tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4911746739718044942024-03-15T18:09:42.969-07:00Confessions of a College ProfessorRants and raves about the mess of higher education in the United States.
Doomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04528555392898760692noreply@blogger.comBlogger877125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-491174673971804494.post-2898749923415386052020-06-06T19:20:00.000-07:002020-06-06T19:20:45.466-07:00A Cancer Poem<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
Rest in peace my Love.<br />
<br />
June 8, 1967-February 15, 2020 </div>
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</div>
<br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">By Professor Doomed</span></div>
(published posthumously)<br />
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<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Allow today’s
post as a poem I wrote:</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Every day is cancer day,
every single day</span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Every day is cancer day,
it never goes away</span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Cancer in the morning,
afternoon and night</span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Cancer in the darkness,
cancer in the light</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Cancer treatments,
cancer pain</span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Cancer just comes back
again</span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Cancer life is constant
fright</span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">This is not a cancer
fight</span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Cancer hokum, cancer
lies</span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Ev’ry one with cancer
dies</span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">“Trust me,” says another
doc </span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">But it’s just another
crock</span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Cancer doctor wrong
again</span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Cancer doctor rakes it
in</span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Cancer doctor never
right,</span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Cancer doctor just a
blight</span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">“Don’t give up” they do
refrain</span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">But the cancer’s back
again</span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Kill my future, kill my
past,</span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Doctors now kill me at
last</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">CancerCancerCancerCancerCancerCancerCancerCancerCancerCancerCancerCancerCancerCancerCancerCancerCancerCancerCancerCancer</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
</span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">,,,,</span></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
Every day was cancer day, every single day<br />
<br />
Every day was cancer day, it never went away…<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
(Apparently I’ve died, and a friend is posting for me. What
follows are the remainder of my posts re: higher ed, followed by a few other
entries. Alas, laptop troubles caused some 6 months of my writing to vanish
into smoke recently, and I don’t have the energy to try to rewrite so much. I
summarize:)<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
In the sex trade, a “child prostitute” is basically a big
source of revenue. You rent it out to a monster, who brutalizes that “prostitute”
as much as possible. If the child survives, then it’s passed on to another
monster, generating more revenue. The owner repeats this until the child dies.<br />
<br />
That’s the sex trade. In modern medicine, the equivalent is
clearly “cancer patient,” although it’s possibly just “patient.” In any event,
every time I realize I’ve been screwed over horribly, I just get passed to a
new doctor.<br />
<br />
I understand that I was an adult when I first trusted a doctor not to hurt me, and that I kept coming back to these monsters and so to a large extent I deserve what happened to me. Damn MDA in Houston for doing so much harm without so much as an apology.<br />
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Doomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04528555392898760692noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-491174673971804494.post-90999242581312034922020-01-27T15:33:00.002-08:002020-01-27T15:36:41.933-08:00A Note For The People Pushing Cancer Cures...Here you go, an example of an actual pathology report:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3AtPDD6fo73lpATeEcGqF3rFr18k0UBF8vA2-76UeS2HojPN1Z0-4ftCAFVf_vC8aTYoU-DgBhCPX_BIhxDqcFAKe5b12jkjO4L0tgHIanf6v8x965uWwLlxe9kb_0V3qhP7V6icBPNI/s1600/Pathpic.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="554" data-original-width="918" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3AtPDD6fo73lpATeEcGqF3rFr18k0UBF8vA2-76UeS2HojPN1Z0-4ftCAFVf_vC8aTYoU-DgBhCPX_BIhxDqcFAKe5b12jkjO4L0tgHIanf6v8x965uWwLlxe9kb_0V3qhP7V6icBPNI/s320/Pathpic.PNG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div>
It took me all of 30 seconds to do that. Anyone reading that should have at least a vague idea that, yes, I have cancer, in particular a germ cell tumor.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
All readers should disregard all responses to the previous post claiming they have a cancer cure, because while they have time to push the cure...they don't have the 30 seconds to show they ever had cancer in the first place.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Let's take an example of how this works, in more detail. A number of people have pushed FenBen, a dog dewormer that, maybe, will cure cancer. Trouble is, there's no actual evidence that it actually cured anyone who had cancer in the first place.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
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Oh, yeah, you've got that one guy who says it did, a number of folks flapping their gums...but extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence. I'm desperate enough that I'll take miniscule evidence.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I'm desperate, so I've used Fenben. I've used it for 6 months. And, WOW, it caused me to regrow my right leg.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Believe me? Why not, I just told you, and that's the level of evidence that's provided by most miracle cures, even though it would take all of 30 seconds to show some actual evidence that I regrew my leg.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Heck, I'll even do that. Here's a pic from 6 months ago:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi572T5hrOxnNnN48dYOsXS8jLUdMMHz5iDs5Qd0ne2omVdcqL18bBBCka-y2tgWO73yHR3uJlsPXywCOfwESUjdE070M06e7VVDqmsxcV6bHRy_6Yp5-CxzFfBAH7A7bbh2n7QsHNP6-k/s1600/Fiot1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="810" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi572T5hrOxnNnN48dYOsXS8jLUdMMHz5iDs5Qd0ne2omVdcqL18bBBCka-y2tgWO73yHR3uJlsPXywCOfwESUjdE070M06e7VVDqmsxcV6bHRy_6Yp5-CxzFfBAH7A7bbh2n7QsHNP6-k/s320/Fiot1.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Now here's a more recent pic:</div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgJzhAaauQpTXNOxnhLGDSpJiRHHelt6jbCTD2i3HX8BLm4ogvfgGLIftFchxr2d1NYd1IZt0bz4eMKtbeOVF9DkRnJ8iRQwbtrI-YLXNZif50qqNs2DsvyY5kOnQAnktI-81hJfkE73I/s1600/Foot2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="810" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgJzhAaauQpTXNOxnhLGDSpJiRHHelt6jbCTD2i3HX8BLm4ogvfgGLIftFchxr2d1NYd1IZt0bz4eMKtbeOVF9DkRnJ8iRQwbtrI-YLXNZif50qqNs2DsvyY5kOnQAnktI-81hJfkE73I/s320/Foot2.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
And, just like that, I've provided more evidence that FenBen regrows lost legs than it cures cancer. And, no, it's not evidence at all.</div>
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<br />Doomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04528555392898760692noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-491174673971804494.post-70230048428657744232020-01-25T05:53:00.002-08:002020-01-26T18:17:20.829-08:00My Cancer Story…How Modern Medicine Killed Me<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">By Professor Doom</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I’ve been
suffering at the hands of cancer treatment well over a year, and am doomed at
this point. I thought it’d be worthwhile as my final post to give a discussion
of what happened to me.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know, the
typical reader will go “whew, that was some bad luck…good thing that won’t
happen to me.” I certainly made that mistake too.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had an
undescended testicle, like my father before me. He had his removed when he was
a child. When I was around 8, it was lowered…but it ascended when I was 16, I
even remember when it happened.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Around age 19, I
go to a urologist to get it removed. I’ll be putting things doctors or medical
professionals said to me in boldface.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Well, we used to remove them, but for the purposes of cancer, it’s
better to lower them.”</span></i></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></i></b>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">--(In case
you’re wondering why I’d remember a conversation from over 30 years ago, I
relayed this information to a high school friend at the time, who commented
that it was about the only time he’d talked testicles with a friend, and
confirmed my memory.)</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, I was pretty
much a kid, so I misunderstood the above to think that it was better to lower
it because it reduced the risk of cancer. What the doctor who screwed me here
meant to say was “The protocol now is to lower the testicle because supposedly
testicular cancer is easy to treat., even though the chance of it turning
cancerous is much higher.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was well
before the internet, so I didn’t stand a chance. I trusted this guy, though he
cut a nerve doing his job…it was not pleasant. In any event, if I’d been given
a fair shake, I would have been told that re-lowering testicles like this
greatly increases the chance of testicular cancer. If I’d been given this
information, perhaps I would have discovered the cancer sooner. Oopsie, though
at least the doctor scored a few hundred extra bucks for a more complicated
surgery.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That lowered
testicle was small, deformed, and hard…I gained nothing from having it.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“No, this
won’t hurt an unborn child.”</span></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></b>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My first wife had
a miscarriage (the only child we were like to have thanks to all the drugs they
were plying my wife with), and I can’t help but suspect the drugs were a factor
in my son’s heart not developing. Many years later, I see advertisements on TV
from lawyers looking for people to join a class action lawsuit regarding that
drug. Oopsie.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My father died a
year after that, a bad reaction to a drug destroying his kidney…and he didn’t
have a spare. Oopsie.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With both father
and son killed iatrogenically, I should have been able to guess how things
would turn out for me.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I really don’t think it’s cancer.”</span></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></b>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Around age 37, I
noticed that small hard testicle was deformed, just about a crescent shape and
larger by far. Poking around in my groin, I found an enlarged lymph node. I
read online, it sure looks like cancer is the most likely thing. So, I get an
appointment with a urologist (different than the one from over a decade
before). He pokes and prods, says the above. I ask about the enlarged lymph
node, he says he doesn’t feel any.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I grab his hand
and jam it into the soft tissue of my groin…I still remember his eyes widening
with realizing that I have a pretty enlarged lymph node.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Things move fast
after that. He sends me to get an ultrasound…the technician isn’t allowed to
tell me anything but I see the look in her eyes (she’s young), and can tell I’m
screwed.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I even get a CT
scan, but they screw up and only do my groin. So I have to get an extra CT scan
to check my lungs, because testicular cancer commonly goes there. Oopsie, but
at least it hasn’t spread beyond the lymph nodes.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“You’re
lucky. He’s a great doctor.”</span></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></b>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The nurse
surreptitiously whispers the above to me as I’m introduced to my oncologist. I
take some comfort in that. I tried befriending the doctor via e-mails, but it
did no good; he was no writer. Even though English was his first language, I
doubt he ever replied in a complete sentence.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“You’re lucky, this is an easy cancer
to treat.”</span></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></b>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, next comes 3
rounds of BEP chemo. My hair falls out, and I’m sick…but it isn’t too terrible,
as they pump me full of drugs. I read around online, and can’t help but worry,
as I read of people dying of cancer, suffering horribly from useless treatment
after useless treatment, each one failing and making the victim sicker, before
death inevitably comes.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were a few
incidents during the chemo. I begged to have a mediport put in immediately,
every account I read said how sooner or later you needed one. The doc said
“nope,” but by the second round I was getting stuck half a dozen times a day
before they could find a vein…eventually one ruptured. That’s some real pain,
and my arm hurt for months after that.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The chemo nurses
were usually good, although one time a nurse walked away with the IV squirting
saline/drugs all over the floor when it was supposed to be plugged into me. I
tried calling her, but she was oblivious. Eventually I got the attention of the
head nurse, and she fixed things up.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I take heart
in the nurse’s praise of the doctor, and the medical reports which say the BEP
chemo is actually effective. I join a TC (testicular cancer) netserv, all day
long people report how the treatments aren’t working, but one apologist there
swears it does; I know there’s a bit of bias here as only complainers are
desperate enough to join the netserv.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In any event, my
HCG tumor marker drops down to zero, the chemo seems to work. I still have some
enlarged lymph nodes though, so off to a new doc to deal with that.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Well, you
won’t get cancer there again, at least.”</span></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></b>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I read reports of
how ghastly getting a lymph node dissection was, and so was consumed with fear.
It wasn’t that bad a surgery, really, just a few lymph nodes removed, and the
doc said the above. Of course, the reality is the lymph nodes somewhat slow
down the spread of cancer…but he was still right in his way.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or should have been right. Oopsie.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“You’re
cured.”</span></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></b>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fully expecting
the treatments to fail, I report for the yearly CT scans and the easy HCG blood
test. Everything’s negative after 3 years (yes, 3, not the recommended 5, but
my markers were always low and there was very little spread, so the doc
discharges me early).</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A few years
after that, I get a FUO, a fever of unknown origin. My GP worries that it might
be the testicular cancer I told him about. I ask him to test me, so, he orders
a blood test.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A testosterone
test…I was unclear what test I needed. I’m good in that regard, but it should
have been an HCG test. Oopsie. Guess I should have followed up, but eventually
Cipro clears up the fever anyway. Oopsie.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A decade passes,
I’m assured there’s no way the cancer is coming back. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I take a big
risk in 2018: buy a house right next to my beloved university. A few weeks
after that, I find a lump in my groin.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A lump in the
exact spot I was told cancer could not appear. Apparently the doc screwed up.
Oopsie.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know it’s
cancer, I know I need an oncologist. I spend 3 weeks every day making calls
trying to get an oncologist to see me. No dice. They want my records from well
over 10 years ago before they’ll bother. I have a lump sticking out of my groin
and I cannot get an oncologist to see me unless they see 14 year old records. I
don’t have a local doctor I know.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve just moved,
so my GP is in the next town over. I have no choice but to go to him first.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“I don’t
think it’s cancer.”</span></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></b>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It takes forever
to convince the guy to consider cancer, even as he fondles the lump. I have to
explain to him about the HCG test, he reluctantly agrees to do so. He does
order a CT scan and ultrasound.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Testicular
cancer just doesn’t come back after so much time.”</span></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></b>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I face much
resistance trying to convince this guy that I have cancer, even with the damn
lump in my groin that is visible to the eye. I ask him to do the CT scan of my
chest as well as the lump, and to ultrasound my remaining testicle.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He ignores my
requests, instead getting ultrasounds and CT scans of the lump.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anyway, the HCG
test comes back positive. At long last, I’m finally allowed to see an
oncologist.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“You’re
lucky, he’s a very good doctor.”</span></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></b>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The nurse lets me
know what a great oncologist I have. He thinks I’m someone else, though, a Mr.
Klein…just a glitch and we clear that up. There are lots of little glitches
like that here. He immediately orders the CT scan of my chest and the
ultrasound of my remaining testicle, so I get to re-do those tests. Oopsie. At
least I don’t have to produce those records from over a decade ago.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Scans confirm that
the cancer has spread to my lungs, in addition to that huge lump in my groin.
At this point, I’m used to reading the scans myself rather than waiting for the
doctor to take a look, if ever he will.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My local
oncologist refers me to a surgeon to get the lump out of my groin as soon as
possible.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“You’re
lucky, he’s a great doctor.”</span></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></b>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The nurse lets me
know the surgeon is great. And, he gets the job done, though I’m crippled,
barely able to painfully walk. I have no choice but to get replacements for my
classes.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During this time
I go back to that old TC listserv; the same apologist is running it. He puts me
in touch with “the great” Dr. Einhorn, the guy who more or less invented the
chemotherapy that “cures” testicular cancer. If Dr. Einhorn was never born, I’d
be fine now, as my undescended testicle would have been removed 30 years ago.
Oopsie.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I even exchange e-mails with Dr. Einhorn, and
he confirms that I should get TIP chemo, “salvage” chemo, next.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“You’ll be
fine, and this works.”</span></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></b>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My local
oncologist is…not the best. I ask him many questions about my cancer, about the
treatment, and he gets it wrong every. Single. Time. He went 0 for 12 before I
gave up trying to have a conversation with him. To be fair, I guess I should
give him 2/3rds of a point, as when I asked him what TIP stands for he did
manage to correctly name 2 of the 3 drugs he was prescribing.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At least he lets me get a mediport before I
have rupturing veins.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He also cures my
liver cancer in 30 seconds or so. He lets me know the mets there have cleared
up…I try to convince him there never were mets to my liver, but the doc doubles
down. It takes a few more minutes before he finally concedes he was confused.
Oopsie. Like I said, lots of little glitches in that place, I’m just hitting
the highlights.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have an
“incident” when my body is introduced to Paclitaxol. It’s called “tightness in
the chest.” It feels like my ribs suddenly grew 6” shark teeth pointing
inward…it really hurts, but I survive. At least the chemo nurses know what
they’re doing at this new place.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>TIP chemo was
designed for 25 year olds (the usual age for testicular cancer), not people
past the age of 50. It’s hellish suffering, by the second “treatment” I’m in a
wheelchair, and prone to passing out if I move more than a few feet on my own.
It’s hellish misery, and I know I just wrote that.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But…my tumor
markers drop to zero, so I guess I’m good. Even Einhorn is pleased. I have to
fight really hard, reminding the doctor to do those tumor marker tests to make
sure everything is going right.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have a PET scan,
and it says I’m clear, no active tumors. Lucky break. Some masses in my lungs,
but the PET scan assures they are dead.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I still have
enlarged lymph nodes, so I’m referred again to a surgeon for that (seriously,
very little about this whole process has changed between now and well over a
decade earlier…you’d think there’d be some real improvements somewhere…).</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, there could
be cancer in those lymph nodes, so you want to get them out quickly. Alas, the
doc won’t do it until he sees, I’m not kidding, the damn records from over 10
years earlier. It takes a few weeks to finally dig them up.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I finally
meet the guy, he hasn’t even looked at them, and is more than a little confused
about my case history.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“It’ll be
just like a day at the gym.”</span></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></b>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This doctor
assures me the lymph node dissection isn’t so bad. The previous one wasn’t
either, so I believe him. He says I’ll be up and about within hours of the
surgery. (I strongly suspect the previous one was done improperly, it was so
easy to recover from.)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’s taken so
long to set up the surgery that I’m due for another HCG test. I report, they
take blood. They lose the blood, so I don’t get the results before the surgery.
Oopsie. Besides the PET scan says all the tumors in my lungs are dead, so I’ve
nothing to worry about.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The surgery
itself is a horror. There weren’t any complications or anything, but it was
just a horror. I was just barely recovered from the chemo to walk, but no more,
again. The day of and day after the surgery I spent in a daze.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Were you
always such a lightweight?”</span></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></b>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of the assistant doctors is surprised
how slow I was to recover from the 5.5 hour surgery intended for 25 year olds,
particularly those who hadn’t had their groin shredded and body debilitated by
previous treatments.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The doc
basically guts me…that was medieval, I’m in agony for weeks after getting home.
That was nearly a year ago, still constant pain.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, the path
reports are great—no cancer! Yes, that means the surgery probably wasn’t needed
(he removed far more than he needed to, just to be safe), but least I have
that. He scored over $50,000 for the surgery, too.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Alas, the very
first HCG report post surgery confirms: the cancer is still active. Darn, if
only they’d not lost that previous tumor test, I could have avoided this surgery.
Oopsie.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I get another CT
scan, and can see the tumors in my lungs are still active. The PET scan missed
around 18 of them. Oopsie.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“That chemo
generally doesn’t work.”</span></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></b>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Einhorn decides to
let me know after the fact that TIP won’t work for me, since I’m a late
recurrence. In every e-mail with him my subject line was “15 year recurrence.”
Oopsie. I even speak with him on the phone to make absolutely sure that the TIP
he said was a good idea (before I did it) was in fact a terrible idea (after I
did it)…I really suffered under that. I don’t communicate with him much after
that, but he helpfully sets me up in a clinical trial, “starting in 8-10
weeks.” I fill out extensive forms for that, we’ll get back to it later.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I finally
meet the local oncologist, he doesn’t know about the tumors in my lungs still
active, he’s just worried about the tumor markers. I tell him the cancer is
probably in my chest, and have to sit and wait while he reads the CT report.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He then goes
into panic mode, at least having the decency to be embarrassed at not even
looking at the CT report before seeing me (though that really is par for the
course with these guys). I leave the meeting. Later he tries to sell me
Keytruda, a $5,000 a dose medicine. Looking at the medical studies, I see
Keytruda has a very consistent 0% success rate for my cancer. I pass on his
treatment. He tries to sell me a few other things…but I pass.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, at this
point, I’m told my best chance is high dose/stem cell replacement chemo, and
that’s only done nearby at MDA in Houston. I’m pretty sure doing so is a
horrible mistake (and Einhorn indicated as much), but I don’t have many options
here.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It takes over a month to get an
appointment.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“You’re
lucky, he’s a very good doctor.”</span></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></b>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again with the
reassurance from the nurse. It’s very clear at this point that they’re all
working from a script. I guess their victims generally die before figuring it
out.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The new doc says
I’m a difficult case, but suspects I have a rare version of cancer called ETT,
and I was misdiagnosed when they removed that big tumor from my groin. Oopsie.
Surgical removal of the tumors should work. The lung surgeon won’t do it,
however, unless my HCG marker is back down to zero. It’s been steadily
climbing…and I’m sure not looking forward to more chemo, but there’s no
negotiation here.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My MDA doc sells
me this experimental chemo, ATP, says it’s low dose, not so bad.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I suffer
horribly under it, back to being barely able to walk again. They even change
the drugs I’m taking mid-process (and neglect to do the HCG test to even see if
the change is working).</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I get lucky,
actually survive the chemo, and my markers get down to near zero. The surgeon
will do it. He sits with me and shows me how they’ll take wedge resections out
of my lungs, removing the tumors whole, one or more at a time.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have full-on
lung surgery. They break a rib, pop out a lung, and slice away. Let’s just say
it’s a really painful recovery.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A month later
when I’ve barely recovered, he does it again with the other lung. It’s somehow
more painful, and I get nerve damage in my rib cage this time…I’m really going
lightly over what’s been done to me, I’ve dozens of new surgical scars from the
last year or so of hell.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“You’re
going to be fine now, I got everything.”</span></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></b>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The surgeon is
quite confident I’ve no more tumors in my lungs. Well, to be fair, he says I
might have one—he really couldn’t get to this one spot, but it was small,
perhaps I’ll get lucky. So confident is he that he discharges me, figuring this
time the job is done.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hey, maybe a
tumor marker test would be a good idea? I have to fight to get it, but reluctantly
I manage to get permission 3 weeks after I started asking for it.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The reason the doc
doesn’t care to move with any speed is he says my cancer is very slow growing,
which is also why chemo isn’t very effective with it.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My tumor markers
are higher than before. Hmm, removed my tumors, but the marker goes higher. A
little suspicious, that.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The doctor
explains that the PET scan is useless for detecting a type of tumor called a
teratoma, and that’s why it missed all 18 or so tumors in my lungs.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The path report
says the tumors in my right lung might be squamous cell cancer, which should be
addressed quickly, while the month earlier report said the tumors in my left
lung were ETT. Not a single tumor was identified as a teratoma. Oopsie.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hey, remember that
clinical trial that was going to start in 8-10 weeks, about 5 months earlier?
They contact me to let me know they’ll be starting in 8-10 weeks.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another month as
MDA goes through panic before finally deciding a PET and CT scan would be a
good idea. They’re not so sure about my lungs, but what little they can see
there could be surgical related. They say it should be closely monitored, but
MDA lets it go for three months despite my pressing them a few times…I only
have so much energy. There’s also something suspicious on my right femur.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s cancer, and
it was actually visible on an earlier MDA scan, but they missed it. Oopsie.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have to wait a
few extra weeks to see a bone cancer specialist.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“You’re
lucky. He’s a very good doctor.”</span></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></b>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m so damn tired
of the nurses telling me that. It’s funny I’m the only one who seems to notice
all the suckers get the same treatment overall.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I waited weeks
to see this guy, and he dismissed me in 10 minutes, he can’t help, all he can
offer is hip replacement, which really won’t help a tumor on my femur. Oopsie.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Off to
interventional radiology.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, I’ll have to
get a cryoablation to blast the tumor out of my femur. I ask a few times about
what they’re going to do about the possible squamous cell cancer, but the
questions keep getting dodged. Oopsie.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Got it no
problem, you should be walking fine in a week.”</span></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></b>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The cryoablation
goes well, and, after pressing yet again, I get a tumor marker test. The
surgeon says it’s an easy procedure, the bone is very strong should be no
problems at all.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s only 74.
