 8:44 am

Pruitt wrote: ↑Wed Mar 21, 2018 5:33 am University of Wisconsin campus pushes plan to drop 13 majors — including English, history and philosophy

What I found most alarming was this...

The plan to cut the liberal arts and humanities majors (see full list below) is in line with a failed attempt by Republican Gov. Scott Walker in 2015 to secretly change the mission of the respected university system — known as the Wisconsin Idea and embedded in the state code — by removing words that commanded the university to “search for truth” and “improve the human condition” and replacing them with “meet the state’s workforce needs.”

That is shocking, even for these assholes. Must remove Liberal Arts, because it has the word "Liberal" in it? They should remove all sciences, too, and replace it with Christian studies. Sure, it's a government school, but it's OK because we are a Christian Nation, and the Constitution demands we put Christianity above all other religions and before the rule of law.

Didn't even think about the word "Liberal," I was just more stunned that the prevailing idea is that anything that doesn't "meet the state's workforce needs" is without any value. Turning universities into trade schools, creating a state full of young drones incapable of doing anything other than dairy farming or building widgets.

Голосовать рано, часто голосовать

Pruitt wrote: ↑Wed Mar 21, 2018 10:18 am

The Sybian wrote: ↑Wed Mar 21, 2018 8:44 am

Pruitt wrote: ↑Wed Mar 21, 2018 5:33 am University of Wisconsin campus pushes plan to drop 13 majors — including English, history and philosophy

What I found most alarming was this...

The plan to cut the liberal arts and humanities majors (see full list below) is in line with a failed attempt by Republican Gov. Scott Walker in 2015 to secretly change the mission of the respected university system — known as the Wisconsin Idea and embedded in the state code — by removing words that commanded the university to “search for truth” and “improve the human condition” and replacing them with “meet the state’s workforce needs.”

That is shocking, even for these assholes. Must remove Liberal Arts, because it has the word "Liberal" in it? They should remove all sciences, too, and replace it with Christian studies. Sure, it's a government school, but it's OK because we are a Christian Nation, and the Constitution demands we put Christianity above all other religions and before the rule of law.

Didn't even think about the word "Liberal," I was just more stunned that the prevailing idea is that anything that doesn't "meet the state's workforce needs" is without any value. Turning universities into trade schools, creating a state full of young drones incapable of doing anything other than dairy farming or building widgets.

To play Devil's advocate here, the story might be misleading. It looks like it is one campus, not the entire university system making this change. There could be a legit reason for consolidating majors to different campuses within the university system. It's not uncommon for one school in a system to specialize. No idea what the specifics are here, but if they want one campus to focus on business and marketing, it might make sense to put the systems resources for those majors on one campus, and leave Liberal Arts to the other 12 universities in the system.

I think the issue is that the University of Wisconsin system is so well-respected academically. You can get a similar education at the Stevens Point or Whitewater campuses as you can in Madison, so I imagine it's kind of galling to a lot of Wisconsinites(?) to try and turn Stevens Point into some kind of trade school essentially.

The Sybian wrote: ↑Wed Mar 21, 2018 8:44 am

Pruitt wrote: ↑Wed Mar 21, 2018 5:33 am University of Wisconsin campus pushes plan to drop 13 majors — including English, history and philosophy

What I found most alarming was this...

The plan to cut the liberal arts and humanities majors (see full list below) is in line with a failed attempt by Republican Gov. Scott Walker in 2015 to secretly change the mission of the respected university system — known as the Wisconsin Idea and embedded in the state code — by removing words that commanded the university to “search for truth” and “improve the human condition” and replacing them with “meet the state’s workforce needs.”

That is shocking, even for these assholes. Must remove Liberal Arts, because it has the word "Liberal" in it? They should remove all sciences, too, and replace it with Christian studies. Sure, it's a government school, but it's OK because we are a Christian Nation, and the Constitution demands we put Christianity above all other religions and before the rule of law.

The University of Wisconsin, a subsidiary of DeVry Institute.

The Sybian wrote: ↑Wed Mar 21, 2018 10:56 am

Pruitt wrote: ↑Wed Mar 21, 2018 10:18 am

The Sybian wrote: ↑Wed Mar 21, 2018 8:44 am

Pruitt wrote: ↑Wed Mar 21, 2018 5:33 am University of Wisconsin campus pushes plan to drop 13 majors — including English, history and philosophy

What I found most alarming was this...

