Where, Oh Where Has Our Education Gone?

Where, Oh Where Has Our Education Gone?

. . . Of course, colleges and universities, trying desparately to seem relevant and far above secondary school fare, have cloaked their curriculum offerings by gussying them up with grand course titles such as ”Dynamic Exploration Of Radio Talk Shows: A Process Approach,” “Aesthetic Early Cubism In Modern Sculptures,” and “Urban Italian Retrospectives In Today’s Society.”

But the proof is in the pudding and course content and they’re not succeeding very well in concealing the truth that course content, as opposed to course titles, is increasingly sophomoric.

In article on “Crazy College Courses,” Carol Berman takes issue with that contention: ”Study for an exam on Syrah? Take a lab in levitation? How about tuning into TV for credit? All this is possible in college today, even in the Ivy League. Courses not only sound more interesting than “Calculus 101,” they actually are! However, courses that sound fun may not always be easy . . . Easy classes do exist, but don’t get fooled by the creative subject titles. You will have to work.”

That’s a matter of opinion. I took Calc 101. Watching television for college credit could in no possible way be as difficult.

Berman also addresses a serious issue related to dumbing down, binge drinking: It’s difficult to teach hung over–and strung out–students. Nevertheless, despite that serious collegiate issue in one course at least one Ivy League school plies students with alcohol. . .
(Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=2108

Updates: Child Rape and Trees

Updates: Child Rape and Violating Trees

It’s a challenge keeping up with continuing developments in the news and new outlooks on that news but to ignore them would be to ignore the ramifications and new perspectives that come to light. Therefore a few updates on previous articles.

Regular readers may recall the sickening story of an 8 year old Liberian immigrant girl in Phoenix who was brutally gang-raped by 4 fellow African boys, aged 9-14: http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=1131

Her dad blamed his child, disowned her for bringing shame on the family, and condoned the actions of the other cherubs since it was just a cultural thing.

The shame should have been visited on the father for his failure to comfort his daughter and salve her emotional and physical wounds. Her mom didn’t utter a public word.

In a very incisive piece on Pajamasmedia.com, http://bit.ly/1otSf, the author brings out a significant point about that horrific event, a perspective that all Americans should be aware of and should digest and deeply consider before the next election.

As the son of a legal, Irish immigrant, it would be grossly hypocritical to take a stand against all immigration. Nevertheless, I feel free to speak out against some immigration, particularly when the new arrivals hold beliefs that not only are antithetical to established American values and principles but radically different.

Such is the case of many people who have come to our shores from the Third World. And, it’s not a question of color, something that must be stipulated nowadays to forestall the usual charges of racism. It’s a question of those values which are vastly different from American traditions.

Phillis Schesler makes a very salient point about that whole rape situation, not directly in respect to our immigration policies, disagreement with which would be deemed racist if honestly explicated, but to the history and values of many Third Worlders.

As she writes, they ”bring both their barbarism and their traumatized histories right along with them when they come to America.”

To think that even after a few generations that Third World immigrants could adapt to such beliefs that the rape of a child can be condoned in any way, after centuries of adherence to African–and Islamic–beliefs, is patently ridiculous.

It’s only a matter of time until those new arrivals expand their horizons to include white 8 year olds as their objects of affections.

In a semi-related event, the Obama White House in resident expert on science, John Holdren, is on record as believing that kids aren’t real human beings until they are “socialized,” which could take years after they are born: http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=1137.

My research couldn’t determine whether Mr. Holdren is or is not a flaming homosexual but I know this much: The man has never met a 2 year old and probably not an infant. He hasn’t a clue as to their innate humanity.

Further delving into Holdren’s history turns up . . .

(Read the rest at http://genelalor.com)