That’s still way too high (normal is 5 or less, hopefully 0), but it’s the
first time my markers have dropped without chemo. Recall, removing tumors in my
lungs accomplished less than nothing as far as tumor markers go, but removing
this one tumor dropped it 25% or so.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Still, that’s
entirely too high, and I confirm with MDA that it’s entirely too high. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A month goes by,
still no scans or anything, though I ask about it. Another 3 weeks, and I try
to get MDA to do something before classes start. Nope. Despite that, and despite
their own PET scan saying I should be “closely monitored” (as per their
report), MDA decided to do nothing at all for all of December (they got the HCG
report 12/6), and wait until the third week of January for me to come in for
scans.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I spend two hours
coughing up blood the night before classes start; not a good sign. I have no
choice but to go to the local hospital.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They run CT
scans and x-rays.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I now have
“innumerable” nodes in both lungs. Gosh, guess the PET scan at MDA missed that.
I also have a 5cm enlarged lymph node. PET missed that too, at MDA.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s a death
sentence., there’s no way to survive that.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, the local
hospital only had a scan from a year ago to compare to, they don’t have direct
contact with MDA. Many (yes, their word, “many”) of the tumors in my lungs have
now grown since last year, and are pretty big now. But, didn’t the MDA surgeon
say he removed them? He said he missed one, maybe, at 5mm or so, whereas these
were all over 1cm a year ago. How did he miss “many”?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oopsie. They
billed the insurance company over $60,000 for each fake lung surgery.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“He really
only removed what he could.”</span></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></b>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I quiz my
oncologist very carefully about how removed lung tumors could simply reappear.
The above was his response. Funny, the surgeon never said anything like that,
and the path reports said nothing besides “clear borders.” Oopsie.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Guess MDA was
wrong about my cancer being slow growing, as that’s some pretty major spread in
3 months. Oopsie.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“I don’t
know what to do, I’ve never seen this before.”</span></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></b>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My oncologist is
confused, he’s never seen cancer grow so fast like this before. This is kind of
weird, because he’s an older doctor of considerable knowledge, and every one of
my friends who’ve died of cancer have all died the same way: much suffering
under official cancer treatments, then “suddenly” the cancer gets more
aggressive and kills them. Like the gentle reader, I thought I was going to be
a lucky one <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and survive. I don’t know
how this doctor has never seen it before.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>MDA confirms the
death sentence my local hospital gave me, but ups their game: they make the death
sentence worse. Turns out they screwed up the cyroablation, my hip is in danger
of breaking, so something will need to be done about that…my leg really hurts.
Oopsie.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>MDA’s amazing
orthopedist suggests removing a big chunk of femur and transplanting in a new
one…really complicated surgery taking months of recovery. Trouble is, the
prognosis is 3 months to live, so not much reason to try that. I don’t know
what this has to do with my hip…but I’m beyond caring.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My tumor markers
are up by a factor of 10 in one month, quite the explosion. Why the sudden
change in what MDA called a “slow growing” cancer? Most likely, is the chemo
helped cause the cancer to spread. The doc never mentioned that, but now </span><a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-4669152/Chemotherapy-cause-cancer-SPREAD-new-study-says.html"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">I know it’s
a distinct possibility</span></a><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> (at least now I do) or maybe it was </span><a href="https://breastcancerconqueror.com/why-does-surgery-spread-cancer-cells/"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">the surgery
which caused the cancer to spread</span></a><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">. If the principle of informed
consent were being followed, I could have at least have tried some supplements
or something, instead of having no chance whatsoever. This whole process, it
was up to me to protect myself from an incredibly hostile system.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe that
clinical trial will save me? Guess I should ask, it’s been nearly a year since
they first told me it would start in 8-10 weeks. I filled out so many forms for
it, I’m sure human decency would cause them to let me know it’s stopped, rather
than leave me hanging forever. I’m also sure it’s being run by a very good
doctor…</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have to admit, I
sure wish I’d been smarter when I was a kid, and insisted that deformed
undescended testicle were taken out. That was a mistake on my part, I concede,
but the “professionals” sure made their share of mistakes as well. Of course,
every mistake they made fattened their wallets, whereas I pay for my mistake
with my life, and much suffering.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, now I sit and
wait for death after stupidly allowing the doctors to use my body to rack up
hundreds of thousands of dollars of medical bills (but I still have to pay for
parking in the MDA lots every time I go to MDA…they’re a little too mercenary
here). Too crippled by treatments to do much beyond walk the length of my
house, I can barely be active more than few minutes before my body tells me I have
real problems.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of the many
issues I have with this whole nightmare is how incredibly difficult it was to
talk to my doctors—it’s why I can remember things they said so well, because
there were so few actual conversations with them. Oh, I had a “patient portal”
and I could submit a message there. Then it was reviewed by a nurse. Then the
nurse, if she felt like it, relayed the message to the doctor. Then the doctor,
if he felt like it, gave his reply to the nurse. Then the nurse, if she felt like
it, relayed her version of the doctor’s message to me via the portal.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m sure was a
time where I got a straight answer, but, usually the response was so garbled
that it was almost useless, or unrelated to my question in any rational way. A
lifesaver here was a retired doctor friend; without his access to medical
knowledge, I would have died long before coming to this point, because the
“medical treatment” I paid so dearly for was sorely lacking above and beyond
eventually killing me after subjecting me to many months of tortuous agony.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I also thank my
amazing wife here; I’m sorry the doctors didn’t let me give you more time, and
I can only hope that I’ve left you enough resources (minus the doctor’s cut, of
course) that you can still follow a few dreams they can’t stop you from.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> And I thank Dr. Einhorn; I respect that he chose to spend his precious time on me.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Overall, I should
have died before ever meeting an oncologist in 2018, these people are monsters.
I know it’s hardly rare for people to simply go home and kill themselves after
a cancer diagnosis…I’m not recommending that, but I at least concede it’s likely
a smarter move than going to MDA in Houston. I spend much time coughing up blood now, and thanks to that botched cryoablation, my leg explodes in fire with every cought...everything MDA did to me was spectacular failure.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">A Note
About Cancer Cures</span></b><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since posting my cancer issues in my
blog, I’ve received something past 100 e-mails from people offering advice
about miracle cures for cancer. They broadly go into 50 different substances/supplements/diets/magical
machines/whatever. If any of these miracle cures actually worked, almost nobody
would ever die of cancer, as everyone else I know dying of cancer is trying
multiples of them.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The people
pushing these cures insist that their miracle cure has actually cured people.
But…no. When pressed, the person telling me about the cure usually isn’t the
person supposedly cured. It’s always the person knew a guy whose friend had an
uncle who went to school with someone who was related by marriage to a friend
of someone…you never can track them down to see with your own eyes.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Alternatively,
they claim they were cured, but just don’t happen to have any evidence, you must
take their word for it or the treatment isn’t for you (heard that line many
times). It’s 2020, they’re on the internet, they could take a screenshot (if they
have a patient portal), take a pic of a path report with their phone and post their
evidence of cancer…lots of ways, really. Nope, nobody has evidence they had
cancer in the first place, ever. Now just buy a bottle of that miracle cure,
it’s only $75.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I appreciate the
advice, honest, but if you have a miracle cure, please be sure to provide real
evidence you had cancer in the past (eg, pathology report, CT scan report, PET
scan report), and real evidence you don’t have cancer now (eg, CT scan report).
Otherwise, I’ll just ignore it like so many other miracle cures (out of
desperation or respect for friends who insist, I’ve tried over a dozen, they’ve
all failed, of course).</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Despite this, I’m
trying a wacky anti-cancer diet and half a dozen internet miracle cures all the
same right now. If any of this crap works, I’ll be the first person to be able
to claim to be cured who has actual evidence (and plenty of it) that he had
cancer in the first place.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I started my blog to warn people about
the dangers of going to a higher education system which had far too many
predatory elements to it. There are other things to warn people about, but I
tried to focus on higher ed as much as I could.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let this post
serve as a warning: our medical system is pretty darn predatory too—not just
MDA in Houston, I was exploited at every opportunity by every doctor I met.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Doomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04528555392898760692noreply@blogger.com89tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-491174673971804494.post-71798790178480509302020-01-23T08:22:00.003-08:002020-01-23T08:22:36.892-08:00The Master’s Degree Bubble Has Burst
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<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">By Professor Doom</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The student loan
scam flooded our schools with students when it went into full swing over a
decade ago—triggered by the 2008 crash/recession, when many “no degree
required” jobs vanished, never to return. A half dozen or so years later, these
students flooded the market with their shiny new degrees. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These students
were told their degrees would be valuable, and before the degrees were awarded,
they were, up to a point. Trouble is, much of the value of a degree comes from
its scarcity. Most of the degrees, the common ones, were worth nothing in the
job marketplace. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many of those
graduates floundered for a few years before deciding “hey, I need a graduate
degree to get a good job.” The same vicious admissions officers who suckered
people into getting worthless undergraduate degrees simply repeated the game,
enrolling far too many people into Master’s degree programs.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whenever I look
at people with unpayable college debt, invariably the largest numbers come from
the poor souls to when back for graduate school, which can easily be twice as
expensive as undergraduate, even for a 2 year degree like a Master’s degree.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In any event,
the cohort of students who got creamed by undergraduate loans starting in 2008
are now getting creamed by graduate loans. Word has gotten out that Master’s
degrees (particularly in Fine Arts, but in many other fields as well) are
basically worthless now, for many of the same reasons undergraduate degrees are
of little value.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 2014, the 10
year projection for Master’s awarded was well over a million—our schools hugely
expanded their graduate program, as the “leaders” running our system lack even
rudimentary understanding of what they’re doing.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 2019, the 10
year projection is more like 840,000, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>roughly
a 20% drop. As this projection is from the same fools who estimated over a
million in 2014, I suspect the drop will be much, much worse.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 18.75pt; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2019/12/20/probing-slowdown-masters-degree-growth"><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 16.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">Has the Master’s Degree Bubble Burst?</span></i></b></a><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 16.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"></span></i></b></div>
<br />
<div style="border-left: solid #EF7521 2.25pt; border: none; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 0in 0in 0in 6.0pt;">
<div style="border: none; line-height: 21.0pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid #EF7521 2.25pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 0in 6.0pt; padding: 0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Analysis
suggests projections of rapid growth in the master’s degree market were vastly
overstated.</span></i></div>
</div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The article I’m
reading here phrases the bubble bursting as a question, but this is rubbish. With
undergraduate enrollments falling, with widespread information of just how
worthless most Master’s degrees are, this is only going to drop.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;">…<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">many colleges have overestimated the popularity of new degree programs.
They may anticipate awarding hundreds of degrees per year, but the true number
is often a single digit…</i></span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br /></i></span>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The article doesn’t address it, but I
would like to highlight the horrific mismanagement here. A college opens up a
new program, say, a Master’s degree in Dog Breeding, and then uses adjunct,
“temp” faculty to teach the dozen or so courses. The administration who came up
with the idea gets a fat pay raise based on the ridiculously huge growth
projections revolving around 10 year old data.</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then perhaps half a dozen people
sign up for the program. Huge money flows into administrative pockets for the
loan money even when you have this disaster. But suppose 300 people ended up
with a Master’s in Dog Breeding in a couple of years…what lunatic thinks
there’s even a minute chance things will go well for more than a handful of the
new graduates?</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many Master’s degrees are based around
very specialized topics. There are a few general degrees, and those have their
own problems. </span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Master’s in Education is the most
common Master’s degree. Teachers have the loosest schedule, are most able to
“take time off” from work to complete a degree program (more accurately,
they’ll take most of their coursework over the summer). It’s all well and good,
I suppose, but every examination (including my own) of these programs find them
to be loaded down with ideology. Granted, “education theory” is such proven
rubbish, repeatedly shown to harm students, that replacing that false knowledge
with the false knowledge of ideology doesn’t sound all that horrible at first
glance…but a look at our schools’ steady conversion into indoctrination camps
for the ideology quickly reveals the massive extent of horror here. We really
should just annihilate the Master’s in Education and instead insist on our
teachers having actual degrees in the subjects they’re supposed to teach
(instead of what we have now, where teachers all too often morph their subjects
into ideological indoctrination).</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;">Trace Urdan, managing director at Tyton Partners,
agrees that the growth in the master’s degree market is a bubble fueled by the
“basically unlimited funding” offered by Grad PLUS loans. But he doesn’t agree
that the bubble has burst, at least not yet. Growth could easily pick up if the
economy took a downward turn, he said.</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Seriously, the bubble has burst, despite
what the guy above said. I used to never be asked by friends and family (most
don’t know me as Professor Doom) about grad school, but now it’s a regular
event. I do what I can to steer them away or guide them to what few programs
remain which are viable…but years ago, everyone was always just so happy to see
their kids go into grad school.</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Thare
still some good schools, some good plans…but far too many traps are laid out
for the unsuspecting, and much like with undergraduate school, far too many
were enrolled.</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, I concede that if we get the
repeatedly predicted massive economic crash, then perhaps we’ll see massive
growth in Master’s again…but I assure the gentle reader, this isn’t a good
thing, as one reader reinforces:</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #2a2e2e; font-family: "inherit",serif;">We are
conferring an astonishing amount of master's degrees in this country, to the
extent that in cities like Boston and DC and San Francisco, they have become
the de facto bachelor's degree.</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #2a2e2e; font-family: "inherit",serif;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps it’s wishful thinking on my part
that this bubble has burst, but the fact remains: it really should burst. We’re
not doing any good churning out these degrees, any more than we were at the
undergraduate level.</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
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<br />
<a href="http://www.professorconfess.blogspot.com/"><span style="background: white; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">www.professorconfess.blogspot.com</span></a><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><br />
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Doomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04528555392898760692noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-491174673971804494.post-42320040923913423702020-01-20T07:55:00.000-08:002020-01-20T07:56:33.339-08:00New Campus Commissar: Departmental Academic Diversity Officer<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">By Professor Doom</span><br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>UMich
is currently paying <b>$10.6 million each year(!!!) </b>for its 82 “diversity
officers,” MLive reported. Further scholarships and a new $10 million
multicultural center are all part of a five-year strategic plan, launched in
2016 to diversify the campus.</span></i><br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">--the Vice-Provost alone rakes in over 400k a
year…</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I’ve written before of the incredible high price of diversity, and the
diversity educrats who make bank pushing their ideology on campus. Now, usually
these guys collect their fat checks and sit in glorious palaces on campus, so
mercifully most faculty and students don’t have to interact with them except
when sent to a re-education camp or the like.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
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</span>Making money is all well and good, but it is harder to indoctrinate when
you’re sitting in palace. Also, a palace puts a hard population cap on just how
many commissars you can have on campus. What to do about these problems?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><a href="http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/12/06/michigan-shares-insights-academic-level-not-chief-diversity-officers"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">University of Michigan shares insights from
its decentralized diversity accountability structure, in which individual
academic and administrative units have their own diversity officers.</i></a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"></i></span>
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</span>That’s right, UMich has taken the “bold” step of imitating the USSR, and
embedding the commissars into each unit. No department is safe, as now one of these
guys is looking over the shoulder of whatever goes on there.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
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</span>However did universities survive centuries before we ever had such an
“innovation”?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
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</span>Michigan has had these commissars pushing their thoughts for four years
now, so it’s time to see what the results are:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">More precisely, the campus’s National Center
for Institutional Diversity just published a </span></i><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><a href="https://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/currents/17387731.0001.111?view=text;rgn=main" target="_blank"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">report </i></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">on the experiences of these academic
diversity officers, or ADOs. Beyond making various recommendations for academic
deans and academic diversity officers, the report finds that ADOs require
special skills.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br /></i></span>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Special skills”? Uh huh. Be advised
that this Academic Diversity Officer initiative expands the bureaucracy on
campus by a very significant amount ($10 mil a year!), so you can expect the
campus to publish a very glowing report about how amazing the campus’ own
initiative is.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Based on their backgrounds, ADOs tended to
draw on different “logics,” according to the report.</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></i>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Ah, the old “different ways of knowing” canard. At least in the USSR,
you could count on the Commissar to reliably know quotes from the Communist
Manifesto. Granted, that book <a href="https://professorconfess.blogspot.com/2016/08/top-college-economist-marx.html">is
still the most common book on campus</a>, so I suppose you still could but…does
it bother anyone that this supposedly “correct” ideology is enforced to
different “logics” depending on the commissar?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
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</span>The logics were basically broken down into four types (a surprisingly
large number, from a mathematician’s point of view which holds there is only
one correct logic), “community organizer,” “faculty,” “administrator,” and
“student.” A quick comment on each type:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Community organizers-turned-ADOs generally
valued…some tension to create diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI)</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></i>
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</span>To summarize: the community organizers know they need to justify their
position, so instead of the happy campus there was before, they work to
increase racial tensions. Hmm. The students/taxpayers are paying for the
protests here. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Faculty ADOs in the sample, meanwhile, worked
on issues of representation, such as faculty and student recruitment and
retention, and inclusive pedagogical training. They prioritized data
collection…</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></i>
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</span>Again, easily summarized. The faculty tried to figure out what percent
of representation would satisfy the ideologues (nothing will, however), tried
to reach that, and backed up their claims with objective data. Of course they
did, they know this is rubbish, but mandatory, and so did what they could
finish up and get back to doing legitimate work.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ADOs from general administration had “latent
qualities about methodically addressing issues through structure, processes and
rules.”</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Heh, “latent qualities.” This is just a very polite way for the study to
say they couldn’t see any benefit to administrators, and past that is just
spewing administrative-sounding words.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Student affairs-minded ADOs made personal
connections and focused on promoting inclusive communities.</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They made some friends and connections, the better to further their
career. Good activity for a student, at least.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
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</span>Pop quiz: which of these four types of “logic” actually helps students
on campus? (Hint: none).</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
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</span>They’re spending over $10,000,000 a year on diversity at UMich. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s full ride scholarships for a thousand
students, more like 5,000 students when actual costs of education are
considered. There I go again, thinking like an educator again. It’s just such a
colossal waste of money. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
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</span>After 4 years of this, was any improvement shown at all? Nope. Let’s sit
back and laugh at all the effort they put into justifying wasting $40,000,000
over 4 years for this:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Whatever their backgrounds, knowledge of
DEI concepts, interventions and best practices were “necessary to create
change,” the authors found.</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></i>
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</span>Uh, nope. I could spend $40,000,000 to bulldoze the whole place and turn
it into a parking lot. That’s change. Is it good? A matter of opinion, and they
don’t even bother to justify if the changes, if any, were any good.</span><br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“I feel like we will do DEI work a disservice
if people that don’t have proper training come into doing this work, because
then it leads to this assumption that anybody can do it, or we can just hire a
grad student, and they can lead this charge. When really, I feel like it
requires specific skills and competencies.”</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></i>
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</span>Too bad the report just demonstrated anybody can do it, because every
ADO could do whatever he wanted, all versions of “logic” are legitimate, and
all “change” is apparently good.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">DEI work is “complex, difficult, always
changing and rigorous,” reads the report. “The hiring process and ongoing
professional development necessary to sustain and increase DEI competency
should be encouraged by supervisors of ADOs.”</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></i>
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</span>Again, no…it’s already been demonstrated anyone can do this. The cry for
“ongoing professional development” is particularly noxious, as already far too
many of our administrative staff go on long distance junkets, all expenses
paid, for “job training” for jobs which used to be temp positions changed out
every couple of years.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Establishing “legitimacy” for their positions
and in the eyes of colleagues concerned ADOs interviewed. The officers
generally found two ways of building it: connecting with their units
through a shared discipline, or by being a faculty member -- what the authors
call "academic standing legitimacy."</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I agree, establishing legitimacy should be tough, since it’s clearly not
legitimate and a massive, massive, waste of funds. Why is there no consideration
at all of what that kind of money could have done to help students?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">These officers also rely heavily on
interpersonal skills. That’s regardless of their academic backgrounds.
They respond to individuals’ needs and concerns,</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></i>
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</span>The above could apply to nearly every job on the planet. I again point
out this money could have given full scholarships to thousands of students. I
bet the taxpayers would have preferred that by a wide margin. Any legitimate
study of installing diversity commissars in every department should have
weighed the benefits (none found) against free higher education for thousands
of the citizens paying for it (questionable, but probably better than “none
found”).</span><br />
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</span>In the coming years, based on this study, expect other schools to adopt
this new method of instilling commissars in every department and fiefdom on
campus…</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><a href="http://www.professorconfess.blogspot.com/">www.professorconfess.blogspot.com</a></span><br />
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Doomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04528555392898760692noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-491174673971804494.post-87511145136766024612020-01-17T09:16:00.000-08:002020-01-17T09:16:30.710-08:00Review of At the Community College: Smiles And Reflection
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By Professor Doom<br />
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A while back I
reviewed <a href="https://professorconfess.blogspot.com/search?q=Dolly">The
Philip Dolly Affair</a>, a work of fiction that nevertheless pulled back the
curtain on the brutal reality of community college. I recently received a copy
of a sequel of sorts…<a href="https://www.amazon.com/At-Community-College-Smiles-Reflections-ebook/dp/B07VJXGPBY">At The Community College: Smiles And Reflection</a>. it’s not as good as 'Dolly, but it still brings back a few
bone-chilling memories of the most fraudulent part of the American higher
education system.<br />
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This isn’t so
much a book as a series of very short stories and anecdotes, or personal
reflections of faculty on campus. A few highlights: <br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">She was amazed at how
much energy the faculty at Copperfield spent on meetings–daily meetings about
quality initiatives, constituency labor concerns, salary negotiations, golf
tournaments, strategic planning, organizational, learning, wellness exams,
potlucks, and even baby showers. Kat reckoned she spent sixty percent of her on
campus time at college restructuring and reorganization meetings. “</i><br />
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Going to graduate
school at a university, I never really saw, much less interacted with, the
immense bureaucracy at a community college (CC), and so was overwhelmed when I finally saw it. The bureaucracy is much
heavier, relatively speaking, at a CC, and they’re all eager to justify their
jobs…typically through mandatory meetings. Oh so many meetings, on topics of no
interest or value to an educator, but immensely fascinating to admin.<br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">President and
Dean…Pleasant enough men, they talked incessantly, but in actuality did so
little, she thought to herself. She often marveled at the proliferation of dean
and vice president positions the last few months…</i><br />
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The above is so
consistent with what my own eyeballs always showed me…they had nothing to so
say. I saw a CC go from a 3:1 faculty/admin ratio to under 1:1 (the national
average) once it became accredited and the government money started flowing it.<br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">…pleased to learn she
had won a BISON (Big Institute for Staff and Organized Normalization) award for
teaching excellence, but her joy was tempered somewhat when she learned
seventeen other CCC faculty members also received their BISON plaques…</i><br />
<br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>Wow, I’d forgotten about all those
awards ceremonies, more mandatory meetings where you typically watch admin
congratulate each other on their perceived incredible skill at getting ignorant
kids to come to campus and receive checks. And yeah, sometimes faculty got some
empty awards too (I have a few in a box somewhere…).<br />
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The biggest,
dirtiest secret in higher ed isn’t the proliferation of administrative
positions, it’s the annihilation of faculty positions by exchanging them for
“part time,” “temporary” adjunct positions. <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/noodleeducation/2015/05/28/more-than-half-of-college-faculty-are-adjuncts-should-you-care/#a31eecd16005">Most
college professors are adjuncts now</a>. This was bad 20 years ago, but these
are no-retirement, no-health-care, no=benefits at all positions, and that’s a
bad job to hold for much of a life.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The book
details a few adjunct stories:<br />
<br />
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">take on several
part-time sections at the college–at the decision-point of his initial “hiring”
at SSTCC, a since long-departed Dean (who is now a successful community college
President somewhere in Eastern Wales) assured him he would have a good chance
at becoming a full-timer in just a year or two. (That was in 1995. Twenty-four
years have passed.)</i><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Together, if they both
teach four classes during the semester, they take in about 15,000 dollars per
annum.</i><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">He had no health or
dental insurance and had not been “in” for a physical for decades. (And one of
his back molars was screaming for extraction!) </i><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">At one Adjunct Action
Meeting, a frustrated biology professor shouted out, “Fight for $15? Hah! I’d
be happy to get $5 an hour! I can barely afford to drive out here to teach–and
I sure can’t afford to buy a #$%$#@@ Moonbucks cup of coffee. #PiratesforPay!