The plan to cut the liberal arts and humanities majors (see full list below) is in line with a failed attempt by Republican Gov. Scott Walker in 2015 to secretly change the mission of the respected university system — known as the Wisconsin Idea and embedded in the state code — by removing words that commanded the university to “search for truth” and “improve the human condition” and replacing them with “meet the state’s workforce needs.”

That is shocking, even for these assholes. Must remove Liberal Arts, because it has the word "Liberal" in it? They should remove all sciences, too, and replace it with Christian studies. Sure, it's a government school, but it's OK because we are a Christian Nation, and the Constitution demands we put Christianity above all other religions and before the rule of law.

Didn't even think about the word "Liberal," I was just more stunned that the prevailing idea is that anything that doesn't "meet the state's workforce needs" is without any value. Turning universities into trade schools, creating a state full of young drones incapable of doing anything other than dairy farming or building widgets.

To play Devil's advocate here, the story might be misleading. It looks like it is one campus, not the entire university system making this change. There could be a legit reason for consolidating majors to different campuses within the university system. It's not uncommon for one school in a system to specialize. No idea what the specifics are here, but if they want one campus to focus on business and marketing, it might make sense to put the systems resources for those majors on one campus, and leave Liberal Arts to the other 12 universities in the system.

I was going to make the same point. I don't think it's outrageous to consider reducing the numbers of majors at some schools in a state system. I think it's also worth reassessing whether majors that have low enrollment should still be offered. I clicked through from that WaPo article and it listed 16 majors that they were adding. So, I'm not exactly sure why there's such outrage other than the knee-jerk reaction that Republicans are just trying to hurt public education.

I imagine, depending on the major, it would really suck for resume purposes to see yours wiped out.

how is a story with the headline "A University of Wisconsin campus" misleading in a campus vs. system distinction?

Brontoburglar wrote: ↑Wed Mar 21, 2018 1:08 pm how is a story with the headline "A University of Wisconsin campus" misleading in a campus vs. system distinction?

You are right, I should have said my knee-jerk misunderstanding of the headline before I read the article was out of line. My knee jerk reaction when I saw U of WI was thinking Madison, or the entire system. It wasn't until I read the article and saw it was only the Stevens Point campus, that I gave it thought. I know nothing about U of WI beyond the Madison campus. Had no idea there were that many separate universities in the system. That being said, what is the point of national publications writing this story, other than going for a knee-jerk reaction? Outside of alumni of Stevens Point, current students, and high school kids currently looking at colleges, why would anyone care that a single campus in a system is removing a few majors? If the article lead with Stevens Point campus removing majors leaves Wisconsin residents with only 12 options in public universities in which to receive a major in English, nobody would give a fuck.

On Biden and Trump being old as fuck schoolyard children with each other:

This was interesting to watch a couple years later.

Brontoburglar wrote: ↑Wed Mar 21, 2018 1:08 pm how is a story with the headline "A University of Wisconsin campus" misleading in a campus vs. system distinction?

Because it seems like it's trying to hide a very important part of the story. If the headline had been "A University of Wisconsin Professor ..." we'd have all understood it meant UW-Madison. If it had said "University of Wisconsin Campus ..." we'd have also understood that it meant Madison. It's only that one subtly different wording that allows for the story to be about a different campus. I'm guessing a large percentage of readers - including me and several others on this board - read the headline as being about the flagship institution, not one of the smaller ones.

I don't know if many of you have been paying much attention to what is happening in Great Britain (not enough shit going on here to keep our attention) but there is an absolute shitstorm going on with the British Labour Party over expression of anti-Semitism and the reluctance of the party leadership to deal with it. I'm a little sensitive to it, being Jewish, and I read a lot of Jewsih websites. Big demonstarion outside of Parliament today. There have been a lot of anti-Semitic incidents in the UK and throughout Europe and it isn't limited to the right.

http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/258467/enough-is-enough

Avram wrote: ↑Mon Mar 26, 2018 2:29 pm I don't know if many of you have been paying much attention to what is happening in Great Britain (not enough shit going on here to keep our attention) but there is an absolute shitstorm going on with the British Labour Party over expression of anti-Semitism and the reluctance of the party leadership to deal with it. I'm a little sensitive to it, being Jewish, and I read a lot of Jewsih websites. Big demonstarion outside of Parliament today. There have been a lot of anti-Semitic incidents in the UK and throughout Europe and it isn't limited to the right.

http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/258467/enough-is-enough

Corbyn and his apparatchiks are the absolute worst.

