A Liberal Arts Education

Just watch:



So, apparently, college makes you more liberal. Yay!

But, colleges don't teach simple U.S. Civics. Boo!

Hey Tucker, I hate to break it to you, but, last time that I checked, the GREs didn't test about proficiency in the U.S. Government. Also, neither does the (regular) SATs nor the ACTs. If only there was a place to learn about these fundamental things about our nation. If only there was a location of education where youngsters were forced to go in order to be taught these things. Wait.... It's coming to me.... Give me a second.... That's it! A penitentiary! Wait, no that's not it. Hold on... it's just about there... almost... Yes! HIGH SCHOOL!

Guess where I was taught about the Constitution (in grave detail) and forced to be able to recite the different Presidents, and name all of the states in the union? In my junior year of high school. My teacher made it a priority. In fact, when some students bombed a quiz on the Constitution, he tore them something new simply because some of my classmates and I would one day be called to defend it and, as he put it, "It may be a good idea to at least have caroused the document."

In my 2.5 years as a college student, I have not been required to list off facts about the Order of Presidential Succession. And, to be honest, based on most liberal arts core curriculums, it does not matter.

Most Liberal Art curriculums involves a combination of courses from: philosophy, history, modern languages, literature and rhetoric, mathematics, sciences, and the humanities.

When I applied to colleges and had my respective interviews with each of them, one of the questions I would always ask was if there was any particular requirements, in terms of courses taken in high school, in order to be accepted. You know what the answer I got every time I asked was? Just the requirements to graduate high school.

You see that Tucker Carlson?! It was, in essence, expected that I knew these things already. Interesting, then, how the politics, philosophy, and history courses were designed to have a modern tone and have the expectation that I knew my 1^st Amendments rights.

Watching some of the CPAC coverage today, I heard an reverberating theme of insulting education. At one point, there was a criticism about various feminism-studying classes at different colleges; however, any educated person could tell you that in any social scientific study, researches CANNOT pass moral judgment on the subjects and must study the group personally (least, at a minimum, skew the data). I heard a criticisms of "socialized" education.

Okay, the Conservatives of the nation hate the Education Department and think that education should be left to a local level. Yeah, that has been great so far based on the said research. What do we have as a nation-wide academic achievement test? Well, de-facto, the SAT. I would like the people who want an end to DOE to look me in the eye and say that the SAT is an accurate test of knowing what is expected to be known after 12 (or so) years of education.

You want to solve this lack of civics education problem? Have a nationalized standardized test that measures the bare minimum of what is expected to be known after high school (i.e. what is the smallest Pythagorean triple?, How does a bill become a law?, What is the powerhouse of a biological cell? What sparked World War I? What two things are needed to make a complete sentence?). If a student fails to pass it, no degree for them. It is simple: make a high school degree something that is not given, but earned!

As for the liberal thing, please go here.

Yet Another 'Scandal?'

Oh boy! Here we go again with the Cardinal Newman Society. Their latest 'scandal' is how Georgetown University giving an honorary doctorate to the President of the AFL-CIO (whom is for gay marriage

What I am going to say is my interpretation and by no means am I speaking for any University.

When a school has a speaker come, it is not always an endorsement of the speaker. Go google "define: school" and you will see that the top hit is "an educational institution." Schools have speakers come to inform pupils on a subject or way of thinking. When schools give some honor to a speaker, again it may not be an endorsement, but more an endorsement of the role the person plays in society and/or the education of others.

A teacher would be failing if he or she never presented other ways to attack a problem or other schools of thought. Think of this math problem:

2x + 4 = 4
(2x)/2 + (4/2) = 4/2	2x + 4 - 4 = 4 - 4
x + 2 = 2	2x = 0
x + 2 - 2 = 2 - 2	2x = 0 / 2
x = 0	x = 0

Was either solution better than the other? No, they were the same. The only difference was the approach made to finding the solution.

Has it ever occurred to groups like the Cardinal Newman Society that, perhaps, by taking a different education route, it will come to the same result? Perhaps, taking the "wrong" route will lead people who do not adhere to take a route that, when properly traversed, will get the person to the same place. You can look at a road map right now and see that there are more than one way to get from point A to point B; one may be a longer and more difficult route, but, the rewards are the same in the end.