#PiratesforPay! #PiratesforPay!” They had no health insurance, campus offices,
or recognition. Now, they would force the administration to meet their
demands–or else. They could only teach nine credit hours a semester, according
to strict benefit thresholds for part-time employee guidelines, so an adjunct
teaching six classes (eighteen credits) during the school year would earn
$11,700. Compare this to the thirty-seven assistant and associate deans and VPs
each making over $175,000 a year!</i><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Really, what’s
being done to our educated citizens is criminal…or would be, except CCs are
state run institutions, and the State gets to decide what is criminal.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Part of what
makes CCs so consistently fraudulent is they’re sold to the community as “jobs
training centers” but primarily their student base is taking academic
coursework. It’s a train wreck, and for every legitimate job certificate
issued, hundreds of worthless academic degrees are printed as well.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Buried in the
book is a clever idea:<br />
<br />
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">…job training degrees
at community colleges require an academic component. Consider the “opposite.”
What if all academic degrees required a job training component? Why not require
all AA and BA degree recipients to take eighteen or so hours of job training
course work–enough courses to earn a certificate or minor credential in medical
transcription, culinary arts, or some other job-ready field?...</i><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What an idea! We
might even consider having non-academic degrees like Gender Studies also require,
in addition to the bogus coursework, some legitimate work in hairdressing or
something. At least those graduates will have other job options besides pouring
coffee.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While students
and faculty are getting destroyed by “cheap education,” the people running the
place are making fortunes. The book contains a few fake news releases, such as
a Poo-Bah who decides to give even a small fortune of the wealth, half his
salary, rained down upon him back to the school:<br />
<br />
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">. “Let me explain…My
19,800 square foot house is paid for, my wife Michaela doesn’t want her
Mercedes convertible anymore, my seven children have completed their university
experiences in Switzerland, and I have a hard time spending $766,000 a year
(post tax). At retirement in three years, my state pension is secure at
$463,462 per annum for life, no matter what I do with my current salary.</i><br />
<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That salary
isn’t too far out of line, and the gentle reader needs to understand there are
many perks to the job beyond insane retirement packages:<br />
<br />
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">$62,000 yearly car
allowance and $46,000 travel perks, which would include his wife…for trips
including both national and international travel and Hawaii. Membership in the
Northern New Mexico Hot Air Balloon Diners Club–$23,000 dollars monthly. An
allowance for Michaela to cover weekly dog grooming service at the Proper Pooch
and Poodle Pretty Pet Pantry. $750 a week, which is itemized as petty
expenditures Presidential Membership at the Santa Koloas Country Club is
traditional, historic, and permanent– and has no connection to other salary
package adjustments.”</i><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One final shot
at a fake headline that’s pretty close to accurate:<br />
<br />
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">College Suspends
Instruction. President Devotes Full Resources to Rewriting Strategic Plan</i><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>CCs often have
such huge bureaucracies that they really don’t think education is a reason for
the school. Instead, the college exists simply to support the administration.
One thing nearly all administrators get involved in is the “strategic plan,”
which can easy run 1,000 pages, covering all sorts of ideas for covering even
more ground, the better to put up more palaces to hold more administrators to
work on a more grandiose plan. When the Poo-Bah retires (every few years,
usually), the plan is scrapped, and then all the admin get together to build an
entirely new plan from the ground up.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s pure
madness, but par fot the course as a community college.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.professorconfess.blogspot.com/">www.professorconfess.blogspot.com</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Doomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04528555392898760692noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-491174673971804494.post-65805795194106732652020-01-14T10:44:00.001-08:002020-01-14T10:44:32.743-08:00Ed Dept: Degree Debt Exceeds Degree Earnings
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">By Professor Doom</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s been known
for a decade or two that we have a real problem with the cost of a college
degree relative to the financial boon of having one, but </span><a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/11/26/new-federal-data-show-which-college-programs-result-highest-debt-lowest-earnings"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">at long
last our government is catching on as well</span></a><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">:</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;">… the U.S. Department of Education </span></i><a href="http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/11/21/federal-government-releases-earnings-data-thousands-college-programs" target="_blank"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #ef7521; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;">released
data</span></i></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"> on first-year earnings for thousands of
different college programs. The data are both limited and flawed in some ways,
but they are also some of the most accurate outcomes information currently
available about different academic programs and majors.</span></i><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our “leaders” in higher education have
been screaming about how invaluable the degrees they sell are for a very long
time. Perhaps so, but cost to acquire the degree needs to be a part of the
consideration. Gold is valuable too, around $1550 an ounce today…but just
because it’s valuable doesn’t mean you should pay $3,000 an ounce for it, and
the same is true for degrees (if you’re getting one for the money, anyway).</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So what kind of results do we officially
have?</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">At for-profits,
over half of bachelor’s programs resulted in higher debt than earnings. For
bachelor's degrees at nonprofit institutions, that number was only
17 percent, but rose to 71 percent for doctoral degrees.</span></i><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are only two sentences in the above,
but several points bear highlighting. The first two points are easy. First,
for-profits are already widely considered scams, and every way you measure
this, you get the same result; the above is no surprise, but realize that only
about 3% of Federal student loan money goes to these places. Second, debt is
much higher when it comes to graduate programs. The remaining points are more
subtle.</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The reason graduate programs have more
debt is because accreditation indirectly allows this, by specifying graduate
courses “should be” more challenging. Greater challenge somehow justifies
grossly greater expense, even if the program involves, say, reading PDF copies
of ancient texts instead of building a miniature atom smasher. Even though the
former costs nothing for the school to produce and the latter would cost
millions…both cost the same tuition. It’s why “art schools” and “education
schools” offering useless graduate degrees little our educational landscape.</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And what of state schools, the greatest
culprits of the student loan scam?</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;">Public institutions fared relatively well under
this metric. The data show that 15 percent of associate degree programs,
9 percent of bachelor's degrees and 13 percent of master's degrees
resulted in higher debt than earnings.</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I smell foul here. The above sounds good,
but you can pick up a two year associate’s degree for less than $5,000…I think
it sounds pretty awful that 15% of people with such degrees still can’t manage
to pull down $5,000 of yearly income. We still see the graduate degrees coming
out on top for debt, but it’s not at all clear why doctoral degrees don’t get
mentioned here.</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Professional
programs, such as medical or law degrees, appear to have relatively high debt
burdens. Eighty-two percent of those degrees resulted in debt greater than
earnings.</span></i></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">However,
because of the common extended pathways to earnings in those fields (such as
medical residencies), that may not be cause for concern for all programs.</span></i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></i></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again we have a bit of spin here. Yes,
doctors might well make the money eventually, but what’s going with our law
schools is downright criminal (metaphorically, of course), even if burying
people in debt for useless law degrees is perfectly legal. It’s been a </span><a href="https://professorconfess.blogspot.com/2015/09/good-news-there-will-be-fewer-lawyers.html"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;">while since I’ve written about this</span></a><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;">, but most people should already know.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;">“Oftentimes, the heaviest debt produces the
highest earnings,” said Anthony Carnevale, director of the Georgetown
University Center on Education and the Workforce, referring to medical and
dentistry programs.</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Spin, spin, spin…</span><a href="https://www.localsearchfordentists.com/the-bankrupt-dentist/"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;">dentists are going broke</span></a><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;">, because they have basically priced themselves out of the market trying
to make enough money to cover the debt. Granted, dubious “dental insurance” and
other factors are part of the problem…but don’t buy the “heaviest debt produces
the highest earnings” line. The biggest debt is usually held by art students,
making nothing.</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The article I’m quoting from does have a
bit of criticism:</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;">“There are a lot of programs at the graduate
level where you have to wonder how a school could in good conscience hand out
the debt they’re handing out to people,” he said, pointing to a master’s degree
in social work from the University of Southern California that he said was
“immorally priced.” The program's debt levels </span></i><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/03/upshot/student-debt-big-culprit-graduate-school.html" target="_blank"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #ef7521; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;">drew
criticism</span></i></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"> when the feds released those data earlier this
year. Median earnings for the USC master's in social work were about $50,000,
but median debt reached over $115,000.</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, sure, theoretically you could just give
up 2 years’ pay to pay off that debt, but the reality is you have bills to pay.
And taxes to pay on the income. You also have to service that debt, and no, you
don’t get to deduct those payments from your tax burden. Most student loan
payments are structured so that the payments strictly address interest, it’s
why commonly you find people who have made their payments for years, but still
owe just as much (if not more) than when they graduated.</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another great criticism:</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;">Michael Itzkowitz, a senior fellow of higher
education at the think tank Third Way, said certificate programs showed some of
the most troubling earnings results. “The average high school graduate makes
around $28,000 a year,” he said. “Most certificate programs show students
earning less than that.”</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Go to community college, we’re cheap!” is
the cry, but getting those job training certificates still don’t pay as much as
nothing at all. We really need to reconsider what we’re doing in our community
and technical college system, because it shouldn’t be this obvious that things
are very wrong here.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Among public
university bachelor's programs, the communications bachelor's degree at
Grambling State University and the social work bachelor's at Mississippi Valley
State University, both historically black colleges, took worst honors, with
debt outweighing earnings by over $20,000 in both programs. Neither university
responded to a request for comment.</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You know, our social justice warriors, if
they honestly felt the way they do, would speak up about this. They don’t, of
course, even though, again, it’s long been known how our student loan system
has been targeting minorities for optimal exploitation.</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now let’s talk about the stuff that really
matters: the degrees and schools which make sense:</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;">On the opposite end of the spectrum -- public and
nonprofit bachelor’s programs where earnings exceeded debt by the greatest
magnitude -- the list contains many computer science and engineering programs
at highly selective institutions, such as Brown University, Carnegie Mellon
University and the University of Pennsylvania.</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Note the word “selective” in the above. This has always been what made
higher education valuable: the scarcity created via selective admissions. Any
parents reading this, please only consider sending your kids to schools which
have entrance exams or otherwise restrict who gets to come on campus.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What about professional programs, what works there?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;">However, many nursing or health programs at
smaller public or less selective nonprofit private institutions also rise to
the top of that category. The bachelor’s program in nursing at Sonoma State
University, for example, features a median debt of $12,500 and $110,300 in
earnings.</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>While medical training for doctors is ridiculously pricey, nursing
programs so far haven’t been exploited. The reason here is much like before:
not everyone is cut out to be a nurse. Having spent so much time on my back in
hospital beds this last year, I’m speaking from experience.</span><br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;">At the associate level, Kelchen's analysis found
that the lowest-earning fields included criminal justice, health administration
and teacher education.</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i>
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</span>Many reasons for the above, but no, “low teacher pay” isn’t an issue.
Education programs are notoriously wide open for admissions (as is criminal
justice, I have no input on “health administration” beyond my suspicions), and
so the market is flooded with people with teaching degrees.</span><br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;">At the graduate level, educational administration
broke the top five in earnings, mostly, Kelchen said, because school
superintendents tend to do quite well.</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Now wait just one second here. I’m quoting from a higher
education-specific site. They know full well how ridiculously outrageous the
pay is for administrators in higher education. Yes, “school superintendents”
tend to do well, but let’s not forget the legions of deanlings on campus here,
shall we?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Getting back to those good professional degree programs, one thing not
well measured here is how many people flunk out of those programs. Yes,
engineers and nurses get good pay relative to debt, but a good overall
consideration would account for the wide swaths of students who enroll in those
programs and then drop out…ending up in those poor yielding other programs.</span><br />
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</span>Still, at least our government is finally noticing</span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> what most people knew
a generation or so ago.</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.professorconfess.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">www.professorconfess.blogspot.com</span></a><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><br />
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Doomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04528555392898760692noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-491174673971804494.post-40030341916232332192020-01-11T19:16:00.001-08:002020-01-11T19:16:11.545-08:00The Media Spin On A “Racistsexisthomophobe” Professor
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<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">By Professor
Doom</span><br />
<br />
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<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For years I’ve covered faculty being
removed from campus for having integrity, or at least the sense enough to not
agree with “the narrative,” and First Amendment protections never seem to
apply. Thus I was more than a little puzzled when I saw the following headline:</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/indiana-university-admits-a-professor-has-racist-sexist-and-homophobic-views-but-say-they-cant-fire-him-because-of-the-first-amendment/ar-BBXb5Mk?ocid=spartanntp"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Indiana University admits a professor
has 'racist, sexist, and homophobic' views but say they can't fire him because
of the First Amendment</span></a><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After years of over-use, the cry of
RACIST has lost its strength, and now extra slurs are typically tacked on, in
this case, “sexist and homophobic,” although “right wing” and other scare words
are typically used as well.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But this can’t be right. I’ve seen
professors removed before, the First Amendment has offered no protection
against the ideologues running many of our campuses today. So, I was
suspicious, and seeing the link is from fake news site MSN, I found
considerable amusement in the spin here. Let’s take a look:</span><br />
<br />
<ul type="disc">
<li style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: 400; line-height: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Indiana
University says it will continue to employ Eric Rasmusen, a professor of
business economics and public policy at the university, despite his
"racist, sexist, and homophobic views." </span></i></li>
<li style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: 400; line-height: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">University
Provost Lauren Robel said the school can't fire Rasmusen because the
"First Amendment of the United States Constitution forbids us to do
so." </span></i></li>
</ul>
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<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So the
university really is slathering these labels on their employee, and is hiding
behind the First Amendment. What exactly did he do or say, anyway?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Rasmusen came under fire earlier this
month after he </span></i><a href="https://twitter.com/erasmuse/status/1192591814567563266" target="_blank"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">tweeted about an article</span></i></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> called "Are Women
Destroying Academia? Probably."</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His crime? He linked to an article. I’ll
probably look at that article in more detail later, as I rather disagree with
it (I maintain strongly the student loan scam is destroying academia). That’s
some pretty extreme guilt by association. What did the professor say, exactly?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 7.5pt;">His tweet
said "geniuses are overwhelmingly male because they combine outlier IQ
with moderately low Agreeableness and Moderately low Conscientiousness."</span></i><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 26.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">This is MSN, so I guess I should be impressed
they went this far before becoming misleading. The professor’s tweet may have
said the above…but that’s actually a quote from the article. A casual reader
might think the professor said the above, but, no, he’s simply hitting a
highlight from his link, to entice others into reading the article. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>MSN doesn’t bother to explain what the quote
means, but I’ll summarize. Human males are more common at extreme levels of
behavior and ability. Your murderers, drug addicts, and, yes, geniuses tend to
be male. It isn’t simply brainpower here, it’s also personality traits such as
“low Agreeableness” and “low Conscientiousness,” which allow someone with
sufficient brainpower to pursue truth and knowledge, even if others might not
like it much.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Back to the point, to attribute this
quote to the professor is quite misleading, a proxy plagiarism.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Did the professor say anything to
justify those labels the Provost put on him?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Robel said that Rasmusen also
believes that women don't belong in the workplace, gay men should be banned
from academia, and black students are unqualified for elite universities.</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i>
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<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Uh, the above is certainly an accusation,
but this is just a belief from the Provost about what the Provost believes the
professor (Rasmusen) believes. That’s quite the string of conjecture. How is this
information relevant to the slander MSN is promulgating? Note the careful
phrasing here, as MSN makes it clear, with specific reading, that they’re only
quoting beliefs piled on beliefs. I doubt all readers consume this fake news in
a discriminating way.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://twitter.com/IUBloomington/status/1197258877441581064" target="_blank"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Robel, a provost and executive vice president for the
university, said in a letter to students</span></i></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> that Rasmusen, who has
been employed by the university since 1992, has "for many years" used
his social media accounts to "disseminate his racist, sexist, and
homophobic views."</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i><span style="font-size: 7.5pt; line-height: 107%;"></span>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More undocumented slander. It’s a shame
MSN couldn’t be bothered to take a few minutes to find something from the
professor backing up the slander. Oh well.</span><br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Robel said that while Rasmusen is
still employed at the school, no student will be required to take his classes,
and Rasmusen will be required to use a double-blind procedure while grading
that will make it impossible for him to know whose assignment he's grading.</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, the professor won’t be fired for his
alleged views, but the university will make things very unpleasant for him, in
addition to using the media to spread slander.</span><br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">"Academic freedom should protect
me even if I believed all the things the provost attributed to me," he
said.</span></i><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I emphasize that the professor is denying
the accuracy of his university’s slander. Who should we believe? If the slander
were true, the university and MSN would have no trouble actually citing
examples…seeing as that hasn’t happened, I’m inclined to believe the
professor’s denial.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The professor has an additional </span><a href="http://www.rasmusen.org/special/2019kerfuffle/"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">comment on his blog</span></a><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> (where, I repeat, if the Provost/MSN were being
honest, they’d have no trouble documenting their claims):</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Indiana University is not discouraging bias, but encouraging
it, even requiring it, as a condition of teaching.</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></i>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ultimately this is the problem. Since
higher ed (and our mainstream media) is incredibly biased to the point of
shutting out all opposing views, we probably shouldn’t be paying for it. I
disagree with the Professor’s linked article that women are the problem
here…but I’ll let him have his say without calling him racistsexisthomophobe.</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.professorconfess.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">www.professorconfess.blogspot.com</span></a><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"></span><br />
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Doomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04528555392898760692noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-491174673971804494.post-30222472358273742822020-01-08T07:48:00.004-08:002020-01-08T07:48:57.689-08:00College Entrance Exams Are RACIST. No Kidding.
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">By Professor Doom</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The edu-fascists
running so many of our schools are predictable. The educationists want growth
at all costs, while the Progressives want to advance their destructive ideology
at all costs.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Entrance exams,
what used to be a gatekeeper for getting in to higher education, have long been
abandoned at many of our open admissions state schools. This was done to
“loosen restrictions” (as an educrat would say) or “promote diversity” (as a
Progressive would say), but bottom line this was done as it coincided with both
sides’ interests. That it was destroying the citizens/unqualified students with
unpayable student loan debt was of no concern to either side, of course.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our elite schools
still require students to demonstrate some actual interest in learning before
taking on student loan debt, but this has been changing of late as they, too,
have been taken over by the same sort of people. A recent Taki’s Magazine
article discusses the “problems” with entrance examinations as written about in
a book on the subject, but misses one big detail, which I’ll correct.</span><br />
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<br />
<a href="https://www.takimag.com/article/tough-testing/"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #114c64; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">Tough Testing</span></i></a><br />
<br /><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"></span></i>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #212529; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">One of the less remarked-upon gender gaps is in
college attendance: Young men have fallen far behind young women. Males now
make up only </span></i><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-03-06/young-women-widen-the-higher-education-gap" target="_blank"><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #114c64; font-family: "inherit",serif; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">43 percent</span></i></b></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #212529; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"> of college students despite continuing to earn
slightly </span></i><a href="https://twitter.com/unsilencedsci/status/1055400356132282370?lang=en" target="_blank"><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #114c64; font-family: "inherit",serif; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">higher average scores</span></i></b></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #212529; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"> on college admission tests.</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #212529; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br /></span></i>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One way
“opportunities were expanded” and “equality was achieved”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(depending on which faction was <s>lying</s>
talking) in higher education was encouraging females to pursue higher education
en masse. Basic human biology makes this a bit problematic, but I just want to
point out the main issue here demonstrating both sides are full of crap:
although females greatly outnumber males on campus and have done so for years,
although more females today hold college degrees than males…there’s still an
endless push to attract even more females on campus. One side really only wants
growth no matter what harm is done, while the other wants to pursue ideology
with similar unconcern for humanity.</span><br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #212529; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Perversely,
journalist </span></i><a href="http://staging.takimag.com/article/its_tough_being_tough_steve_sailer/" target="_blank"><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #114c64; font-family: "inherit",serif; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">Paul Tough’s</span></i></b></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #212529; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"> much-praised new book, </span></i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Years-That-Matter-Most-College/dp/0544944488/vdare" target="_blank"><em><b><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #114c64; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">The Years That Matter Most:
How College Makes or Breaks Us</span></b></em></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #212529; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">, calls for America to </span></i><em><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #212529; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">worsen</span></em><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #212529; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"> this </span></i><a href="https://www.aei.org/carpe-diem/table-of-the-day-bachelors-degrees-for-the-class-of-2016-by-field-and-gender-oh-and-the-overall-25-6-college-degree-gap-for-men/" target="_blank"><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #114c64; font-family: "inherit",serif; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">inequality</span></i></b></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #212529; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"> by dumping the SAT and ACT for being biased
toward boys.</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #212529; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is all part
of the push to destroy the few good schools which still require entrance exams.
Please understand anyone who wants to enter an open admissions school can do so
already, we have a surplus of “higher education” available in this country. We
don’t have a surplus of legitimate schools, however.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While the above
is “merely” a claim that entrance exams are sexist, it’s a single sling of mud
away from calling them RACIST as well:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #212529; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">To Tough,
college entrance examinations are just another conspiracy to make white boys
look good.</span></i><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why bring up
“white”? One big open question comes to mind about our society as I read this:
what will we collectively tire of first: the jailhouse “suicides” of people
about to testify against our big politicians, or the cries of RACISM against
everything which made our society?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 21.0pt; margin-top: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #212529; font-family: "&quot",serif;">One important fact that Tough points out is that prestigious
colleges have vastly more money to spend per student than do less famous
colleges. </span></i></div>
<div style="line-height: 21.0pt; margin-top: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #212529; font-family: "&quot",serif;"><br /></span></i></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The above is
where the article goes wrong, and it spends far too much time railing against
those wealthy private schools which restrict admission. It might be a “fact,”
but it needs to be clarified with the well known fact that “money spent per
student” has almost no effect on outcome, as has been shown time and time
again. Honest, you give me the lowest amount spent per student anywhere in the
U.S., and give me the top 10% of scorers on entrance exams, and I promise you
I’ll have more success with them than any amount of money spent on the bottom
10%.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At least the
article laughs at the implied racism of our elite schools using such exams:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 21.0pt; margin-top: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<i><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "&quot",serif;">These students were more
likely to live in small towns or rural areas in the middle of the country and
to attend schools where they would be one of only a few high-achieving
students. They were also significantly more likely to be white; 80 percent of
them, in fact, were white, compared to just 45 percent of the achievement
typical students.</span></i></div>
<div style="line-height: 21.0pt; margin-top: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<i><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "&quot",serif;"><br /></span></i></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 21.0pt; margin-top: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #212529; font-family: "&quot",serif;">In other words, this
country’s most underprivileged reservoir of underutilized talent is </span></i></b><a href="http://staging.takimag.com/article/white-and-bright/" target="_blank"><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #114c64; font-family: "inherit",serif; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">Red State white boys</span></i></b></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #212529; font-family: "&quot",serif;">.</span></i></b></div>
<div style="line-height: 21.0pt; margin-top: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #212529; font-family: "&quot",serif;"><br /></span></i></b></div>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">--emphasis
added.</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While the above
is accurate, the edu-fascists running our schools will ignore this detail,
instead targeting the much broader market of low performing, “diverse”
students.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #212529; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Tough,
for example, is much agitated about the inevitable fact that some college
applicants have higher test scores than grades while others have higher grades
than test scores. He tendentiously labels the former “inflated SAT score
students,” although one might with equal justification call the latter
“inflated GPAs.” </span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #212529; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #212529; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How twisted is that? The whole point of
standardized tests is they have <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">standards</i>.