I didn't take it. Promise.

Shirley wrote: ↑Mon Mar 26, 2018 9:43 am

Brontoburglar wrote: ↑Wed Mar 21, 2018 1:08 pm how is a story with the headline "A University of Wisconsin campus" misleading in a campus vs. system distinction?

Because it seems like it's trying to hide a very important part of the story. If the headline had been "A University of Wisconsin Professor ..." we'd have all understood it meant UW-Madison. If it had said "University of Wisconsin Campus ..." we'd have also understood that it meant Madison. It's only that one subtly different wording that allows for the story to be about a different campus. I'm guessing a large percentage of readers - including me and several others on this board - read the headline as being about the flagship institution, not one of the smaller ones.

this is very much something surrounding how people view an indirect "a" vs. a direct "the"

sancarlos wrote: ↑Mon Mar 26, 2018 8:04 pm

Yes, this. 1 million times this.

brian wrote: ↑Tue Mar 27, 2018 3:35 pm Yes, this. 1 million times this.

Adults are complete morons. These kids are fabulous.

5 Year Sentence For Voting While On Probation in Texas

Oh, she's black.

This is extremely dangerous to our democracy.

It’s absolutely terrifying.

They run the CBS, CW, and NBC affiliates in Syracuse. They're in 89 different markets listed on their website and their DMA map shows that they are in 45 of the continental 48 states.

These are all the same things that would have taken place under Hillary. They were pretty much the same.

mister d wrote: ↑Mon Apr 02, 2018 9:40 am These are all the same things that would have taken place under Hillary. They were pretty much the same.

This probably would have taken place either way. Brother in law is a reporter/anchor in Des Moines, and this summer was discussing the Sinclair issues with us. He brought up the regulatory changes that would allow Sinclair to buy more stations. That's the difference between Trump and Hillary. As far as I know, none of these Sinclair stations were purchased after the election.

TL:DR, this is bad, but the future could be much worse if Sinclair is allowed to buy more media outlets.

They almost bought the Weather Channel.

Ryan wrote: ↑Mon Apr 02, 2018 9:55 am They almost bought the Weather Channel.

"So you see which have another hurricane coming at the Florida coast and as we all know, global warming doesn't exist."

Luckily Byron Allen just bought it* so instead we can hear what hurricanes like to do in their down time.

*Check your calendar!**

**It's April 2nd

Johnnie wrote: ↑Sat Mar 31, 2018 9:50 pm This is extremely dangerous to our democracy.

This isn't random politics. This is fealty to Trump.

Did the Reddit post I linked to not have a clickable YouTube video in it for you?

John Oliver did a huge thing on this last year.

For your amusement, I present the train wreck Michigan county that got a lot of attention for shifting hard for Trump. They also elected a county clerk of whom they can be equally proud.

Only the best!

... Spranger — a Tea Party style Republican who was elected on Trump's coattails...

oh...

"A hallmark of her personal psychology is to blame everyone else for every failure attributable to her," the county corporation counsel said of Spranger.

Oh!

Moreta wrote: ↑Tue Apr 03, 2018 3:31 pm For your amusement, I present the train wreck Michigan county that got a lot of attention for shifting hard for Trump. They also elected a county clerk of whom they can be equally proud.

Only the best!

She hid storage bins?! That is one of the funniest/dumbest things I have seen in a long time.

Moreta wrote: ↑Tue Apr 03, 2018 3:31 pm For your amusement, I present the train wreck Michigan county that got a lot of attention for shifting hard for Trump. They also elected a county clerk of whom they can be equally proud.

Only the best!

Good Lord. Between that and what I've seen from the gerrymandered Michigan legislature for the last few years I'm thinking I escaped Michigan just in time. Not that we don't have our share of nutjobs here, but man. What a shitshow.