Let me give you an example from my life: I, like most people, at one point, doubted God's existence. However, I had (and still have) an interest in the paranormal (which is spoken poorly upon in the Old Testament). During some free research, years ago, I found confirmed reports of demonic possessions by impartial parties. I realized that if there was an evil force, then there would have to be a good force because, unless there was some type of competition, the evil force would have no reason to posses others. That good force must be God.

Even if a person does not make it to the end of the path and nothing changes, there was no harm nor foul based upon the preliminary education.

Notice how I did not bring up how the Catholic Church happens to be vehemently pro-labor union nor the response from Georgetown?

NYU Protest

I am sure you all have heard about the protest at NYU. Most people think that these are some radical students, but if you really look at their demands, they are not so wacky. I will go through all of their points that they enumerated and explain why they are not all that bad (but, remember, I am not a NYU student, so I lack some information about the story). The group, Take Back NYU!, has three points (that are not exactly the same as what the occupiers wanted) posted on their website:

1. The inclusion of an elected representative from the student body in New York University’s (NYU) Board of Trustee meetings. This representative should have rights, including voting rights, equal to that of Trustees, as well as the authorization to make public statements on the operations of the Board of Trustees without prior approval from any administration official.
2. Public release of NYU’s annual operating budget, including a full list of university expenditures, salaries for all employees compensated on a semester or annual basis, funds allocated for staff wages, contracts to non-university organizations for university construction and services, financial aid data for each college, and money allocated to each college, department, and administrative unit of the university. Furthermore, this should include a full disclosure of the amount and sources of the university’s funding.
3. Disclosure of NYU’s endowment holdings, investment strategy, projected endowment growth, and persons, corporations and firms involved in the investment of the university’s endowment funds. Additionally, we demand an endowment oversight body of students, faculty and staff who exercise shareholder proxy voting power for the university’s investments.

My Take:

1. Most colleges and universities have a member of the student body that is a member of the Board of Trustees. Someone needs to represent the intrests of the student body since they are the ones who are directly affected by the actions of the Board. Besides, what is a school without students?
2. What is so wrong with hiding financial statements? What is so secret?
3. Students should be able to see where the money for their education is going. The students are the ones who will know which projects are failing and which are not. School administrations are not the ones who are affected quickly by changes; the faculty, staff, and students are.

---

The occupiers made these points and:

1. Amnesty for all parties involved.
2. Full compensation for all employees whose jobs were disrupted during the course of the occupation.
3. Allow student workers (including T.A.’s) to collectively bargain.
4. A fair labor contract for all NYU employees at home and abroad.
5. A Socially Responsible Finance Committee that will immediately investigate war profiteers and the lifting of the Coke ban.
6. Annual scholarships be provided for thirteen Palestinian students.
7. That the university donates all excess supplies and materials in an effort to rebuild the University of Gaza.
8. Tuition stabilization for all students, beginning with the class of 2012. Tuition rates for each successive year will not exceed the rate of inflation. The university shall meet 100% of government-calculated student financial need.
9. That student groups have priority when reserving space in the buildings owned or leased by New York University, including, and especially, the Kimmel Center.
10. That the general public have access to Bobst Library.

My take:

1. They are trying to protect themselves, duh.
2. They do not wish the innocents to be negatively affected.
3. They want to protect the financial well-being of their fellow students. We are taught that workers are hired and fired based on job performance, so if they are bad/outstanding workers, why should they get the same wages as other workers? Students do not get Social Darwinism?
4. If an employee takes a leave of absence, they may risk losing their jobs.
5. Do you want people that are supporting war to be funding your school? As for the Coke ban, I sometimes miss having some sodas.
6. This one is wacky, but outside the United States there are more pro-Palestinian movements.
7. Philanthropy?
8. This one is actually one of their better ones. Rep. Patrick Murphy (R-PA) proposed the same measure in the House of Representatives about a year and a half ago. Tuition at NYU is insanely high and getting higher every year (and this is true for almost every school). I almost went to NYU except that I was only given loans and no scholarships to pay for this inflated rate. For most families, rising tuition costs are big issues. It just is not right.
9. Do you want some non-University affiliated group using buildings you pay for?
10. A public education at one of the largest libraries in the United States is a bad thing?

I may not condone the methods by which they protested, but their means were in the right place.