Taki’s is right to laugh at this inversion of truth, but the book referenced
will still be used to eliminate standardized tests. Because the book is
published and supports the narrative, after all.</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #212529; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #666666; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">The
students with the inflated SAT scores were more likely to be white or Asian
than the students in the deflated SAT group, and they were much more likely to
be male…. The inflated-SAT students were more than twice as likely to have
parents who earned more than $100,000 a year and more than twice as likely to
have parents with graduate degrees. These are the students—the only students—to
get a big boost in admissions from the SAT.</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #666666; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #212529; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s considerable idiocy to unpack in
the above, so I’ll only go lightly over the “problems” here, which the article
doesn’t really touch on.</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #212529; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #212529; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The SAT tests are basically used as a
proxy for intelligence tests; any group scoring high in one is scoring high on
the other. Of course, intelligence tests were long since branded as RACIST and
discarded. I assure the gentle reader, once the SAT receives this treatment, another
proxy will be found. The market is like that, after all.</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #212529; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #212529; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Having parents with graduate degrees just
means the kids come from a family which values education…so, much as children
of obese parents tend to be obese, we see the same thing here. And? I know
talking about “genetics” is RACIST as well, but we all know, deep in our
hearts, that children tend to take after their parents.</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #212529; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #212529; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The book gets another shredding, as the
article points out how an important fact “not supporting the narrative” isn’t
mentioned:</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #212529; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 21.0pt; margin-top: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #212529; font-family: "&quot",serif;">Tough is likewise outraged that kids from families that make
$40,000 to $80,000 earn a 3.63 GPA in high school and score 1624 (out of the
old 2400 maximum) on the SAT, while kids from families making over $200,000
earn only a slightly better 3.66 GPA, but average a notably higher 1793.</span></i></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 21.0pt; margin-top: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #212529; font-family: "&quot",serif;">Of course, that’s because,
on average, rich kids attend schools with more rigorous grading standards than
do not-rich kids.</span></i></b></div>
<div style="line-height: 21.0pt; margin-top: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #212529; font-family: "&quot",serif;"><br /></span></i></b></div>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #212529; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">--emphasis added. Honest,
you ask more from students, you get more.</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #212529; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #212529; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another issue commonly raised against the
rich is they can afford to spend more money on test prep for their students.
There’s some truth to this, and I’ll be the first to admit that preparing for a
test is a great thing to do, and purchasing materials helps quite a bit.</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #212529; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #212529; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A short anecdote: I doubled my subject
test score (more accurately, my percent rank) for the GRE mathematics subject
test after buying a test prep book. I went to a weak State U with a reputation for partying, and learned I had
catching up to do based on that prep book. The book cost $18, but I had to study it on my own. Yes, I had my
“rich” parents spend the money on it (if memory serves), but comparable books
are available today for about the same price (if by “book” you mean “PDF,”
anyway). </span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #212529; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #212529; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, spending money helps, but my parents
weren’t going to help me with the material, it was on me to study and learn.
That’s how it works, and how it always works, greed and ideology
notwithstanding.</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #212529; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #212529; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The book rails quite a bit against test
prep, but it really is all about the effort:</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #212529; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #212529; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Of course,
Asians get, by far, the highest test scores of all, and have been </span></i><a href="https://twitter.com/unsilencedsci/status/1055400356132282370?lang=en" target="_blank"><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #114c64; font-family: "inherit",serif; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">widening the gap</span></i></b></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #212529; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"> in this century. But Asians don’t come up all
that much in </span></i><em><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #212529; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">The Years That Matter
Most</span></em><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #212529; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">. They tend to confuse The
Narrative.</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #212529; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #212529; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course they don’t fit the narrative,
that’s why they never get mentioned..,and the gap is widening because they’re
preparing even harder than before in response to the racist rules Progressives
stack against them . As I’ve shown time and again, Asians are more a minority
than what the ideologues call minorities…and so get swept under the rug since
they don’t support the narrative.</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #212529; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #212529; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Facts are irrelevant to the people running
our schools, of course, and so more legitimate schools will turn into open admissions
schools, scraping up that last bit of student loan money before we finally
figure out that there’s simply too much going wrong in our higher education
system to keep supporting it this way.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.professorconfess.blogspot.com/"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">www.professorconfess.blogspot.com</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #212529; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Doomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04528555392898760692noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-491174673971804494.post-40514006478478062622020-01-05T08:17:00.000-08:002020-01-06T07:36:11.687-08:00A Look At A Corrupted State University<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">By Professor Doom</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Last time around,
I wrote of a scholarly report on how Social Justice Warriors take over schools,
convert them from centers of education into indoctrination camps. While the
report says little I didn’t see with my own eyes years ago, it does a wonderful
examination of one particular school, San Francisco State University, which has
been debased into a place where young adults should not go to get an education,
much less go deep into debt to be there.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know,
“California” and “crazy” are nearly synonymous, but the gentle reader needs to
understand once one university adopts a set of practices, other schools are
“justified” in doing the same. This madness has been spreading for some time,
and I fear will spread further.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let’s look at some
of the warning signs of schools to avoid:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #484c4f; font-family: "&quot" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;">SFSU defines social justice as practically synonymous with
progressive political activism.</span></i></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: #fefefe; color: #484c4f; font-family: "mort modern 24" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"> Its Equity & Community Inclusion
bureaucracy cites “non-profit national organizations [that] are committed to
social justice advocacy” that include bastions of progressive advocacy such as
the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and
the Transgender Law Center.</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: #fefefe; color: #484c4f; font-family: "mort modern 24" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A parent curious
about a school should look to see if a school has statements promoting social
justice in its official propaganda. Universities should be dedicated to
education and scholarship, anything else is corruption.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #484c4f; font-family: "&quot" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;">SFSU’s commitment to social justice has distorted its general
education requirements. </span></i></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: #fefefe; color: #484c4f; font-family: "mort modern 24" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;">SFSU imposes a complex series of general
education requirements, which restricts student choice for at least 17 courses.</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref9"></a><a href="https://nas.org/reports/social-justice-education-in-america/full-report#_ftn9"><span style="mso-bookmark: _ftnref9;"><b><sup><span style="background: #d1cd7b; color: #fefefe; font-family: "&quot" , serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 107%; position: relative; top: 1.5pt;">9</span></sup></b></span><span style="mso-bookmark: _ftnref9;"></span></a></i><span style="mso-bookmark: _ftnref9;"></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: #fefefe; color: #484c4f; font-family: "mort modern 24" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Every single requirement can be satisfied by a
course devoted to social justice…</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: #fefefe; color: #484c4f; font-family: "mort modern 24" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i>
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<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I apologize for
writing in all caps, BUT THE ABOVE IS KEY. Many schools now have a “two tier”
system of education, where students can choose whether to get an actual
education, or receive intense indoctrination.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“General
education” is a big part of what made university education such a scarce thing.
Someone with a legitimate education has taken courses in mathematics, in
science, in history…in a variety of fields. This is a person who is capable of
learning, even learning things which are of no interest to him—the kind of
person an employer desires, because the employer knows the graduate is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">capable</i> of doing the job, no matter what
the job is.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now look at what
happened at SFSU. The student can’t learn calculus? No problem, he’ll take
Gender Studies instead. The student doesn’t want to learn any history? No
problem, he’ll take Gender Studies II instead. The student doesn’t want to
learn anything about science? No problem, just take Socialism Is Awesome instead.
A student can replace 17 courses this way…a degree might be less than 34
courses. The student will graduate with an SFSU degree, but it means nothing,
only that the student has been indoctrinated, not necessarily educated. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The only reason those
“legitimate” courses still exist on campus is they are holdovers from when the
place was a legitimate educational institution, but as the years pass, I’m sure
they’ll disappear eventually, to be replaced by ever more indoctrination.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<b><span style="color: #484c4f; font-family: "&quot" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;">SFSU imposes four distinct social
justice course requirements.</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #484c4f; font-family: "&quot" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #484c4f; font-family: "&quot" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even if a student goes to SFSU and devotes
himself to education…he’ll still be forced to take a full semester’s worth of
indoctrination.</span><br />
<span style="color: #484c4f; font-family: "&quot" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #484c4f; font-family: "&quot" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;">A growing number of SFSU departments and concentrations
explicitly dedicate themselves to social justice.</span></i></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: #fefefe; color: #484c4f; font-family: "mort modern 24" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;">
These include the Critical Social Thought Program; Education: Concentration in
Equity and Social Justice in Education; Education Leadership; Environmental
Studies: Environmental Sustainability and Social Justice Emphasis; Global
Peace, Human Rights, and Justice Studies; Health Education; LGBT Studies; Race
and Resistance Studies; Sexuality Studies; and Women and Gender Studies.</span></i><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="background: #fefefe; color: #484c4f; font-family: "mort modern 24" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Look at all
those fake departments on campus, filled with professors teaching all the
bizarre new mandatory courses. I’ve seen multiple computer science departments
close down and many academic departments shrivel…but these indoctrination
departments only open up and grow. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I remind the
reader this is a state school, and tax dollars are paying for this.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #484c4f; font-family: "&quot" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;">SFSU’s basic writing instruction now forwards social justice.</span></i></b><br />
<b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #484c4f; font-family: "&quot" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i></b>
<br />
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<br />
<b><span style="color: #484c4f; font-family: "&quot" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b><span style="color: #484c4f; font-family: "&quot" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;">Note the subversion here: the students don’t learn how to be better
writers in the writing courses, they just learn more social justice
indoctrination. The report discusses things in more detail by listing courses
and such, I’m just hitting the main points here.</span><br />
<span style="color: #484c4f; font-family: "&quot" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="color: #484c4f; font-family: "&quot" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It isn’t merely writing which is
corrupted, mathematics likewise is turned into sludge:</span><br />
<span style="color: #484c4f; font-family: "&quot" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #484c4f; font-family: "&quot" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;">SFSU’s basic mathematics instruction now also forwards social
justice.</span></i></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: #fefefe; color: #484c4f; font-family: "mort modern 24" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"> Students who wish to learn mathematics at
SFSU can now take A U 116 </span></i><i><span style="color: #484c4f; font-family: "&quot" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;">Algebra and
Statistics for Social Justice</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: #fefefe; color: #484c4f; font-family: "mort modern 24" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"> or A U 117 </span></i><i><span style="color: #484c4f; font-family: "&quot" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;">Statistics for Social Justice</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: #fefefe; color: #484c4f; font-family: "mort modern 24" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;">. The latter course uses “topics such as
education equity, income inequality, racism, and white supremacy and gender
inequality to examine data using statistics.”</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: #fefefe; color: #484c4f; font-family: "mort modern 24" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
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<br />
<span style="color: #484c4f; font-family: "&quot" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If a kid came to me and asked whether to
become a heroin addict, or to go to SFSU…I’m not sure I could determine which
would be the superior choice.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #484c4f; font-family: "&quot" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;">SFSU uses Experiential Learning Courses to provide course credit
for vocational training in progressive activism.</span></i></b><br />
<b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #484c4f; font-family: "&quot" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i></b>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #484c4f; font-family: "&quot" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Experiential Learning” is yet another
subversion of education. Experiential learning has nothing to do with learning,
what is meant by this phrase is the students get course credit for activism.
So, they protest, carry billboards, harass Trump supporters…and get course
credit for such “experience.” </span><br />
<span style="color: #484c4f; font-family: "&quot" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #484c4f; font-family: "&quot" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;">SFSU is now crafting its job advertisements to make sure that
only social justice advocates will be hired in the future.</span></i></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: #fefefe; color: #484c4f; font-family: "mort modern 24" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"> Ads
for both an Assistant Professor of Ancient Greek/Roman Philosophy and a
tenure-track position in Linguistics: Sociolinguistics include the stipulation
of “Providing curricula that reflect all dimensions of human diversity…and a
commitment to social justice.”</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref23"></a><a href="https://nas.org/reports/social-justice-education-in-america/full-report#_ftn23"><span style="mso-bookmark: _ftnref23;"><b><sup><span style="background: #d1cd7b; color: #fefefe; font-family: "&quot" , serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 107%; position: relative; top: 1.5pt;">23</span></sup></b></span><span style="mso-bookmark: _ftnref23;"></span></a></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br /></i><span style="mso-bookmark: _ftnref23;"></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #484c4f; font-family: "&quot" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></i>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The above is the
lockdown, dooming this institution until it is paved over and a new school is
built on top of it. All faculty hired must be social justice warriors,
dedicated to indoctrination…not education.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I again reiterate
the faculty, the original legitimate faculty of 20+ years ago, screwed up. All
that student loan money flowing in led them to believe that the time had come to
hire professional mercenaries to administrate the campuses. Oh, they
administrated alright, plundering away, and eventually selling out to the
social justice warriors. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is what has
happened at SFSU, but is ongoing at many institutions. Ending the student loan
scam will stop the process, but until that blessed day comes, a parent
concerned for their children should note carefully the signs of a corrupted
school given above, and do whatever it takes to keep their kids away from such
a school.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.professorconfess.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">www.professorconfess.blogspot.com</span></a><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Doomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04528555392898760692noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-491174673971804494.post-73665088305918823212020-01-02T09:41:00.001-08:002020-01-02T09:41:23.902-08:00A Scholarly Look At The Social Justice Takeover of Higher Ed
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<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">By Professor Doom</span><br />
<br />
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<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Scholarly work is
a slow thing, and it can take years before academics can officially declare
even obvious things to be true…or at least true enough. So, while it was clear
to me a decade or more ago that something was going very wrong in higher education,
it’s only now that we have an official scholarly report on what went wrong:</span><br />
<br />
<a href="https://nas.org/reports/social-justice-education-in-america/full-report"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Mort Modern 10",serif; font-size: 31.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 54.0pt;">Social Justice Education in America</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #003152; font-family: "Mort Modern 10",serif; font-size: 31.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 54.0pt;"></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Scholars
tend to focus on minutiae, and so they give a minute reason for why we should
care about this…and somehow ignore the huge reasons:</span><br />
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: #FEFEFE; color: #484c4f; font-family: "Mort Modern 24",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;">The direct financial burden of social justice
general education requirements is at least $10 billion a year nationwide, and
rising fast.</span></i><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This means almost
nothing. Student loan debt is around $1.6 trillion dollars, and most of that
money, far more than the $10 billion mentioned above, was blown on bogus
educations. If all we wasted was $10 billion while educating the next
generation, that’d be a win next to the $1.6 trillion in loans which is the
true cost of the takeover of education by ideologues obsessed with social
justice.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What is “social
justice,” anyway? Scholars like to know what they’re studying, and the report
highlights how this term means just about anything as long as it puts money
into ideologues’ pockets. The best they could come up with as meaning for the
term is:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: #FEFEFE; color: #484c4f; font-family: "Mort Modern 24",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;">I dislike the United States and American
culture. American society treats people unfairly. American culture elevates the
wealthy and the privileged over everybody else. It is oppressive. I’m
oppressed. I want to change everything. I especially want to change things in
the direction of redistributing wealth and privilege. Those should be taken
away from the people I don’t like and given to me and the people I do like. The
key to making this happen is to raise awareness among those who are oppressed
and who don’t necessarily know they are oppressed. Calling for social justice
is a way of bringing people together to overthrow the systemic injustices all
around us.</span></i><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Considering how
Social Justice is used to justify endless riots and protests in support of both
racism and anti-racism, the above is as good a description as any. The report
emphasizes this with a brief overview:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: #FEFEFE; color: #484c4f; font-family: "Mort Modern 24",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;">Those who seek to end “gender oppression”
find it suits them. Those who seek reparations for slavery and an end to racism
find that it suits them as well. Those who fight for open borders, the end of a
carbon-based economy, the elimination of meat, the normalization of transgender
identity, the end of “broken-windows policing,” the dismantling of the “prison
industrial complex,” and the eradication of “Islamophobia” find themselves
conforming to this sensibility as well.</span></i><br />
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<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Getting back to
education, the report summarizes how higher education was taken over, to a
large extent, by Social Justice Warriors. I disagree with some of what they
say, although I certainly agree with their disdain for many aspects of the
movement. The report says it happened through a 4-front attack:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: #FEFEFE; color: #484c4f; font-family: "Mort Modern 24",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;">They focus on four broad strategic
initiatives: 1) the alteration of university and department mission statements;
2) the seizure of internal graduation requirements; 3) the capture of
disciplines or creation of pseudo-disciplines; and 4) the capture of the
university administration.</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: #FEFEFE; color: #484c4f; font-family: "Mort Modern 24",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i>
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<br />
<span style="background: #FEFEFE; color: #484c4f; font-family: "Mort Modern 24",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While the above is true, I feel some
clarifications of how it all works together is necessary.</span><br />
<span style="background: #FEFEFE; color: #484c4f; font-family: "Mort Modern 24",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: #FEFEFE; color: #484c4f; font-family: "Mort Modern 24",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, the “mission statements” are now
being altered to support social justice, just as, not that many years ago, they
were altered away from their original purpose (generally, education of humanity
through education and research, and <a href="https://professorconfess.blogspot.com/2015/09/colleges-purpose-then-and-now.html">towards
support of nebulous crud</a> like “leadership” and “excellence”). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Decades ago, scholars screwed up by allowing
professional “leaders” take over higher education, and these “leaders” were
turning to their own ends (hence the new focus on “leadership” and
“excellence), before they teamed up with the Social Justice movement via
edu-fascism…little realizing that the Social Justice Warriors would eventually
push out those “leaders.” All that said, mission statements mean little in the
grand scheme of things, I doubt 1 student in 100 can quote even a few words of
their alma mater’s mission statement.</span><br />
<span style="background: #FEFEFE; color: #484c4f; font-family: "Mort Modern 24",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: #FEFEFE; color: #484c4f; font-family: "Mort Modern 24",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Similarly, “seizure of internal
graduation requirements” is only incidental to the takeover. What matters here
is that those internal graduation requirements now mandate students take
ideological training, often considerable amounts of it. But, who has the power
to make such sweeping changes to graduation requirements, and how did those
requirements get approved?</span><br />
<span style="background: #FEFEFE; color: #484c4f; font-family: "Mort Modern 24",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: #FEFEFE; color: #484c4f; font-family: "Mort Modern 24",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The report utterly ignores
accreditations role here, but I assure the gentle reader, accreditation could
fix the SJW takeover in a heartbeat.</span><br />
<span style="background: #FEFEFE; color: #484c4f; font-family: "Mort Modern 24",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: #FEFEFE; color: #484c4f; font-family: "Mort Modern 24",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“The capture of disciplines or creation
of pseudo-disciplines” again is part of the takeover, but how did the capture
take place? <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Who</i> allowed the creation
of pseudo-disciplines?</span><br />
<span style="background: #FEFEFE; color: #484c4f; font-family: "Mort Modern 24",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">It is the 4<sup>th</sup> front that matters
most</b>, the capture of the university administration. Scholars sold out to
the leaders, the leaders allowed the SJWs in, and they, through control of the
hiring committees, slowly took over many of campuses. Again, the scholars don’t
seem to realize what happened, though they stumble over it many times:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 24.0pt; margin-bottom: 13.5pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #484c4f; font-family: "&quot",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In the last twenty years a body of “social justice
educators” has come to power in American higher education…By now scarcely any
conservatives or moderates remain, and most of them are approaching retirement.</span></i></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 24.0pt; margin-bottom: 13.5pt;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 24.0pt; margin-bottom: 13.5pt;">
<span style="color: #484c4f; font-family: "&quot",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The reason why it took 20 years is because
those hiring committees, while restricted to only hiring SJWs, could do little
about the “normies” who had already been hired. The normies are now all mostly
approaching retirement because the chokehold has been around that long.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 24.0pt; margin-bottom: 13.5pt;">
<span style="color: #484c4f; font-family: "&quot",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While this bigoted hiring has been
going on for decades, it’s only recently that now “must be a SJW” has become an
official requirement for getting hired on many campuses, and the report
highlights how it is today in writing…though it’s been around via “wink and a
nod” procedures for a long time.</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: 24.0pt; margin-bottom: 13.5pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: #FEFEFE; color: #484c4f; font-family: "Mort Modern 24",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The ideal of social
justice does not complement the ideal of education. The ideal of social justice
</span></i><i><span style="color: #484c4f; font-family: "&quot",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">replaces</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: #FEFEFE; color: #484c4f; font-family: "Mort Modern 24",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> the ideal of education.</span></i></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 24.0pt; margin-bottom: 13.5pt;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 24.0pt; margin-bottom: 13.5pt;">
<span style="color: #484c4f; font-family: "&quot",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again, the above is the true problem with
Social Justice in higher education. It takes it over completely, replaces it.
That our young are going deep into debt for Social Justice indoctrination is
insult to injury.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 24.0pt; margin-bottom: 13.5pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: #FEFEFE; color: #484c4f; font-family: "Mort Modern 24",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Higher education’s
administrative bloat has facilitated the growth of social justice
bureaucracies—among them, Offices of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs; Title
IX coordinators; Offices of First-Year Experience and Community Engagement;
Offices of Student Life and Residential Life; Offices of Service-Learning and
Civic Engagement; Offices of Equity and Inclusion; Offices of Sustainability
and Social Justice; and miscellaneous institutes and centers.</span></i></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 24.0pt; margin-bottom: 13.5pt;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 24.0pt; margin-bottom: 13.5pt;">
<span style="color: #484c4f; font-family: "&quot",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It isn’t just the education that gets
perverted, the whole system is corrupted, and next time around we’ll take a
look at a major state school taken over by Social Justice, where education is,
at best, optional.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<div style="line-height: 24.0pt; margin-bottom: 13.5pt;">
<a href="http://www.professorconfess.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-family: "&quot",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">www.professorconfess.blogspot.com</span></a><span style="color: #484c4f; font-family: "&quot",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
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<span style="color: #484c4f; font-family: "&quot",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Doomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04528555392898760692noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-491174673971804494.post-76107898273154713452019-12-30T07:31:00.000-08:002019-12-30T07:31:07.915-08:00Detransitioned Students Form Group To Help Trans-people De-Transition
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">By Professor Doom</span><br />
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<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s hard to come
up with a decent title for today’s post. A while back I wrote how </span><a href="https://professorconfess.blogspot.com/2019/02/daughters-coming-home-from-college-with.html"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">daughters
coming home with mustaches</span></a><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> and breasts removed is a thing now. When I first
heard of this, I greeted the news with skepticism because it was just so
wacky…but I confirmed things as best I could with followup, and it sure seems
legit.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To further
reinforce that sending your daughter to college today presents a real risk of
getting back a “son,” I want to talk a bit about a student group on campus:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<a href="https://www.thecollegefix.com/meet-the-liberal-young-women-helping-their-peers-detransition-from-transgender-identity/"><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Meet the liberal young women helping their peers
‘detransition’ from transgender identity</span></i></b></a><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span></i></b><br />
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<b><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The title is a bit
unclear, and the obfuscation is rather important here. The “liberal young
women” aren’t merely young women with liberal views, they’re all “female to
male” transsexuals who decided, mid-change, that they were making a huge
mistake and stopped what they were doing.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I concede it’s a
big world, and that it’s possible there really are men born in women’s bodies,
but the mere existence of this group indicates we as a society (and more
specifically our higher education system) have a large problem: “men born as
women” are not rarities, there are so many of them that not only can there be
student sub-groups for that, but a campus can have enough “women who thought, for
a time, they were men born as women” to form their own sub-sub-group.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We should ask
some questions about how that happened, and this article provides some answers.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Before getting to
those answers, the women here still hold their liberal views and affirm as much.
I’ll just put something out there: could it be susceptibility to today’s
“liberalism” be somehow related to susceptibility into being convinced of being
the wrong gender? Even asking that question in some quarters would draw intense
hatred, but I suspect the existence of a link there. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The phenomenon
on our campuses (and to some extent in our public schools as well) is called
rapid onset gender dysphoria, ROGD. Basically, one day the girl wakes up and
decides she’s supposed to be a boy, or vice versa. It supposedly just suddenly
happens, completely unrelated to all the indoctrination fed to the child
(supposedly), and we’re not just talking 2 year olds, here, but young women to
went to prom and seemed perfectly happy with their gender identity, but then
come back from a semester of college deciding they’re supposed to be
males.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">her three
best friends in high school all identified as transgender and then desisted.
This affirms researcher Littman’s </span></i><a href="https://www.economist.com/united-states/2018/09/01/why-are-so-many-teenage-girls-appearing-in-gender-clinics"><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #333333; font-family: "inherit",serif; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">conclusion</span></i></b></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"> that “a
process of ‘social and peer contagion’ may play a role.”</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"><br /></span></i>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What, exactly, is
happening in our public schools nowadays? You know, we could run a simple study
comparing transsexuals in public schools to those in private schools,
particularly those which don’t preach this ideology, and get some answers, I
bet. I wonder why no such study has been done?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The phenomenon
exists and is real, but is against the ideology dominating our campuses, and so
knowledge of it must be squelched:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Brown
University’s Lisa Littman, assistant professor of behavioral and social sciences,
published a study on the phenomenon and coined the ROGD moniker last year. The
university </span></i><a href="https://www.thecollegefix.com/brown-u-censors-study-that-found-gender-dysphoria-can-be-caused-by-social-and-peer-contagion/" target="_blank"><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #333333; font-family: "inherit",serif; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">removed a statement</span></i></b></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"> promoting the study following claims that it
was anti-transgender, and later </span></i><a href="https://www.thecollegefix.com/researchers-study-on-rapid-onset-gender-dysphoria-was-validated-her-university-pretends-it-was-discredited/" target="_blank"><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #333333; font-family: "inherit",serif; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">mischaracterized</span></i></b></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"> the nature of corrections made to the study.</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"><br /></span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"></span></i>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let’s get to the
more relevant things the article has to say:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The </span></i><a href="https://www.piqueresproject.com/"><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #333333; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">Pique Resilience Project</span></i></b></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">, created by
four women in their early 20s, aims to bring the conversation of
detransitioning to the forefront. They describe themselves as “four
detransitioned and desisted women with the goal of sharing our stories and
providing information on detransition, as well as support for those who may be questioning
their gender or identity.”</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></i>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s very
little support for groups and people providing information on how to
detransition, and the lack of such support is for the same reason the question
I posed above is seldom uttered: the response is hatred:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">They
also object to being described as “trans exclusionary radical feminists,” a
slur often used by trans activists against women who question trans ideology.</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></i>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The big question
still remains: how can we have so many people walking back from this path? One
of the main reasons groups like this exist now is because of just how easy it
is to get talked into, and receive fast treatment for, “transitioning,” as one
of the members explains:</span><br />
<br />
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<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">It only took a 30-minute
meeting with an LGBTQ+ social worker for her to be granted testosterone. “It’s
actually pretty ridiculous, the answers that I gave, and she like accepted
those answers without questioning them,”</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></i>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The student above
admits to a strong history of mental issues…and yet all it took was a single
meeting to get her to start transitioning. Just how many other vulnerable
people are being taken advantage of in this way? If she had told the “social
worker” that she belonged on the moon, would they instantly starting building a
rocket to send her back?</span><br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">…</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">explained that she began testosterone during
her teenage years because she had her parents’ blessing. She said that if she
were made to wait until 18 to begin testosterone, she likely wouldn’t have
begun it at all. “I really did not have any doubts until the second I started
transitioning.”</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"><br /></span></i>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All the members
tell a bit of their own stories, and I can’t help but see how the parents are a
factor in all this:</span><br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">...feels
“fortunate that her mother didn’t allow her to undergo medicalization.”</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By “medicalization” it is mean having
breasts removed and other surgical methods to make the female appear more male.
I can’t help but be grateful that the parents stopped the more painfully
permanent part of “transitioning” but I still worry that access to those
hormones might be a bit too easy.</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">gender
therapists all urged gender affirmation and treatment at Chiara’s age of just
16.</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"><br /></span></i>
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<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Being a cancer patient, and watching my
doctors get wealthier and I get weaker with every failed “treatment,” I have
concerns that the consistent failure and huge profits for failure are somehow
related. </span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a similar vein, the “therapists” here
have a far too vested interest in having transsexual clients. Changing your
putative gender isn’t a matter of a few pills and surgeries, it’s a lifetime of
treatments and low overhead-high profit meetings with therapists. Again, I ask
an unpopular question: could it be these “therapists” are doing this harm
because it’s just so profitable?</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In any event, the mere fact that a group
of de-transitioned students can exist is more evidence that daughters coming
home with their breasts removed really is a thing now.</span><br />
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<br />
<a href="http://www.professorconfess.blogspot.com/"><span style="background: white; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">www.professorconfess.blogspot.com</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><br />
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Doomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04528555392898760692noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-491174673971804494.post-30663660792586570532019-12-27T07:56:00.004-08:002019-12-27T07:56:51.740-08:00Trump Hires Dean of Fraud College To Investigate College Fraud
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">By Professor Doom</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a strange
world we live in today. Most media put so much spin on their “news” that it’s
almost impossible to figure out what’s happening just by reading about it.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everything Trump
does is spun into the most negative thing possible, meaning all Trump news is
taken with a grain of salt. I’ve heard it said that Trump could commit murder
in public and his support wouldn’t change, but that’s only partially accurate:
if it was reported, support wouldn’t change, because the credibility of the news
nowadays is zero…nobody would believe the murder. If he actually did it, I
suspect it would hurt him, however.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the Soviet
Union fell, part of what happened is people simply refused to listen to the
lies of the State news agencies. We as a people are just now starting to
realize our news agencies are also State controlled, hence the “Epstein didn’t
kill himself” meme. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anyway, Trump
recently appointed a former DeVry dean to the student aid enforcement unit, an
anti-fraud division created during the Obama era. DeVry is a funny place to get
anti-fraud people from since it recently settled a $100 million<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>lawsuit with our government regarding misuse
of student funds.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>DeVry is a
for-profit school, and these guys all have a bad reputation for taking
advantage of students, burying them in student loan debt in return for
worthless degrees. This reputation, while deserved, is a little unfair:
for-profit schools get all the scrutiny, even though they take about 5% of
student loan money. The non-profit (and especially state) schools are far more
responsible for the student loan mess we have now…but seem to be as immune from
scrutiny as a Democratic candidate.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/trump-admin-reportedly-hires-a-former-for-profit-college-dean-for-fraud-enforcement-2017-08-30"><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 22.0pt; letter-spacing: -.35pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 34.0pt;">Trump admin reportedly hires a former for-profit college dean
for fraud enforcement</span></i></b></a><br />
<br />
<br /><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #35383d; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 22.0pt; letter-spacing: -.35pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 34.0pt;"></span></i></b>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Certainly there’s
room for concern here, but things get exaggerated quickly:</span><br />
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<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Lato",sans-serif;">“His
association with DeVry and the fact that he’s being made the head of
investigations at the Department of Education, does send a signal to students,
to taxpayers and to the markets that the Department is not serious about
investigating deceptive practices and other abuses by for-profit colleges,”
said David Halperin, a lawyer and for-profit college critic.</span></i><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A message to the
students? Oh really. </span><a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/11/impeachment-hearings-day-one-voters-uninterested/"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Over 95% of
students don’t even know about the “impeachment” idiocy</span></a><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">, so it’s a
safe bet the appointment here isn’t going to register for students, and I doubt
the taxpayers or markets really care all that much, either.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #373e44; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 107%;">Makes sense in a way. Who better to spot a
criminal than a criminal?</span></i><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #373e44; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>--from the comments section.</i></span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #373e44; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><i><br /></i></span>
<br />
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<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, just because
DeVry lost a lawsuit doesn’t mean it’s totally corrupt, and it certainly
doesn’t mean the new guy is corrupt. Regarding the latter, it’s possible he
knows exactly how to “get” schools for misusing funds, so perhaps he does
qualify as an expert. It wouldn’t remotely be the first time the government
used an expert fraudster to help it catch other fraudsters, after all, although
I point out he wasn’t named or implicated in any of the suits against DeVry.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The above quote
is only minor spin, from a somewhat neutral site. When I go to a raging Leftist
site like </span><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2017/08/julian-schmoke-for-profit-colleges/538578/"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The
Atlantic</span></a><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">, things get a bit more frothy:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 20.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">The Trump administration has
made a systematic effort to undo Obama-era initiatives, particularly those that
sought </span></i><a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/obama-readies-flurry-of-regulations-1460077858?mg=prod/accounts-wsj"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">to ramp up
regulation</span></i></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 20.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;"> of private institutions. It’s
long been expected that Trump would target policies pertaining to for-profit
colleges—in fact, several for-profit institutions, </span></i><a href="http://money.cnn.com/quote/chart/chart.html?symb=ATGE"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">including
DeVry</span></i></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 20.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">, </span></i><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/12/trump-university-for-profit-colleges/509597/"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">saw a
noticeable bump in their stock values</span></i></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 20.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;"> the day after
the election. A few months ago, the Education Department moved to delay
implementation of the borrower-defense rule—a development that prompted
attorneys general for well over a dozen states </span></i><a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/07/06/535776573/18-states-sue-betsy-devos-and-education-dept-over-delay-of-borrower-defense-rule"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">to sue
Secretary Betsy DeVos</span></i></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 20.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">.</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 20.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“This can definitely be seen as further evidence
of the Trump administration, and DeVos in particular, [practicing] favoritism
toward for-profit entities…</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
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<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wow, that’s quite
a bit to bring up just from hiring one guy from one place. While true, it seems
like they could put some effort into saying why the guy was a bad hire, instead
of linking to a bunch of things of no relevance to the story. I’m just not
convinced a human being should be damned forever based on the actions of his
superiors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The wailing and
gnashing of teeth is considerable:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">“The Trump administration is
turning the Education Department from a defender of students and taxpayers to
an accomplice in the fraudulent and predatory practices of for-profit schools,”
argued California Representative Mark Takano in a statement. “This hire is just
the latest indication that President Trump and Secretary DeVos are putting the
profit margins of for-profit companies over the interests of students.”</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wait. Since when
was the Education Department a “defender of students and taxpayers”? Seriously,
education in every way has become worse since its creation, and the entire
student loan scam was allowed to corrupt higher education under its watch. Yes,
it’s possible it will somehow become worse under Trump, but with a 100% failure
rate so far, I’m not too worried about that.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Atlantic goes
quotes everyone who supports the narrative here:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">“I can’t even say this is
‘signaling’ to for-profits” that Trump is on their side, Cottom said. The
administration is “being explicit in saying that an era of regulation is over;
this is a new approach that welcomes privatization.”</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I really want to
remind the reader, even if for-profits were the real problem, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">they were a problem before Trump</i>. It’s
curious how the article neglects to ever mention this detail.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Only towards the
end does The Atlantic mention that Trump isn’t exactly Literally Hitler for
this:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">It’s not unusual, though, for
federal agencies to hire officials with experience in the industries they are
assigned to regulate, either because they’re presumed to know where the
problems are, or trusted to balance the needs of the industry against the
desire to regulate. Nor is his time at DeVry Schmoke’s only relevant
experience; DeAngelo pointed out that his most recent role was at a public,
two-year institution.</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wish the guy the best. Perhaps I have a
vested interest in wanting his past associations to be forgiven; having worked
at some extremely questionable State schools (and I again emphasize these are
the schools doing the lion’s share of abusing the student loan system, not the
for-profits), I certainly would hope for some redemption in that regard as
well.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.professorconfess.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">www.professorconfess.blogspot.com</span></a><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Doomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04528555392898760692noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-491174673971804494.post-29483209194090067642019-12-23T18:47:00.000-08:002019-12-23T19:53:18.964-08:00Mathematician Speaks Out Against Diversity<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
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<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">By Professor Doom</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The ideological takeover of our campuses has been devastating to our
education. Departments like mathematics and science focusing on academics have
been de-emphasized, while politically themed departments like Education and
African Studies. This is simply a consequence of the political environment. Any
person attempting to curtail the growth of, say, African Studies is labeled
RACIST; there are only finite resources available, and so other departments pay
the price.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>How did the takeover happen? It happened at the hiring. It used to be
done with winks and nods, but bottom line you couldn’t get hired unless it was
clear you were “with the program,” a full supporter of ideology. Those of us in
the ever-marginalized departments have mostly been silent, fearing the label,
but with so little left lose, some are finally speaking out:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/11/19/mathematician-comes-out-against-mandatory-diversity-statements-while-others-say-they"><span style="background: white; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Mathematician comes out against
mandatory diversity statements, while others say they continue to be
valuable -- with some caveats.</span></a><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now that the takeover is nearly complete,
hiring is no longer done with a wink and a nod, they’re starting to put in
writing that only fellow ideologues are eligible for the position. Part of this
is an applicant must swear fealty to a “diversity statement,” and also show
they’ve done work supporting the cause.</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is something of a problem for those
of us in the academic fields. Mathematics, for example, has no theorems
relating to skin color, and mathematicians tend to be far ore devoted to
learning new things than supporting the cause of Social Justice.</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because actual mathematicians (and
scientists) are now basically “un-hirable” in this system, it has allowed the
education degree to become something of a joker, and we have Math Education and
Engineering Education people taking over the positions formerly held by
mathematicians and engineers. But I digrees.</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So what’s the mathematician’s complaint
here?</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">“Faculty at universities across the country are facing an echo of
the loyalty oath, a mandatory ‘Diversity Statement’ for job applicants.”</span></i></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">The “professed purpose” of these statements is to identify
candidates “who have the skills and experience to advance institutional
diversity and equity goals,” Thompson wrote. But “in reality it’s a political
test, and it’s a political test with teeth.”</span></i></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Much like the reviled (although in
retrospect, perhaps unjustifiably) anti-communist oaths of the 50’s, now
faculty are being forced to swear loyalty to the latest ideology. An ideology
not that much different than communism, but I digress.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What was that about teeth?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Nearly all
University of California campuses require that job applicants submit a
“contributions to diversity” statement as a part of their application, and
campuses evaluate such statements using </span></i><a href="http://ofew.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/rubric_to_assess_candidate_contributions_to_diversity_equity_and_inclusion.pdf" target="_blank"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #ef7521; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">rubrics</span></i></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">, “a detailed
scoring system.” She doesn’t name names, but says that “several UC
programs have used these diversity statements to screen out candidates early in
the search process.”</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span></i>
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<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Like I said, it’s becoming ever more out in the open. Mathematicians are
no longer expected to, you know, study math, they’re expected to attend
rallies, be parts of parades, to do the things which political parties like, but
are of no importance to academics.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In private
comments to </span></i><em><span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Inside Higher Ed</span></em><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">,</span></i><em><span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></em><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">some of her colleagues in math praised her position.</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Private comments, indeed. Because of those
teeth, there’s a powerful culture of fear in higher education.</span><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bruce Gilley, a
professor of political science at Portland State University whose </span></i><a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/06/18/professor-says-his-course-proposal-conservative-thought-was-rejected-because" target="_blank"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #ef7521; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">course on conservative political thought</span></i></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> was denied permanent status last year -- in part
because it didn’t meet what he described as the university’s narrow diversity
requirement for courses -- said he agreed with Thompson, as well.</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The ideology doesn’t stop at the hiring
process, the coursework is likewise judged solely by how well it helps the
party. Thus the great legitimacy to the claim that much of college is
indoctrination, and we have </span><a href="https://professorconfess.blogspot.com/2018/10/college-math-course-hillary-is-wonderful.html"><span style="background: white; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">mathematics courses on why
Hillary is great</span></a><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">, while courses giving an opposing point of view are shut
down.</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Some fields are more diverse than others. Math historically </span></i><a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/03/01/womens-studies-meets-math-new-book-arguing-more-inclusive-cultural-approach-numeracy" target="_blank"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #ef7521; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">isn’t
one of them</span></i></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">. But some departments and institutions are working to change
that. Lafayette College’s math department, for instance, has long worked to
promote an inclusive culture based on the understanding that math is a
gateway to many other fields in the sciences, technology and engineering.</span></i></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Chawne Kimber, chair of math at the college, …</span></i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><br /></span></i></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>You know, if there was less hypocrisy in our system, we’d ask questions
why math department heads tend to be female…but I digress again.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The math
department is currently looking for a statistician, and its directions for
applicants say candidates "should address in their applications how their
teaching, scholarship, and/or service will support Lafayette’s commitment to
diversity and inclusion as articulated in the college’s </span></i><a href="https://about.lafayette.edu/diversity-statement/" target="_blank"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #ef7521; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">diversity
statement</span></i></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">."</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The bias here is on multiple levels. Not
only is there inherent bias in having the diversity statement, the gentle
reader can be certain that “diverse” applicants will have an inherent advantage
in getting this position (and “diverse” in no way means Asian, and to a
considerable extent won’t mean straight males, either…).</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While universities across the country
are forcing people into swearing these new loyalty oaths, the comments section
is uniformly against it. We probably should ask questions why the universities
are engaging in behavior that the people supporting them do not want (hey,
that’s a strong indication of a communist system).</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One comment bears further discussion:</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #2a2e2e; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Replace
diversity and inclusion with a requirement for applicants to demonstrate a
personal, growing Christian faith…</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #2a2e2e; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #2a2e2e; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The above is exactly the point, as far as
I’m concerned. If I were applying to an explicitly
Christan/Jesuit/Catholic/Fundamentalist school, I would be completely fine with
being asked about my religious beliefs, and with the school only hiring based
on those beliefs. Those schools were built and paid for by believers, and I can
respect they might only want to support believers…even as I’d hope they’d favor
academics in their education.</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #2a2e2e; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #2a2e2e; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Progressivism (or “Leftism”) is
basically a religion, and schools built and paid for by Progressives might have
a point in mandating their faculty to share that ideology. Bottom line,
however, much of our higher education system is supported by the taxpaying
people of the United States, who very clearly do not all share this belief system,
and, truth be told, appear to me to becoming virulently against it.</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #2a2e2e; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #2a2e2e; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Enough so that even the mathematicians
are starting to tell the schools to knock it off already. I doubt they’ll
listen, however.</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #2a2e2e; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<span style="background: white; color: #2a2e2e; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> Naturally, for speaking out against "the narrative," the mathematician has been attacked. <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdjvC_OovxE0ePoZ3V695GdlV9A4aXOH0ixU-n2gogiKI0akA/viewform?fbzx=-5813570425189406045">An online petition has been set up in her defense</a>, but considering how these ideologues ignore multi-million dollar lawsuits, I doubt the petition will do much good.</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #2a2e2e; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<span style="background: white; color: #2a2e2e; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> In other news, I hear Trump was impeached lately. Here's the mathematical relationship of the relevance of Trump's impeachment to other noteworhty "awards":</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #2a2e2e; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<span style="background: white; color: #2a2e2e; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Greta's "Person of the Year" award <= Trump's Impeachment <= Obama's "Nobel Peace Prize"</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #2a2e2e; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<span style="background: white; color: #2a2e2e; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> Students of calculus should note the Squeeze Theorem, as well as the value of Obama's and Greta's awards meaning nothing, to get a more precise estimate of Trump's impeachment.</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #2a2e2e; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #2a2e2e; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> In more other news, after sitting on the results for nearly 2 weeks, the Keystone Cops Cancer Center elected to let me know the last treatment failed. So, back to the drawing board; I don't know what they're try next, but I'm sure it'll be painful for me and be very profitable for them.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.professorconfess.blogspot.com/"><span style="background: white; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">www.professorconfess.blogspot.com</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #2a2e2e; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"></span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #2a2e2e; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
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<br />
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Doomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04528555392898760692noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-491174673971804494.post-91287492164915610622019-12-20T08:59:00.001-08:002019-12-20T08:59:42.386-08:00Professor Fired For Disputing Global Warming Wins $800,000 In Lawsuit
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<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">By Professor Doom</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The whole “global
warming” nonsense (hint: cooling is more credible) really is remarkable. Time
and again when I bring this up with my low-information friends, I’m told (among
other talking points to be sure) how scientists by and large agree the world is
burning up into a cinder unless we do something about it <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">right now</i>. The fact that it’s been 20 straight years of being told
the ice caps will be gone in 10 years unless we do something doesn’t seem to
shake their beliefs in the slightest.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anyway, the
reason why scientists “agree” on global warming to any extent is because they
are mostly employed by the government, at least indirectly in our higher
education system. On many campuses, if you dispute the narrative, you’ll
quickly find yourself off campus in short order, and the people kicking you off
don’t see any problem in doing so even as they shout how they support freedom
of expression.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These incidents
never make the mainstream news, but allow me to highlight one:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/climate-skeptic-professor-awarded-800000-compensation-after-university-fires-him-unlawfully_3071558.html"><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">Physics
Professor Awarded $800,000 Compensation After University Fires Him Unlawfully
for Views on Great Barrier Reef</span></i></b></a></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<br /><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"></span></i></b></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">Global
warming is blamed for pretty much everything bad that happens, of course, the
better to scare people into supporting it. The Great Barrier Reef, a massive
coral ecosystem near Australia, certainly has its problems (like all coral
systems, and I rather suspect polluting the ocean is the main factor, but I
digress), but this one professor dared to dispute that global warming was the
issue.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Incidentally, my favorite “it’s global
warming’s fault!” accusation concerned the die-off of horseshoe crabs, whose
populations have dropped off sharply recently. Although this 400 million year
old species has endured much hotter and much colder climates than today, </span><a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/10/101004101330.htm"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">global warming is still blamed for hurting them</span></a><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">. It’s nuts.)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, this professor disputes the latest
blame being laid on the latest nonsense. Was he professional about it?</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“There is perhaps no
ecosystem on Earth better able to cope with rising temperatures than the Great
Barrier Reef,” Ridd wrote in the publication. “Irrespective of one’s views
about the role of carbon dioxide (CO2) in warming the climate, it is remarkable
that the Great Barrier Reef has become the ecosystem, more than almost all
others, that is used to illustrate and claim environmental disaster from the
modest warming we have seen over the course of the last century.”</span></i></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></i></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do note that he’s willing to concede
there’s been some warming. He also criticizes how the research is being done:</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“I have highlighted just a
few examples of questionable science—the list is long,” Ridd continues, adding
that in his view, current scientific practices and institutions are
unreliable and in need of reform.</span></i></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></i></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is a huge, and I mean gargantuan
problem in “science” today, and I’m not just talking about pseudo-subjects like
gender studies, or qualitative subjects like psychology. Even “hard” sciences
like physics and chemistry have a reproducibility problem: the study can be
peer reviewed and published, but </span><a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/science-under-scrutiny-the-problem-of-reproducibility/"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">can’t be reproduced when someone else tries it</span></a><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">. Well over half of peer reviewed studies do not get the same results
when someone else tries them.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Seriously, at this point, when you hear
the results of a scientific study, you may as well flip a coin to determine if
you should believe it. Mathematically, you are better off flipping a coin, in
fact.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, the professor isn’t exactly saying
much here when he says what we’re doing in science is “unreliable”—flipping a
coin is as unreliable as it gets, and produces more reliable results today than
“science.” That’s demented.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His university responded as most
universities do when a professor disputes the narrative: they fired him. Yes,
he had those job “protections” you supposedly have as faculty, but they’re
worth very little when you try to work through the kangaroo campus court
system. </span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The professor wisely takes his complaint
to court instead of the kangaroo campus system (I remind the gentle reader I
was part of this system: it’s a joke). How’d that work out?</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">In a judgment (</span></i><a href="https://platogbr.files.wordpress.com/2019/09/ridd-v-james-cook-university-no.2-2019-fcca-2489.pdf" target="_blank"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">pdf</span></i></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">) issued on
Sept. 6, the Federal Circuit Court of Australia ruled to award Ridd “the
sum of 125,000 AUD [$82,000] by way of pecuniary penalty” plus “1,094,214.47
AUD [$750,397.39] as compensation for loss” that the former James Cook
University employee suffered at the hands of the educational institution.</span></i></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></i></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While I’m happy for the professor, the
gentle reader should take little comfort<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>that other universities will start behaving—I’ve seen time and again
that despite these kinds of judgments, university “leaders” won’t change their
ways. They don’t pay the price, you see, the university does, and that usually
just means the cost is passed on to the taxpayers to pay for their continued
supply of misinformation.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A quick overview of just how far off the
rails the university was in firing the professor:</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">In its decision, the Federal Circuit
Court listed a total of 18 “contraventions” of legal acts that the university
had in April been found guilty of, including imposing a gag order on Ridd “to
keep the disciplinary process confidential;” trying to prevent him from making
jokes about his ordeal by directing him to refrain from “make[ing] any comment
or engag[ing] in any conduct that directly or indirectly trivialises, satires
or parodies the University taking disciplinary action against [him];” and,
finally, firing him.</i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br /></i>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To further reinforce the point about
how the leaders won’t learn anything from this:</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“The fact that JCU has not removed
either of their press statements (despite my judgement) is almost tantamount to
an attempt to ensure that Professor Ridd does not obtain employment in this
field,” Judge Vasta noted.</i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br /></i>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The judge further suggested the
university’s conduct bordered on “paranoia and hysteria fuelled by systemic
vindictiveness” and Ridd must have felt he was being persecuted.</i><br />
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The professor’s career in academia is
ruined, he’ll be basically unemployable, so the massive judgement is quite
fair. Meanwhile, the “leaders” of the university who have destroyed this man
for daring to question the narrative? They’ll continue to reap massive pay and
benefits, and I promise the gentle reader not a one of them will be fired for
their clear and documented transgression, and all will continue to rise up
through the ranks in the higher education system.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Honest, there’s a real reason why our
scientists agree to whatever the government wants them to say.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<a href="http://www.professorconfess.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">www.professorconfess.blogspot.com</span></a><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"></span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<br />
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Doomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04528555392898760692noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-491174673971804494.post-60235275266444527162019-12-17T07:42:00.001-08:002019-12-18T19:15:51.338-08:00Students Protest Anti-White Racism…Finally<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">By Professor Doom</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The anti-white
racism on many of our campuses has been going on for years. Students,
understandably, have mostly just sat in the classrooms and put up with it,
often diligently taking notes on just how horrible white people are.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The effect of the
endless preaching of racial hatred has been protests by those who feel
“oppressed” by the very existence of white people. This was the intended effect
of those doing the preaching, of course, these ideologues failed to comprehend
a very reasonable consequence of those encouraged protests: the “oppressors”
get the idea that, since protests are acceptable, they’re allowed to protest
too.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s taken years,
but we’re finally starting to see pushback against racism by our woke campuses,
and by our woke faculty:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<a href="https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/university-students-burn-latina-authors-book-for-dissing-white-people-during-lecture-000132898.html"><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">University students
burn Latina author's book for 'dissing white people' during lecture</span></i></b></a><br />
<br />
<b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></i></b>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, I’m no fan of
book burning, but this isn’t quite the same as what most people think of
burning books. Usually when “book burning” is referenced, it refers to the most
extreme form of censorship, often government sponsored, where knowledge which
contradicts an official narrative is destroyed as thoroughly as possible. With
today’s internet, burning books is an antiquated concept, since a campfire is
completely insufficient to destroy “printed” knowledge of today.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The burning was
simply part of a protest. A particular person is being protested here:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<em><span style="color: #26282a; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 107%;">New York Times</span></em><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 107%;">
contributor and associate professor at the University of Nebraska,</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The NYT used to be a respectable paper, but like so much of our
mainstream/legacy media, they’re far too prone to bias. A professor being a
contributor to the NYT is as much a black mark as the professor being a
contributor to the KKK, and cause for concern indeed. So what seems to be the
problem here?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 107%;">…</span><br />
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 107%;">spoke about her novel </span></i><a href="https://www.jcapocrucet.com/make-your-home-among-strangers" target="_blank"><em><span style="color: #2d90ff; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 107%; text-decoration: none;">Make
Your Home Among Strangers</span></em></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 107%;"> to first-year students at Georgia
Southern University (GSU). The book, required reading for some of GSU's
First-Year Experience classes, focuses on the story of a Cuban-American girl
from Miami who is accepted into a prestigious university in New York, and the
struggles she faces to fit in with the predominantly white environment.</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Yikes. There’s so much wrong in that single sentence that I feel the
need to only hit the highlights.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>First, students are required to read her book. Now, normally there’s
nothing wrong with this, particularly when the book is a textbook, filled with
knowledge long-established as important for educated humans to know. In this
case, it’s just a fiction novel—it might still be useful knowledge, but this is
the professor’s own work, with no record of being particularly relevant for the
educated. If the book had been around for 20 years and received much praise or
at least a best-seller, perhaps a case could be made? There’s nothing like that
here.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Second, it’s for a non-academic course, the “First-Year Experience”
class. This level of navel-gazing is becoming ever-more important to our
universities, which feel students need to take a college course to appreciate
how great it is they’re spending a fortune learning about their own university. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Third, the course is so precious that it’s mandatory for all students to
take, whether they’re getting a degree in History of Georgia Southern
University (where the course might well apply) or Physics. I guess it’s simply
balance that the students are being forced to buy a non-academic book they
shouldn’t have to read in a non-academic course they shouldn’t have to take.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Fourth, the description of the book scares me more than a little. Isn’t
Miami like, in America? Are whites so rare in Miami that now it’s a “struggle”
for someone raised there to move to “another country” like New York? </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>(Incidentally, I was born and raised in southern Florida, having to “go
north” if I wanted to visit amusement parks like Bush Gardens or Disney. Having
lived in New York and other states, I concede there are cultural differences,
but “struggle” is a bit much, I assure the gentle reader.)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But enough about that.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #26282a; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I noticed that
you made a lot of generalizations about the majority of white people being
privileged,” one student said…</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #26282a; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #26282a; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At
long last, students are starting to identify the hypocrisy of the ideologues
running our campuses. It’s very wrong to make generalizations about other
races, students learn, and, finally, they’re starting to realize it’s equally
wrong to make generalizations about “white people.”</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #26282a; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #26282a; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
professor’s speech was filled with anti-white racism, and the student
challenged her on it, with the ultimate punchline of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">why doesn’t “diversity” include white people</i>? </span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #26282a; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #26282a; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Instead of acknowledging the hypocrisy and trying to explain why white
people can’t be included in diversity, the professor basically snarled back at
the student:</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #26282a; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #26282a; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I
talked about white privilege because it’s a real thing that you are actually
benefiting from right now in even asking this question,” Crucet said in
response, according to the paper. “What’s so heartbreaking for me and what is
so difficult in this moment right now is to literally have read a talk about
this exact moment happening and it’s happening again...”</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #26282a; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">To
summarize the above the professor accused the student of having white privilege
just by asking the question, and the professor was puzzled why her ideology
keeps getting called out on its hypocrisy.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Things didn’t go well after that, with students burning her book in
protest. One student tweet sums things up:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #26282a; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">you
came to our university as an author of a book all freshmen were required to
read, a book you barely talked about. instead, you wasted everyone’s time by
attempting to create a racial divide by bullying white people for an hour. that
IS racist. you should’ve expected this.</span></i></div>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 107%;">— MT (@morganetracy1) </span></i><a href="https://twitter.com/morganetracy1/status/1182324898481475585?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #2d90ff; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 107%;">October 10, 2019</span></i></a><br />
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"></i>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While the above is mostly
correct, I feel the need to clarify that last bit about “should’ve expected
this.” The student is surprised here at the professor’s inability to conceive
of being called out for her inappropriate behavior but I’m not, for two
reasons. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>First, students have been gobbling up anti-white racist rhetoric for
well over a decade now, with nobody questioning it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a recent phenomenon that students are
seeing the hypocrisy of progressive beliefs.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Second, although this pushback only started recently, it didn’t start
five minutes ago. The professor herself acknowledges it’s happening, and
despite knowing this, she falls back on the age-old cry of RACISM rather than
address this fundamental flaw in her point of view.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Trouble is, that weapon, the cry of RACISM, has long since been blunted
from over-use; the targets just don't care any more. It’s not working, so the only questions which remain are
how long until they figure it out, and what weapon(s) will they resort to next.
They won’t simply admit the ideology is flawed, admit they are wrong…instead it
will be more doubling down.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I suspect they’ll go to censorship next, but, as the book-burning shows,
students have figured out how to deal with that weapon as well.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Now, university admin have said the student’s behavior (such as
protesting at her hotel) was wrong, and the students doing so have been called
RACISTS, of course…but this is just further hypocrisy, as the students
literally did nothing which speakers opposing this ideology have been exposed
to, as encouraged by promoters of this ideology.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.professorconfess.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">www.professorconfess.blogspot.com</span></a><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Doomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04528555392898760692noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-491174673971804494.post-14535302807951564322019-12-14T08:32:00.001-08:002019-12-14T08:32:13.610-08:00“Survivors” Demand Firing Of Kavanaugh Supporter
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">By Professor Doom</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t mean to
keep coming back to Kavanaugh, but the whole affair is just so bizarre I find
it fascinating. Until the Supreme Court nomination, I (and I suspect 99% of the
country) had no idea who this guy was, and then came the most epic smear this
country has ever seen, with witnesses coming out of the woodwork making the
most outrageous accusations, accusations of activities several decades ago,
making them all that much more outrageous because activity like “being in
charge of a rape gang” really isn’t the kind of thing that stays completely
silent for so long.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Granted, no
evidence was ever provided, every “corroborating” witness said they saw no such
activity, and multiple accusers recanted their bizarre testimony, leaving only
one witness willing to go publicly (and then only after recanting her claim of
being afraid of flying, among numerous other agreed-upon-by-all-parties lies).
Her public testimony was, of course, non-credible.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Despite the
blatantly unfounded smear, wide swaths of this country, particularly in our
institutions of higher education, actually buy into the claims, not merely
casually discarding our rule of law and rather important “innocent until found
guilty” (not that there was enough to even charge Kavanaugh) concept, but to
the point that students actually feel stress and fear at being exposed to the
guy. It was enough to get him fired from lecturing on law, no less, an odd
thing to do to a Supreme Court justice.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not only is
Kavanaugh being attacked for these smears, but people who don’t believe the
smears also are under fire:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<a href="https://www.thecollegefix.com/now-survivors-at-georgia-tech-demand-angel-cabrera-be-fired-for-supporting-kavanaugh/"><b><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Now ‘survivors’ at
Georgia Tech demand Angel Cabrera be fired for supporting Kavanaugh</span></b></a><br />
<br /><b><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"></span></b>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The word “survivors”
goes in quotes because these students were never victimized by Kavanaugh, and,
like most everyone else, had no idea who he was until the big smear.
Nevertheless, they’re claiming victimhood status, and asking for a “supporter”
to be fired. What, pray tell, did this guy do?</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">His support of the hiring of
Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh at GMU as a visiting law professor.</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span></i>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These students
have been manipulated into harming themselves, denying themselves the chance to
hear a Supreme Court Justice’s thoughts on the law. Such lunacy boggles the
imagination.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">recently revived allegations
against Kavanaugh highlighted in a new book prompted its members to reignite
their agitation, despite the fact that the claims have been denied by
Kavanaugh’s alleged victim</span></i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">.</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
above referenced smear came out in the NYT. They did publish a retraction a few
days later, but far more people see the smear than the retraction. I really
don’t understand why the people bearing false witness like this aren’t facing
severe punishment, and, more importantly why whatever is putting people up to
printing such lies (hi DNC!) isn’t being investigated in detail. This
coordinated smear campaign has been going on far too long, with far too many
well-documented false allegations, for a “legitimate” news organization like
the NYT to publish another smear without making basic effort to see if perhaps
this time the smear is valid.</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Despite the clear fake smear, the <s>useful idiots</s> students are
adamant that Kavanaugh must be punished:</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">“Students at
GT and GMU don’t think Kavanaugh’s elevation to SCOTUS means that the
allegations made against him should have been overlooked when Angel Cabrera
hired him to teach at GMU, either @Mason4Survivors,” the group </span></i><a href="https://twitter.com/Gt4Survivors/status/1177216253280145409"><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #333333; font-family: "inherit",serif; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">tweeted</span></i></b></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"> on Sept.
26.</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The allegations
against him weren’t overlooked, kids, they were investigated and found to be
largely untrue, and what little couldn’t be shown as false was utterly
unsubstantiated. Why has nobody told the students that it’s a bad idea to
destroy a person strictly based on allegations of behavior in high school 30
years prior?</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The “survivors” protesting this are hurting themselves even further,
incidentally. Several are publicly identified as being traumatized by the
possibility of Kavanaugh being on campus.</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Imagine you’re an employer, and get an application from Mary Sue from
Georgia tech. If you’ve heard about this lunacy at Gtech, you might well type
in her name and see if she was involved in it. Knowing that she’s the kind of
person who knows and believes a person could/should be destroyed simply by an
allegation…what are the chances you’ll take the extreme risk of hiring her?</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For
the student’s sake, why not teach about the whole “rule of law” thing I
referenced earlier, before this got out of hand? The school paper, instead of
publishing smears, could run a full page on how so many of the claims are not
merely unconfirmed, but dis-confirmed, with witnesses denying the events ever
happened?</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One
commenter reinforces why being manipulated into hate via unsubstantiated claims
is a horrible thing:</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #2a2e2e; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">So NO ONE
has substantiated ANYTHING Kavanaugh has been accused of not even the people
cited as witnesses by the accusers and he is guilty? I accuse ALL Gtech
students of being child molesters so they MUST be put in prison because I
accuse them. </span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #2a2e2e; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #2a2e2e; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now,
if the above commenter had a compliant media willing to broadcast his
accusations over and over and over again, willing to blindly accept any other
accusations by anyone else under any circumstances and broadcast those as well,
I strongly suspect the students would acquire a new appreciation for the rule
of law.</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #2a2e2e; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #2a2e2e; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="background: white; color: #2a2e2e; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">For
some reason, it only works that way for people targeted on the Right. We
probably should ask questions about why that happens so consistently, but in
the meantime, Georgia Tech could do themselves and their students some good by
getting the students to go back to studying, instead of being terrified by a
legacy media whose days are clearly numbered.</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.professorconfess.blogspot.com/"><span style="background: white; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">www.professorconfess.blogspot.com</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #2a2e2e; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><br />
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Doomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04528555392898760692noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-491174673971804494.post-3163538839421916692019-12-10T10:54:00.001-08:002019-12-10T10:54:22.672-08:00Student Government: We Shouldn’t Have To Provide A Dr.’s Note
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">By Professor Doom</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I always had
conflicting thoughts about how I deal with my students. On the one hand,
they’re adults…I don’t like forcing adults to do things like handing in
homework. On the other, I know the best way to learn a skill is to practice the skill,
and homework forces them to do the requisite practice…but I’m still conflicted.
They’re adults, they should know better.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Similarly, I
have reservations about enforcing attendance of classes. Yes, they’re better
off listening to what I have to say than not, but I still understand I’m
dealing with adults. If they miss a class, I should trust their reasons.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“I had
stuff to do. Can you give me a makeup test?”</span></i><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">--student’s
explanation for why he missed a test. It was a court hearing. I let it slide
and gave him one, since was a pretty good student.</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s one thing to
miss class, that’s no skin off my nose. But when a student asks for a make-up,
that’s a different matter. I’d say about 90% of my “problem students” involve
make ups. Usually, it involves cheating, but these kinds of students are often
the types who go to admin to complain. Sometimes it’s both, such as a med
school student who gave me an utterly ridiculous lie about why he missed the
test. For the make-up, I changed three test questions—he’d fail the test if he
couldn’t do them. He complained to admin that it wasn’t fair that he didn’t
take the same test as everyone else (he could do the unchanged questions just
fine, since one of his friends gave him a copy of the test, you see….).</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because make-ups
are such a problem, I generally don’t do them, instead writing in my syllabus
that students can drop their lowest test score—with a missed test taken as the
lowest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is fine until you get a
student who misses multiple tests…these are often failing students, and thus
also the kind of students who regularly complain to admin.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another anecdote.
A student missed the first test, but pressed me so hard I gave him a makeup,
which he failed. He missed the second test, I gave him another break, he again failed.
He actually attended the third test, still failed. For the fourth test of the
semester, he again missed the test. He e-mails me half an hour before the test,
saying he’s been sick and hasn’t been able to prepare.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He shows up in my
office a half hour after I give the test. He seems fine to me, but asks to take
a makeup. I decline, pointing out how at this point in the semester I just
don’t have time for it (keep in mind, it’s the last week of the semester, I
have many, many, tests to grade, as well as dealing with actual students who
are more worth what little time I have, asking for help). Besides, he can drop
his lowest test score, so missing this one test won’t count against him.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He takes the
final, fails that too.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A week after the semester
ends, I see he’s complained to admin about me. So, I have to get dressed and
justify my actions. I provide e-mail communications showing I announced the
date and time of the 4<sup>th</sup> test, both over a month in advance, and a
week before the test.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He says he was sick, under a doctor’s care,
and didn’t even know he could make up a formula sheet for the test. I point out
how my e-mails clearly indicated the students could bring a formula sheet.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I point out how
university policy says a student needs a doctor’s note for a medical excuse to
be accepted. The student has no such note.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Admin has no
idea what to do.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I point out how
university policy explicitly says the instructor of the course does not have to
provide a makeup if the student does not provide more than 24 hours notice that
he can’t attend the test. I show admin how the student’s notice was given half
an hour before the test.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Admin still has
no idea what to do.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I point out that
the student was in no position to pass the course, and again university policy
regarding “late assignments” indicate the instructor only needs to address this
when the student is otherwise passing the course.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Admin still has
no idea what to do.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After over an hour
of my trying not to waste time on this, I end up making him a makeup test,
being very careful to make sure it’s extremely similar to the test everyone
else had to take. He fails, of course.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m not a jerk,
but bottom line I know even adults can lie, and I really only have so much time
to spend on students like this. I’m also no doctor, and can’t judge a person’s
health…so asking for that doctor’s note, independent evidence that the student
isn’t being deceptive, while a bit obnoxious, strikes me as reasonable, at least
for students claiming to be sick.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The student
government at University of Washington disagrees:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<a href="https://www.thecollegefix.com/student-government-leaders-demand-faculty-stop-asking-for-doctors-notes-after-missed-tests/"><b><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Student government
leaders demand faculty stop asking for doctor’s notes after missed tests</span></b></a><br />
<br /><b><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"></span></b>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Gee, I only ask
for it when the student wants something from me (i.e., a makeup test). I’m
hardly alone:</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The rule notes that, while
professors are permitted to offer make-up exams to students who miss them due
to medical issues, “thousands of students” are “asked by faculty to provide
documentation from a medical professional” confirming their medical excuse.</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why is this a
problem for students? It’s a long explanation:</span><br />
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<div style="line-height: 21.0pt; margin-bottom: 19.5pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "&quot",serif;">The
resolution states that the policy pressures students into “engaging in a
costly, and potentially risk, patient-provider relationship without necessarily
having an immediate medical need.”</span></i></div>
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<div style="line-height: 21.0pt; margin-bottom: 19.5pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "&quot",serif;">“[I]n most
cases of short-term illness, providers must rely on students’ descriptions of
their symptoms – sometimes after the illness has already passed leaving the
provider with little to no basis for evaluation,” the resolution holds, also
adding that students who seek medical notes from doctors are “pressured into
ensuring that they describe their symptoms in such a way that medical providers
are guaranteed to provide them with a medical excuse note.”</span></i></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 21.0pt; margin-bottom: 19.5pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "&quot",serif;">…The
resolution also holds that the school’s student health center is “booked to and
over capacity,” leading to the possibility that <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">“students who want to procure medical excuse notes” are “inadvertently
decreasing access for students…who require care and need to be seen.”</b></span></i></div>
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<div style="line-height: 21.0pt; margin-bottom: 19.5pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "&quot",serif;">--emphasis added</span></i></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "&quot",serif;"></span></i></div>
<br />
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<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To summarize, and emphasized
part is key: because campus policy requires a doctor’s note as an excuse for a
makeup, students faking illness are flooding the health center, cutting into
medical access for the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">actually</i> sick
students. And this is considered a legitimate reason to stop asking for
documentation.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I just can’t make
this stuff up. </span><br />
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<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.professorconfess.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">www.professorconfess.blogspot.com</span></a><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"></span><br />
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Doomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04528555392898760692noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-491174673971804494.post-41424904629413950942019-12-07T08:01:00.003-08:002019-12-07T08:01:17.400-08:0010,000 Word Article on Student Debt Cancellation Misses The Best Reason: Fraud
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<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">By Professor Doom</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve been hearing
people seriously talk about cancelling student loan debt for at least a decade,
probably more. Granted, almost everyone who’s for it has student debt, and most
everyone against it doesn’t have student debt, so I appreciate conflict of
interest here…but this is ad hominem, there are valid reasons both for and
against it.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Disclosure: I
never had student debt; this is not a boast, as I went to college in an era
where even graduate school tuition was under $1,000 a semester, where any kid
with a lawnmower or gardening tools could make $200 a week if he was willing to
work hard…those days are long over. I am, of course, pro-cancellation, at the
risk of getting ahead of myself.)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A recent article,
</span><a href="https://www.unz.com/article/student-debt-cancellation-a-good-idea-and-a-political-hoax/"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">a very long
article,</span></a><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> has many good pieces of information on it…but misses a
really important, damning, argument against forcing people to pay their student
loans. Let’s look at some highlights:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "inherit",serif;">With the
U.S. student debt fiasco now approaching </span></i><a href="https://studentloanhero.com/student-loan-debt-statistics/" title="https://studentloanhero.com/student-loan-debt-statistics/"><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #035da6; font-family: "inherit",serif; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">$1.6 trillion and 45 million borrowers</span></i></b></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "inherit",serif;">,</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "inherit",serif;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The above figures
are fair enough, although both are miscounted by around 10%: quirks in the
accounting rules allow for many loans to not actually count while the students
are in school (this also allows for </span><a href="https://professorconfess.blogspot.com/2016/02/campus-criminality-40-of-debtors-werent.html"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">about a
quarter of students to not even know they have loans</span></a><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">…how this
high a percentage doesn’t raise suspicions of fraud is beyond me).</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In any event, the
article is mostly pro-cancellation because the inevitability of it: most
borrowers are fundamentally incapable of every paying it back. The article
neglects to ask how that could be (again, one should suspect fraud here, see
also the housing crash of 2008).</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "inherit",serif;">After
much searching, I was able to find a few sensible voices in the wilderness…</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "inherit",serif;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Alas,
he didn’t find me, which is saddening.</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 12.0pt; margin-right: 4.8pt; margin-top: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #222222; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">Taking a broader approach to
this looming decision, the major themes of this essay are:</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></i></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 45.0pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Weak
Arguments <span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">against</span> Debt Cancellation from
the ‘Right’</span></i></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 45.0pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Weak
Arguments <span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">for</span> Debt Cancellation and ‘Free’
College from the ‘Left’</span></i></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 45.0pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></i></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
won’t waste time addressing the weak arguments one way or the other, but it’s
high time I address the main, primary, argument for cancellation:</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Most of higher education is fraudulently
sold</b>. From “You’ll earn a million more dollars if you earn any degree” to
“You must learn all 23 gender names to do well in our Progressive Society,” too
much of higher ed has been fraudulently misrepresented.</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By
definition, if a college graduate can’t earn enough from his degree to pay back
the loan on his degree, he has a case for fraud. Trouble is, so many graduates
fit that description that it’s not economically viable to go case-by-case,
it’ll simply be cheaper to have a student debt jubilee, cancelling it all.</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Somehow this huge, deep article, never addresses the fraud aspect. In
every other contract, if one party commits fraud and doesn’t uphold his end of
the agreement (in this case, provide an education), then other party is not
legally obligated to uphold his end, either (in this case, pay back the loan
for the education).</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of
course this forgiveness should come with an important string attached: no more
student loans, at least none provided by the Federal government. If private
banks want to engage in such things, that’s their right…but the government
should no leeway in enforcing such loans, which should again be clearable via
bankruptcy (like most every other loan).</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #222222; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">Locally funded</span></i></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> </span></i><a href="https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Education/2015/0625/Four-reasons-community-colleges-are-on-the-rise" title="https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Education/2015/0625/Four-reasons-community-colleges-are-on-the-rise"><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #035da6; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">Community Colleges</span></i></b></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> now attract far more students than even a generation ago.</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
should note the author doesn’t work in higher ed, and so is utterly unaware of
the immense fraud (or of accreditations role in same). Similarly, he’s unaware
of the breathtaking corruption of many community college systems, and so often
pushes them as a “cheaper” alternative. I suppose they are, in much the same
way as “vaping” is safer than smoking tobacco, and cheaper if you use bootleg
cartridges! (In no way should this be taken as a recommendation for vaping, and
regular readers of my blog know how extensively and thoroughly I’ve documented
the fraud of community college.)</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">From a cursory
overview, it would seem that the </span></i><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #222222; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">government</span></i></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> and </span></i><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #222222; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">non-profit</span></i></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> sectors have issued at least
as much or possibly more </span></i><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #222222; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">false marketing</span></i></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> to keep students trapped in
debt than their much smaller </span></i><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #222222; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">for-profit</span></i></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> college counterparts, who
brought in only $16 billion of the $649 billion annual haul for U.S. colleges
and universities. In other words, the </span></i><i><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #222222; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">too-pure-for-profit</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> schools reap </span></i><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #222222; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">fully 97.5%</span></i></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> of the total college and university income stream.</span></i><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
above is perhaps the most useful side-tidbit on the whole massive piece. The
government shrieks and points at “for profit” schools for stealing the student
loan money, scrutinizing them to a high degree…but only 2.5% of higher ed’s
revenue comes from those types of schools. </span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
assure the gentle reader that our state universities/community colleges get the
lion’s share of the remaining 97.5% of revenue…and almost no scrutiny
whatsoever about where that money is going.</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">To that extent, it was also odd
to see so many “libertarian” critics of centralized banking line up with Wall
Street for wanting to keep soaking students with interest payments on loans
that banks largely pulled from thin air.</span></i><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
really wish this guy had found me. I certainly lean Libertarian (acknowledging
several critical failings, while appreciating it lacks the mass-murderous track
record of prevailing political philosophies).</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Anyway, I’m libertarian, and I would assure him that libertarian beliefs
absolutely allow “fraud” as a legitimate reason not to honor a contract. And I
reiterate: there are wide swaths of fraud in our higher education system, and
not merely in the for-profit sector.</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Another fun tidbit:</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Total U.S. college revenue was
a staggering </span></i><a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/pdf/coe_cud.pdf" title="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/pdf/coe_cud.pdf"><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #035da6; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">$649 billion</span></i></b></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> for the Fall 2016 to Spring 2017 school year, up </span></i><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #222222; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">14.5%</span></i></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> from two years prior. Over four-fifths of that income stream comes from
government, institutional and private student </span></i><a href="https://trends.collegeboard.org/student-aid" title="https://trends.collegeboard.org/student-aid"><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #035da6; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">loans and grants</span></i></b></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> (</span></i><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #222222; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">$253 billion</span></i></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> per PDF page 9), plus </span></i><a href="https://www.unz.com/article/student-debt-cancellation-a-good-idea-and-a-political-hoax/#usgs302" title="#usgs302"><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #035da6; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">direct subsidies</span></i></b></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> for state-run
colleges and local community colleges (about </span></i><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #222222; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">$300 billion</span></i></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> in FY 2018, ignoring the $11 billion overlap from state grants).</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The gentle reader should keep the above in mind: our higher education
system was raking in over 7% more each year in the years above—that’s the most
recent data, but there’s little reason the trend line has reverse much in the
last year or two. And yet with every slight downturn, the “leaders” of higher
ed shriek how they’re running out of money.</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They’re spending that extra money, the state schools anyway, with wild
abandon.</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This is a massive article, but I’ve hit the highlights above. Bottom
line, however, what people need to know about student loan debt forgiveness is
pretty simple:</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
should do it because higher education fraudulently provided “education” in
exchange for that loan money.</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m
sure there are exceptions, plenty of them, even, but in this case widespread
forgiveness is just the most efficient way to do it. Shut down the Federal
student loan scam as well, and it’s all good. Don’t do that shut down, and it’s
all bad.</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
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</span>You don’t need 10,000 words for that.</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.professorconfess.blogspot.com/"><span style="background: white; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">www.professorconfess.blogspot.com</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><br />
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Doomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04528555392898760692noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-491174673971804494.post-33656494528754519092019-12-04T16:49:00.002-08:002019-12-04T16:49:32.086-08:00Academics Hounded Out Of Jobs For Transgender Wrongthink
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<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">By Professor Doom</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The culture of
fear on many of our campuses comes from many factors. One of the greatest is
faculty who speak out are “deplatformed” in the old school way: terminated. The
rise of social media has made this worse, as now faculty find themselves under
attack for things they say off campus, on a web page or even a personal text.
Once blasted out of academic life, they’re pretty much silenced, unless they
happen to have a huge following (but surviving long enough to get such a
following is pretty difficult).</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/meet-academics-hunted-hounded-jobs-having-wrong-thoughts/"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; letter-spacing: .45pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Meet the academics hunted down and hounded out of jobs for
having the 'wrong' thoughts</span></i></a><br />
<br /><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; letter-spacing: .45pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"></span></i>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Granted, academics
aren’t stupid, generally, so we know speaking anything resembling truth can get
us into trouble. Thing is, we can’t help ourselves sometime:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "&quot",serif; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 107%;">W</span></i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">hen Kathleen
Stock pressed “send” on a blog about the gender recognition act last summer she
knew she was pressing a detonator.</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The detonator in
this case was daring to suggest that perhaps, maybe, allowing males to
instantly self-identify as females might cause problems. Why is there such a
rush for males to do this, anyway?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">…claim all the consequent
privileges: access to women-only changing rooms, or being allowed to appear on
women-only shortlists or sports teams.</span></i><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What,
“privileges”? But I thought the folks running our campuses believed males and
females were equal in all ways, so they can’t…I’m joking we all know such
privileges exist, especially when it comes to “shortlists” for hiring in those
plum administrative positions.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, she posts a
comment on how something’s a little fishy about how the new “women” around, and
how their feelings might not be sincere. “The mob” arrives in short order:</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The fight soon came her way:
students brandishing a placard reading “Transphobia now in STOCK at Sussex”, a
condemnation from the students’ union refusing to tolerate “hate” on campus,
attempts to have her fired and a stream of abuse online.</span></i><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s so weird, I
just don’t understand where these mobs come from. When I speak privately with
people, they invariably say that, yeah, some males are abusing the system. And
yet these mobs appear, filled with kids who can’t even conceive of such a
possibility (even as numerous “women’s” sporting events are now dominated by males
identifying as females…</span><a href="https://thelibertarianrepublic.com/transgender-mma-fighter-destroys-female-opponent/"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">a poor
female got her skull fractured fighting a trans</span></a><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">, we really
need to reconsider limits on this “acceptance”).</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m hardly alone
in observing this phenomenon:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">As soon as she published her
own opinion – questioning the validity of self-identification – she began being
contacted by colleagues who told her they agreed but dared not say so publicly
for fear of ruining their careers.</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></i>
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<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The academic named
above has been forming a list of other academics silenced for speaking out. The
system of secret testimony and vague evidence leading to career-ending
“convictions” is insidiously large:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Time and again, academics who
come under suspicion say they are forbidden from discussing their case with
anyone but close family. A lecturer who was kept waiting weeks to find out what
the complaint was against her discovered it came from a student she had never
knowingly spoken to, let alone taught. It accused her of retweeting
‘gender-critical material” meaning she might ‘misgender” trans students or be
biased in marking…</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"></span></i>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, she may have
retweeted something, and it’s game over. Like a said, there’s a culture of fear
on campus now.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The academic
offers a theory as to why this is happening:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Universities are usually the
places where such questions get chewed over, before being acted on by policy
makers. That process is grinding to a halt, she thinks, because universities
have to act as businesses and there is cut-throat competition to attract
students and the fees they contribute.</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></i>
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<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s not a bad
thesis, but I’ve advanced the idea that our campuses are being taken over by
edu-fascists, who merge the interests of the administrative (i.e.,
money-grubbing) and ideological (i.e., Progressive) factions on campus. She
correctly the identifies the administrative interests above, and also mentions
the ideologues:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Becoming a Diversity Champion
by putting staff through gender-awareness courses is a plus: “Universities love
it because it makes them look really ‘inclusive’, which is a buzz word
everywhere.”</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></i>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Honest there are
two groups here, but we should take no comfort in the idea that competition
between these forces will help education. Education is not on the agenda for
either, and, even more devastating, the ideologues will eventually push out the
businessmen, leading to a converged school which will bankrupt itself rather
than ease up on the ideology (</span><a href="https://professorconfess.blogspot.com/2019/06/college-loses-11-million-for-sponsoring.html"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">hi Oberlin
college!</span></a><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> It still remains to be seen just how many millions they’ll
pay for encouraging racist riots).</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Despite the
trouble she’s gotten into, she still insists on saying obvious things, things
which can cause “the mob” to appear:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“In some university campuses we
have posters in women’s toilets which say that if someone comes in to the
bathroom who is a gender you don’t expect, or who looks like they are using the
wrong bathroom trust them, not you [ie not your own instinct]. </span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></i>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Indeed,
don’t trust your own eyeballs, don’t trust your own feelings. Instead, trust
your leaders, who tell you men are women, debt is wealth, and that freedom is
slavery. It’s worked out so well in the past, after all…not that history is
taught so much anymore—cuts into the time spend discussing all the genders we
have now:</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">…a BBC
film featuring children aged 9-12 and made to support the personal, social and
health education (PSHE) curriculum in schools claimed there could be more than </span></i><a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/dare-bbc-teach-children-100-genders/"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">100 “gender identities”</span></i></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">. Facebook currently lists more than 70, including two-spirit
person, polygender, intersex man, genderqueer and cis.</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It really is one thing for a handful of
academics to discuss some bizarre topic in a room on campus, quite another for
it to be broadcast on television, and enforced as an unarguable truth in our
schools.</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Much as the early global warming hysteria
was fueled by the fact that there were no published scientific papers disputing
it (and the inconvenient truth was that such papers existed in great quantity,
but that journals were greatly discouraged from publishing them), we have the
same thing happening here. “Everyone says” there are a hundred genders…but
that’s because all the voices saying otherwise have been silenced.</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that culture of fear on campus? It’s
spreading…</span><br />
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<br />
<a href="http://www.professorconfess.blogspot.com/"><span style="background: white; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">www.professorconfess.blogspot.com</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"></span><br />
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Doomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04528555392898760692noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-491174673971804494.post-48530132590007061782019-12-01T07:49:00.001-08:002019-12-01T19:48:34.859-08:00U Iowa Officials Might Be Personally Liable For Discrimination<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">By Professor Doom</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One thing which
perhaps drives me the most nuts about the corruption in our higher education
system (and to a similar extent in our corporate system) is how when the
corruption is found out, the people, the actual human beings, who are
responsible for the corruption get away free, while the institution pays some
sort of fine. This is even more infuriating when the institution is supported
to a large extent by tax dollars (and do note that almost all institutions of
higher education are supported to a large extent by tax dollars).</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When one
considers just how much these guys rake in, and how often they get glorious
golden parachutes when they leave even under the most vile of clouds of
disrepute, it only gets more angering.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, finally, it’s
possible actual people will start paying the price for “institutional” crimes:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<a href="https://www.thecollegefix.com/court-holds-university-of-iowa-officials-personally-liable-for-discriminating-against-christian-club/"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Court holds University of Iowa officials personally
liable for discriminating against Christian club</span></i></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"></span></i><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well over a year
ago, students at a Christian student organization found themselves being
targeted by the administration at a state university. They complained, but
naturally the administrators denied everything. The students took the university
to court…where the students won gloriously, with the judge finding <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">blatant</i> </span><a href="https://professorconfess.blogspot.com/2019/03/christian-students-fight-backand-win.html"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">discrimination
against them</span></a><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">University’s selective enforcement against
religious groups ‘incredibly baffling’</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br /></i></span>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The judge might
have found the enforcement baffling, but the gentle reader, or anyone who’s
been following the endless screams of the Left (or the DNC) knows it to be par
for the course, as progressive beliefs are nothing if not hypocritical. So,
Trump asking about corruption in a phone call is a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">horrible crime</i>…while the actual corrupt crime being committed so that a son gets millions in taxpayer-funded kickbacks means
nothing. I could go on quite some time with this, of course.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>…denied officials qualified immunity…</span></i><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The above legal
expression is huge: the “leaders” at the school can’t simply hide behind “it’s
policy” any more than Concentration camp guards could hide behind “I was
following orders.” Finally, the penalties for their bigoted, intolerant
behavior will not longer simply fall on the school…the ideologues running the
place, at least here, might one day wake up in their palaces to find that they
don’t own the palace any more.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>About frickin’
time.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "noto serif" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 1.12rem; font-stretch: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 28px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Vice President for Student Life...Coordinator for Student Organization Development...and Associate Dean of Student Organizations...</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "noto serif" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 1.12rem; font-stretch: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 28px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">will be held personally liable for violating the “clearly established right to free speech” </span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><b></b><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><br /></span>
<br />
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<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Look at those
titles! As always, I point out how the admin on our campuses have ridiculously
splendiferous titles, well over twice as long as their name. And this time
around…those titles won’t protect them from their wrongdoing.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>About frickin’
time, I say again.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Poo-Bah
himself as well as the “Student Misconduct and Title IX investigator” might
also find themselves on the proper side of the damages, but it remains to be
seen to what excent (as, admittedly, for the ones I’ve named above).</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe they’ll all
slip away, it’s very possible as these edu-fascists get to use endless
university money to defend themselves from the consequences of their
activities. That the taxpayer pays both the prosecution and the defense doesn’t
please me much, but…still. That actual human beings might pay the price instead
of suffering taxpayers is a very big change.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Key to the reason
for this ruling was the incredible bias of the “leaders” on campus. The
Christian groups were targeted, banned from campus, because they refused to
have openly (note: openly) gay students as their club officers.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The reasoning, of
course, was the school prohibits restricting anything based on sexual
orientation and race and whatnot. Fair enough, perhaps, although “freedom of
association” is a thing we should respect.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Meanwhile, the
pro-LGBTQ groups were not targeted for mandating their officers be part of the
LGBTQ community, or for the “black engineers” club for restricting membership
to black engineering majors. Baffling, indeed.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What has the judge
so furious here that is the university was warned
time and again to stop with the bias, was instructed specifically on how to
behave.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course, my own
experience in higher ed has taught me how<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>impossible it is to get the “leaders” to act with integrity—by their own
definitions, everything they do is so “woke” that they won’t change, even </span><a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/becketnewsite/2019-09-27-74-Order.pdf"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">with a court
order</span></a><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">…I told you
what to do and you did the exact opposite of that?</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The lashing from
the judge was considerable:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">…the
University of Iowa may not selectively go after students based on what they
think…unless you’re going to do it evenly, equally.</span></i><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The poor judge
apparently doesn’t understand that Progressives really do want to be the thought
police, with a heavy does of “rules for thee but not for me.” While, no, I
don’t think this ruling will influence the edu-fascists running many of our
other campuses, but it sets a precedent that not only will those campuses be
destroyed, the tax plunderers who are truly responsible for the destruction
might, someday, pay the price as well.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">…the judge
mocked the universities claim…</span></i><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It really is funny
when these leaders/clowns get to a real court and find the “explanations” that
cowed faculty accept just don’t fly at all in a courtroom. The gentle reader
should understand: those personal protections were not removed lightly, the administrators
involved really, really, angered the judge with their offensively bigoted
behavior.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A few snippets
from the comments section:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #2a2e2e; font-family: "georgia" , serif;">Any
settlement should require the termination of these three administrators. This
discrimination will stop only when administrators realize their jobs are on the
line if they perpetrate it</span></i><span style="background: white; color: #2a2e2e; font-family: "georgia" , serif;">.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another thing that
drives me nuts is how when admin get fired for their indiscretions, it takes no
effort for them to land another plum position in higher ed. I doubt these types
of settlements will change that, alas.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #2a2e2e; font-family: "georgia" , serif;">How do you
go about quantifying the damages for this sort of constitutional violation? The
group was prevented from meeting, participating in the life of the campus, and
expressing their views. What sort of price tag do you attach to that?</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #2a2e2e; font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><br /></span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"></span></i>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The above,
unfortunately, is the problem. Much as deplatforming of the small independent
voices happens without notice, and with such minimal financial impact that a
lawsuit wouldn’t be worthwhile, when these arrogant-as-heck individuals finally
have to pay damages, what would it be? $20, maybe? </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And yet the damage
this sort of behavior does to our students is immeasurable, even if not
necessarily financial. Without a firm ruling, Christians will get the idea not
to come to campus, and the ideologues already there will see the “penalty” for
their behavior is inconsequential even with a court order against it. I hope
the judge keeps that in mind.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.professorconfess.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">www.professorconfess.blogspot.com</span></a><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Doomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04528555392898760692noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-491174673971804494.post-85931461120580351822019-11-28T07:25:00.001-08:002019-11-28T07:25:12.148-08:00ICE Catches Hundreds of Fake Students At Fake University
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">By Professor Doom</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I sometimes wonder
at sheer size of the fraud in our higher education system. I can think of no
other business which can immediately attract hundreds of students, even when
the business explicitly states it is a fraud.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But a fake
university can do this, no problem:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/ice-arrests-90-illegal-immigrants-in-a-sting-operation-using-a-fake-university"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">ICE arrests 90 illegal immigrants in a sting operation
using a fake university</span></i></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></i><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">--It’s more like 250
students total.</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="background: white; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This isn’t even the first
time this sort of thing has happened, I just usually don’t mention it because
it’s not about the student loan scam directly. The student loan scam indirectly
makes these fake universities so easy to run because it’s allowed such a high
level of fraud that the whole world knows the U.S. has a severe fraud problem
in higher ed.</span><br />
<span style="background: white; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: white; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Consider the marketing
strategy of this fake university:</span><br />
<span style="background: white; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #212529;">The fake university told the students
they could be enrolled in their school to get into the United States on student
visas and then never attend the school as part of a “pay to stay” scam. </span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #212529;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="background: white; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s amazing how the news
story here is the ICE arrest, but I see so much more. Our higher education
system has such a reputation for fraud that the above sounded plausible, not
just to one fool (easy enough) but to hundreds of them. </span><br />
<span style="background: white; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: white; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That said, I appreciate the
efficiency of ICE; instead of guarding the border, they just put up an ad and
reel them in:</span><br />
<span style="background: white; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #212529;">Only 10% of the 250 students caught in
the sting had to be deported by Customs and Border Protection. The remaining
80% self-deported after being caught.</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #212529;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While getting these fake students out of
the country is something…what’s to stop them from just getting into a different
fake school? It’s not like ICE has a monopoly on opening up fake schools, after
all.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What about the other 10%?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #212529;">The remaining 10% have their status tied
up as they contest their deportation to the Executive Office for Immigration
Review, claiming the situation is entrapment.</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #212529;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Good luck with that. Seeing as the school
was pretty up front about being fake, I’m not sure “entrapment” is going to
fly, since not every lawful citizen will simply leave his country just to join
a fake school (part of the definition of entrapment is getting a lawful citizen
to do something he would not ordinarily do).</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
addition to the clear evidence of how thorough the fraud in higher education is
that “we’re a fake school, come sign up” can catch hundreds of fake students,
there’s another aspect to the story that the media seems to not see:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="margin-top: 0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #212529;">Several celebrities and Democratic politicians have
decried the situation, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez. The New York congresswoman claimed ICE </span></i><a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/gop-chides-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-after-ice-the-agency-she-wants-to-abolish-deports-nazi-in-her-district" target="_blank"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #007bff; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">should be abolished</span></i></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #212529;">, a proposal she
has suggested before.</span></i></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #212529;"><br /></span></i></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-top: 0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #212529;">Actress Alyssa Milano also posted a tear-filled video
expressing her outrage with the situation.</span></i></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #212529;"><br /></span></i></div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yeah, whatever. The whole “NPC” meme is
how these people never seem to be able to change their script. On the face of
it this story is about fake students coming to a fake school to get “student
visas,” and these chuckleheads stick to the script of protecting all illegal
immigrants, always, for all time. Just once I’d like a report to ask them is
there is any activity an illegal immigrant can engage in which they would
consider deplorable…I suspect they’d condone bloody murder, at least of U.S.
citizens.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #1c2022; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/ewarren"><span style="color: #3b94d9; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"></span></a></span></i><br />
<br />
<span><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #3b94d9; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/ewarren"><span style="color: #3b94d9; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">lizabeth Warren</span><span><span style="color: #3b94d9; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"> </span></span><span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"></span></span></a></span></i></b></span><br />
<br />
<span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #3b94d9; font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;"><a href="https://twitter.com/ewarren"><span style="color: #3b94d9; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">✔</span><span><span style="border: none; color: #3b94d9; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="border: none;"> </span></span></span><span><span style="border: none; color: #697882; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="border: none;">@ewarren</span></span></span><span style="border: none; color: #3b94d9; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="border: none;"> </span></span><span style="border: none; color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"></span></a></span></i></span><br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #1c2022; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/ewarren/status/1199770479189319681"><span><span style="color: #2b7bb9; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"></span></span></a></span></i><br />
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<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #1c2022; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN;">This is cruel and appalling. These students
simply dreamed of getting the high-quality higher education America can offer.
ICE deceived and entrapped them, just to deport them. </span></i></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No Pocahontas, the university was very up
front about being a fraud. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
just wish instead of creating fake schools, our government would put a bit more
interest in shutting down fake schools, but I understand always that our rulers
will only go after low hanging fruit.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #212529;">Assistant U.S. Attorney Brandon Helms
defended the operation, saying, "Their true intent could not be clearer.
While 'enrolled' at the University, one hundred percent of the foreign citizen
students never spent a single second in a classroom. If it were truly about
obtaining an education, the University would not have been able to attract
anyone, because it had no teachers, classes, or educational services."</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #212529;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wait…not having a classroom makes a place
a fake school? But what of all the 100% online schools? I’d love to hear this
guy’s definition of “teachers” and “classes,” because I’ve seen many fake
teachers and fake classes as well which would pass no definition of a
legitimate college education.</span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #212529;">President Trump has tried to push
stronger immigration policies since taking office but has not come close to
deporting as many illegal immigrants as </span></i><a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/biden-refuses-to-apologize-for-obama-era-deportations" target="_blank"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #007bff; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">President Barack Obama</span></i></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #212529;">.</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #212529;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s queer how the above little detail
never seems to make the news, instead we all get endless rants about how bad it
is that Trump is doing it. Obama did more of it…but that was OK. Much like the
endless “Trump puts babies in cages” garbage ignores that it was an Obama
policy (and a good one since it cut down on child rape), most people just don’t
know the whole story.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So while all most folks will get from
this story is how “Orange Man Entrapped Students With Fake University,” I
insist the real news here is how our higher education system is so degraded
that a fake university advertising itself as fake had no problem at all getting
hundreds of students…it probably would have taken in more fake students, but
it’s competing with other fake schools, or at least schools which also allow
fake students. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The other real part of the story is the
wide swaths of our own government support the fraud in our higher education
system.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But yeah, all the news outlets are saying
is that ICE caught some students in a sting, without really understanding how
and why this kind of sting is so successful.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
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<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.professorconfess.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">www.professorconfess.blogspot.com</span></a><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"></span><br />
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Doomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04528555392898760692noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-491174673971804494.post-87598397119305243082019-11-25T09:02:00.000-08:002019-11-25T09:02:07.838-08:00Atheists Pay To Not Have Prayers? Seriously?
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<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">By Professor Doom</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One thing about
being a cancer/modern medicine victim, I sure get lots of people praying for
me. I figure God/Jesus/Whoever already knows about my situation by now, but I
still do nothing to discourage people from doing what they want to do,
especially since I figure there’s no harm in it (even as I consider the
possibility that repeatedly whining to God might infuriate him, but I
digress…).</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A recent study of
prayer caught my eye, because it had a few interesting results. I know, most
studies are fraud now, and I have my doubts about some of their conclusions, so
I must add my own thoughts:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: #F6F5F2; color: #3a3938; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 31.5pt; line-height: 107%;"></span><a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=13814"><span style="background: #F6F5F2; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 31.5pt; line-height: 107%;">Prof:
‘Welfare of atheists/agnostics is reduced” by prayers of others</span></a><span style="background: #F6F5F2; color: #3a3938; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 31.5pt; line-height: 107%;"></span><br />
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<br />
<br />
<span style="background: #F6F5F2; color: #3a3938; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">It’s so nice to have a study coming
out of higher ed that isn’t about how white people are evil, or how
milk/haircuts/studying/whatever are RACIST, isn’t it? Even if the results are
arguable, at least it’s not simply shouting. Let’s look at the setup:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: #F6F5F2; color: #333333; font-family: "Source Sans Pro",sans-serif; font-size: 14.5pt; line-height: 107%;">The study was conducted by rounding up
various victims “shortly following Hurricane Florence” and giving them each
their standard pay plus $5. Participants were then given the option of paying
to receive or not receive thoughts and prayers from Christian strangers,
non-Christian strangers, and a priest.</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: #F6F5F2; color: #3a3938; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: #F6F5F2; color: #3a3938; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></i>
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<br />
<span style="background: #F6F5F2; color: #3a3938; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">A real study should always discuss
the methodology, the better to allow anyone who feels like it to replicate the
results. There’s a big issue with reproducibility in science right now, with
well over 50% of serious studies NOT reproducible. In other words, when you
hear the results of some study, you now are better off not believing it. You
could toss a coin, and have a better chance of getting accurate results of the
study, at least for studies conducted in the last, say, 30 years or so.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But if you know
the methodology of the study, at least, with 482 Christian/agnostic/atheists
involved, you could do a comparable study yourself and see if you get the same
results.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: #F6F5F2; color: #333333; font-family: "Source Sans Pro",sans-serif; font-size: 14.5pt; line-height: 107%;">Christian participants questioned were
willing to pay $4.36 on average for a prayer from a Christian stranger, while
they were willing to pay $7.17 for a prayer from a priest</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: #F6F5F2; color: #333333; font-family: "Source Sans Pro",sans-serif; font-size: 14.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i>
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<span style="background: #F6F5F2; color: #333333; font-family: "Source Sans Pro",sans-serif; font-size: 14.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
above sure sounds legit, at least insofar as one might expect a priest’s
prayers to be more valuable. The pricing strikes me as a little high. If I paid
over $4 for everyone who prayed for me, that’d be approaching the kind of loot
modern medicine has made off their many failed treatments on me.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And what of the
unbelievers?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: #F6F5F2; color: #333333; font-family: "Source Sans Pro",sans-serif; font-size: 14.5pt; line-height: 107%;">But the “nonreligious” group containing
atheists and agnostics were actually willing to pay people not to pray for
them, $3.54 for a Christian stranger not to pray and $1.66 for a priest not to
pray.</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: #F6F5F2; color: #333333; font-family: "Source Sans Pro",sans-serif; font-size: 14.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now this, this is
fascinating. If you don’t believe, why would you be willing to pay people not
to engage in the pointless behavior? Moreover, why would you be willing to pay
less for a priest (whose life, from the unbeliever’s point of view, is devoted
to pointless behavior) to pray for you? A priest’s prayers should have no more
value than anyone else’s from this point of view, after all.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the risk of
patronizing the gentle reader, I point out the above could be taken as evidence
that even the unbelievers do, in fact, believe…it’s about the only reason they
believe a priest’s prayers would be more valuable (or have “less negative
value, if you want to be particular), after all. Or perhaps I’m reading too
much into this:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: #F6F5F2; color: #333333; font-family: "Source Sans Pro",sans-serif; font-size: 14.5pt; line-height: 107%;">Nonreligious people would pay $0.33 for a
“thought” from a nonreligious stranger but were willing to </span></i><em><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #333333; font-family: "&quot",serif; font-size: 14.5pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">pay</span></em><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: #F6F5F2; color: #333333; font-family: "Source Sans Pro",sans-serif; font-size: 14.5pt; line-height: 107%;"> $2.02 for a Christian stranger to keep
them out of their thoughts…</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"></span></i><br />
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<span style="background: #F6F5F2; color: #3a3938; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The above really
strikes me as implying that “nonreligious” is a misnomer, and a more accurate
description would be “antireligious.” Again, under the belief that none of it
matters, a thought from a nonreligious stranger should be worth every bit as
much as a thought from a Christian. But these folk are willing to pay extra for
Christians to not to even think about them.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or perhaps I’m
not the only one to worry that, much as a parent might get angry with a child
who cries too often, so too might God simply choose to smite those who are
getting sent to Him far too many appeals…</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve long
accepted that I see things very differently than most, and thus it doesn’t
surprise me that the researchers reach different conclusions:</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: #F6F5F2; color: #333333; font-family: "Source Sans Pro",sans-serif; font-size: 14.5pt; line-height: 107%;">…concluding that this disparity suggests that
thoughts and prayers could harm nonreligious people.</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: #F6F5F2; color: #333333; font-family: "Source Sans Pro",sans-serif; font-size: 14.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And so we wander
back into grievance culture, where literally everything a person does, no
matter how piffling, ultimately results in harm to someone. I disagree with the
conclusion, of course, and acceptance of the above conclusion could well lead
to court cases and damages, years from now. Yeesh.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m not kidding
about the consequences of the above conclusion:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: #F6F5F2; color: #333333; font-family: "Source Sans Pro",sans-serif; font-size: 14.5pt; line-height: 107%;">…these findings <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">prove</b> that Christians “benefit from” prayers from others but that
“the welfare of atheists/agnostics is reduced by such gestures.”</span></i><br />
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: #F6F5F2; color: #333333; font-family: "Source Sans Pro",sans-serif; font-size: 14.5pt; line-height: 107%;">--emphasis added.</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Prove? That’s
some powerful language, and I assure the gentle reader no such proof has been
provided. At best, it is shown there is a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">belief</i>
that benefit is granted, a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">belief</i>
that welfare is reduced. Of course, you can’t claim damages from a personal
belief, while proof of such damage is a different matter entirely.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While I can
nitpick about conclusions, the fact remains is this is the kind of thing that
is done by legitimate researchers (even ones confused about what “prove” means),
and even if it’s a piffling study, all we’re looking at is a few hundred people
filled in some bubbles on some easily graded survey, so a minimal cost, almost
certainly less than what my insurance company was charged for the 5 minutes I
spend talking to the latest specialist after traveling for many hours to meet
him…</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> I'm about to go in for yet another surgery, with no expectation of it helping to accompany the certainty that it's going to hurt quite a bit. F</span>or
everyone granting me prayers, I thank you. Even if such triggers God’s wrath,
I’ll take such comfort as I can in that while he’s venting on me, another is
being spared, at least for a time. I tend to think the same way about letting the next doctor hack into me.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">www.professorconfess.blogspot.com</span><span style="background: #F6F5F2; color: #333333; font-family: "Source Sans Pro",sans-serif; font-size: 14.5pt; line-height: 107%;"></span><br />
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Doomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04528555392898760692noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-491174673971804494.post-18899771562903780942019-11-22T08:30:00.000-08:002019-11-22T08:30:02.586-08:00Trump To End Obama’s Anti-White Campus Policies
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<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">By Professor Doom</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s really
interesting just how much changed during the Obama era, from health insurance
to “acceptable” corruption like Biden, to campus policies.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One such policy
concerned encouragement of colleges to admit students strictly based on
“Diversity” concerns, so that more “minorities” would be admitted even if,
purely based on academics, other students were more deserving. I put “minority”
in quotes because Asians never benefit from this, despite being as much, or
more, of a minority in many schools.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like so many Obama
policies, Trump seems determined to reverse it:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<a href="http://newobserveronline.com/trump-administration-to-strike-down-obamas-anti-white-college-admission-guidelines/"><b><span style="background: white; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 25.5pt; line-height: 107%;">Trump Administration to Strike Down Obama’s Anti-White
College Admission Guidelines</span></b></a><b><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 25.5pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></b><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 25.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The article I’ve
linked to above has a helpful chart showing academic readiness for Michigan in
various subjects, broken down by what we refer to as “race”:</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
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<br />
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">--Like I said, Asians really get the short end
of the stick by not getting “minority” status.</span></i><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I remind the gentle reader that roughly 70% of high school graduates
immediately move on to college. If colleges were really operating honestly,
this high a percentage could not be possible, since well under half of high school graduates are ready for college.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-administration-to-rescind-obama-era-guidelines-on-race-in-college-admissions-1530619273" target="_blank"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #1e73be; font-family: "&quot",serif;">According to the report,</span></i></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif;"> the Trump administration argues that the 2011
and 2016 Obama guidelines—which give universities the right to select black and
Hispanic applicants with lower scores before whites with similar or higher
scores—serve to “mislead schools to believe that legal forms of affirmative
action are simpler to achieve than the law allows.”</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I must also point out that these racist policies are not really helping
the supposedly disadvantaged among us. Around 50,000,000 have student loans
now, loans which cannot be paid off by students who went to college despite
having little academic ability at best. The phrase “Democratic Plantation”
exists for a reason, as this policy (among many others) really seems to exist
to trap kids into a form of slavery, in this case debt slavery.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif;">Of course, the lower scores are merely a
reflection of racial differences in IQ and ability, and have nothing to do with
“white racism,” as the fact that many Asians in America score as high, if not
higher, than whites, and they are also excluded from the “affirmative action”
program even though they are not white.</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Not many sites dare to say things like the above, as it contradicts the
narrative that anything besides racism could possibly be responsible. Asians
spend far more time studying, after all, so there is an explanation here beyond
the ever-so-contentious “intelligence.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Asians, incidentally, have been fighting the racist admissions policies,
especially at top tier schools. It’s something of a tough lawsuit, but a
plausible one since Obama’s policies contradict established law:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 18.75pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "&quot",serif;">In fact, the Justice Department has recently been
investigating a complaint by more than 60 “Asian-American” organizations that
say Harvard University’s policies are discriminatory because they limit the
acceptance of Asian students on precisely this basis.</span></i></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 18.75pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "&quot",serif;">The Justice Department joined Students for Fair Admissions, the
group behind the case, which has urged the disclosure of “powerful” evidence
showing that Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Harvard is violating Title VI of
the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act. Title VI prohibits discrimination on the
basis of race, color, and national origin in programs and activities receiving
federal financial assistance.</span></i></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 20.4pt; margin-bottom: 18.75pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I wish them luck in their case, but it’s a distraction. The question for
me isn’t Obama’s policy per se, but why didn’t our schools respond with outrage
at being encouraged to violate the Civil Rights Act? The primary answer as I
see it is the “leaders” of our system saw this as an opportunity to grow, grow,
grow, the schools some more—at the expense of saddling certain minorities with
crushing debt.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif;">The
Supreme Court most recently addressed affirmative action admissions policies
in a 2016 case, voting 4 to 3 to uphold what it called a “race-conscious”
program at the University of Texas at Austin—but which was in fact just another
anti-white program.</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That’s a narrow, narrow, victory for racism…I can see why a certain
party is very concerned at the change in make-up of our Supreme Court.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Another odd trend in higher education (and daresay the media) is the
pro-Islam movement. Trump seems to be working to end that as well:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<a href="https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2019/09/20/trump-admin-tells-unc-duke-to-revise-islam-program-or-lose-taxpayer-funds/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=best_of_the_week&utm_campaign=20190921%22"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 36.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Trump Admin Tells UNC, Duke to Revise Islam Program or Lose
Taxpayer Funds</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #111111; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 36.0pt; line-height: 107%;"></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #111111; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 36.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Now, I’ve nothing against Islam any more than I have what’s being
defined as “minorities,” but it’s clear something fishy is going on here:</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #111111; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">According to
the Department of Education, the program offers very few, “if any,”
programs focused on the historic discrimination against religious
minorities in the Middle East, and lacks balance, focusing on the “positive
aspects of Islam” while having an “absolute absence” of a similar focus on the
positive aspects of Christianity and Judaism.</span></i><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #111111; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 36.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Much
as I noted courses on Marxism focus on the utopian promises while
“de-emphasizing” (an understatement) any discussion of what invariably happens
under Marxist regimes, it seems a similar modus operandi is in effect here. Of
course, I again wonder how such one-sided discussion became part of an
education (as opposed to indoctrination).</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #111111; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 36.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #111111; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 36.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That
said, I’m not real wild about government offering direction on how things should
be taught. The protest against government interference here, which I would
normally support, tells me that Trump’s administration has the right of it, as
much as I hate making such an admission:</span><br />
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 9.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 9.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "inherit",serif;">Henry Reichman, the chairman
of a committee on academic freedom for the American Association of University
Professors, reacted to the Education Department’s letter by referring to it as,
ironically, “political correctness” enacted by the “right-wing.”</span></i></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 9.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 9.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "inherit",serif;">“Is the government now going
to judge funding programs based on the opinions of instructors or the approach
of each course?” asked Reichman. “The odor of right wing political
correctness that comes through this definitely could have a chilling effect.”</span></i></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #111111; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 36.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh,
stop being coy here, just call him a NAZI and be done with it. There’s an
informal rule that all internet arguments eventually devolve into one side
calling the other a nazi. An important corollary to that rule is that whosoever
cries NAZI first automatically loses the argument.</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #111111; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 36.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #111111; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 36.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
trust that soon the rule, and the key corollary, will soon be extended to the
cry of “right wing” as well. It can’t happen soon enough for me.</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #111111; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 36.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: #111111; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 36.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
key issue here is taxpayer dollars are being blown on “education” into a system
which taxpayers themselves don’t want. If Trump can indeed shut this down, this
gives hope that perhaps, someday, student loan money won’t continue to flow to
schools far more interested in indoctrination than education. This, too, can’t
happen soon enough for me.</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #111111; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 36.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<br />
<a href="http://www.professorconfess.blogspot.com/"><span style="background: white; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 36.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">www.professorconfess.blogspot.com</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #111111; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 36.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><br />
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Doomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04528555392898760692noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-491174673971804494.post-15420295079341104082019-11-19T10:04:00.002-08:002019-11-19T10:04:48.523-08:00More Questions About Higher Ed Answered
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">By Professor Doom</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I’m looking
at a list of “17” (actually more than that) questions about higher ed that a
former Poo-Bah of higher ed now asks…he’s out of the game, so he can afford to
ask questions which would cost the job of a lowly one such as myself to ask.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;">If we were building from scratch, would we make
almost every program the same four-year duration? </span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The student loan
scam, the answer to most questions about higher ed, is responsible for the
above question as well. Easy student loans have led to a huge rise in tuition.
This rise has led a plethora of “job training” degrees, to the point that we
have degrees in the bowling industry, degrees in how to be a DJ, degrees to be
a hotel manager, and so on.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Universities were
never intended to be jobs training centers, they were intended to be centers of
education. It doesn’t take 4 years to train someone to be a DJ. If tuition were
low, it wouldn’t be so bad, but at today’s prices? Yes, now it’s fair to ask
why a kid should pay $100,000 or more to learn how to operate a CD player.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;">How should we think about hybrid curricular
options—that is, the mixing of new forms of pedagogy with old—that might be
available to us?</span></i><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here the Poo-Bah is asking about online
coursework. So much of online education is absolute fraud that, seriously, we
should just end it. This would greatly increase the legitimacy, the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">value</i>, of degrees. </span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Online coursework can still exist, of
course—just make it free, and schools could (and to an extent already do)
validate online work by administering tests to the student in person.</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Will most extant institutions survive the coming
ed-tech disruptions in roughly their current form? Which types of schools are
most vulnerable?</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most schools are already in danger of
ceasing to exist, but it’s not due to tech disruption. Our “leaders” in higher
ed have assumed the amazing growth in the student base from the student loan
scam would lead to continued amazing growth, and have expanded accordingly, expending
every penny they have and then some.</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Trouble is, changing demographics and
the growing realization that higher education is overpriced have put an end to
that growth. The schools which will survive are the ones that invested or saved
their student loan loot wisely…not many.</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The schools most vulnerable to being
destroyed are those that grew most explosively, sacrificing all integrity in the
name of endless growth. Their reputations are negative, and the time will come
when students will simply stop coming…or just go to a legitimate school.</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Given the likelihood of more demand for education
from mid-career students, fed by the ongoing technological disruption of the
workforce, will the expanded supply of mid-career education come mostly from
existing elite schools, existing non-elite schools, non-schools becoming
schools, or newly created schools?</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i>
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<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I don’t accept the Poo-Bah’s “given” assumption
here. Yes, there is a steady trickle of demand there, but the costs involved of
going to college are such that, if the employer really wants the employee to
have those skills, it will make more sense to just train the employee while on
the job.</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Educational supply is concentrated in the North,
but a disproportionate share of the growth in the college-ready student
population is in the South. How will this geographic misalignment shake out,
and are there implications for us or our primary competitors?</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It should shake out in the obvious way: the
lowest quality, overpriced schools in the oversupplied areas will shut down,
and schools will spring up in places where the market is not serving the people
well.</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The student loan scam is the only thing
supporting the oversupplied areas now, and its sad that higher education has
our universities referring to each other as “competitors.”</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Should we have more differentiated types of
faculty roles? In particular, should we create new tracks for faculty members
who are able to harness technology to teach hundreds or thousands of students…</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Faculty already
fill plenty of roles, and technology should not be harnessed to allow classes
of “thousands” of students. The Poo-Bah has several questions about faculty…but
only one question at all about administrators (next). I greatly question why we
need more administrators than faculty on campus…</span><br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;">How have our student-teacher and
student-administrator ratios changed in the past two decades—and how do we
measure the benefits?</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He should know
this information. Student-teacher ratios are basically flat,
student-administrator ratios have gone down, due to the ever increasing legions
of administrators. The benefits of the latter should be measured in size of the
student debt, increase in open admissions policies, increasing tuition, and
decreasing on-time graduation rates. Seeing as increasing the administration
has led to failure on all these levels, we need to stop asking questions and
start firing wide swaths of the legions of irrelevant bureaucrats on our
campuses.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;">How much of the president’s time should be spent
articulating a vision or strategy, versus directing the university’s
operations, versus fundraising?</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><a href="https://professorconfess.blogspot.com/2014/02/vision-for-excellence-is-idiocy.html"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Vision for
Excellence</span></a><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> planning needs to end, it’s a waste of time; there might be
some minute value, but nothing compared to the profound levels of navel-gazing
which is done now.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can’t speak to
fundraising, but Poo-Bahs can easily make $500,000 a year “leading” a small
school, even though they almost never have even the slightest impact on a
single student’s education. Perhaps that could be a factor in an educational
leader’s job? Not even a question for the Poo-Bah here, but eliminating the
position entirely would in a sense guarantee a half million or more dollars
being “donated” to the school every year, and few Poo-Bahs can claim
responsibility for personally raising that much (and even if they did, it’s all
just going into their own pockets by way of that salary…).</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;">If the state’s community colleges could be folded
into our system, would you want them? Why or why not?</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The community
college as “precursor to university” should be shut down, it’s been such a
thoroughly massive failure that no other action makes sense. Yes, I know there
are exceptions, but each exceptional student can be matched to thousands of
failures. The money saved from the shutdown should go towards university
scholarships…the good students will still get their chance.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, if community
colleges could be re-tooled as purely jobs-training program centers, that’s an
idea, but not a question being asked here.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;">State regulators now often refer to the
transition into college as “grade 13.” Is this a good thing?</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>State regulators think this way because
the Federal student loan scam brings in so much money that they’re pretty
motivated to force as many students just getting out of high school (i.e.,
grade 12) to go into college (the next grade everyone is forced to take).</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The reality is the average freshman reads
at the 7<sup>th</sup> grade level, and most “college” coursework is no better
or different than what the students already learned “for free” in the public
schools. </span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now they just go into debt for it.</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;">How should the university balance advancing the
educational attainment of the state’s current residents against addressing the
state’s long-term workforce needs?</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i>
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<br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, universities could let community
colleges become pure jobs training centers, and then universities could focus
on education. By breaking things apart like this, each aspect of state
education services could focus on doing a better job within their own domain,
instead of both universities and community colleges competing with each other
to offer the same products.</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Setting aside “more money” and “more
predictability” around state funding, what should a university system want from
governors and state legislatures?</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i>
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<br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a hard question, and I can’t c</span><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;">onceive
of a Poo-Bah with sufficient imagination to ask for anything besides MOAR. </span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If it were up to me, I’d ask state
legislatures to start shutting down schools, starting with the for-profits
who’ve done so much harm, then moving up the food chain until they get to the
legitimate schools, if any. This would free up funding for schools which spend
their money wisely, do good for the citizens, and increase the value of degrees
in general…it’s too good an idea to ever be implemented in our government,
alas.</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.professorconfess.blogspot.com/"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;">www.professorconfess.blogspot.com</span></a><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;"></span><br />
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Doomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04528555392898760692noreply@blogger.com5