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Sunday, March 13, 2011 | 3:03 a.m.
Regarding the Las Vegas Sun’s story Thursday on its website, “Higher ed contemplates fallout of financial exigency”:
There seem to be some fundamental misconceptions about the roles of government, education and business held by some in this state and elsewhere that need to be clarified. Government is, as stated in the Gettysburg Address, “of the people, by the people, and for the people.” The primary role of our democratically elected government is to serve the people’s interest and create/encourage the conditions for commerce to flourish. Businesses have, as their primary aim, the maximization of profit for their shareholders rather than the good of the customers they serve — that’s the role of government.
Thus, government has established regulatory bodies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and the Environmental Protection Agency (among others) with the aim of protecting U.S. citizens from potential threats to their livelihood.
Though many view education as a business, it is in reality far more important as the guarantor of our nation’s democracy, which requires an educated citizenry to properly function and also as a creative engine (via research) to foment the innovation and expansion of our economy.
When treated merely as a business, educational excellence will suffer as the view that degrees are paid for instead of earned will be prevalent and creative efforts will be thwarted by an obsession with the short-term “bottom line” instead of recognizing that supporting research is more often than not a long-term investment in our country’s future.
It’s high time for our leaders to recognize that education is far too important for our nation’s future to treat as a for-profit business.
The writer is a physics professor at UNLV.
Educrats always want to equate financial support for education with supporting education. The difference is that teachers and professors - tenured AND with union representation - suck up the majority of funding by having negotiated outsized compensation packages with roundheeled politicians whose campaigns they finance. Taxpayers are expected to quietly pick up the tab. Professor, in a severe recession, EVERYTHING is being looked at. You may no longer be insulated from the economy as you have in the past. Better start saving your money.
Michael:
What I have been harping on is affordability for students and taxpayers. This bring cost increases in line with the rest of the economy, otherwise there is nothing left. Think of the old compound interest problem--the difference between 3 and 5 percent return over the period of a couple decade. Look what has happened to health care.
The writer correctly points out that education and research are vital, but fails to recognize that they must also be financially efficient.
Taxpayer money is spent on many things, including education. Instead of always resisting any reduction in taxpayer funding and always demanding even more, the people working in education need to look within education for ways to be more financailly efficient.
They must also be part of a solution in which they advocate for spending less in some other area if they want more spending in education, instead of just asking for more spending for 'their' area.
I'm a taxpayer and a college graduate so I know the value of a good education but I also know that taxes cannot be raised on a continuing basis.
Michael
"Ya don't take a shower in efficiency; ya take a shower in HOT WATER!"
In education, we are dealing with the inexorable march of time. These kids have the genes and the drive, but absolutely no idea of how to integrate their potentials to maximize their outcomes. As adults, some of us have taken the reins and tried to direct them.
But when we figure the waste of possible results we incur by shortchanging the next generations, then we have lost sight of the goal - to get Junior THINKING!
Self-reliance is the shower; efficiency is where we have been penny-wise and pound-foolish.
As Dr. Unger mentioned in another thread, the most successful kids actually DID stuff, had a response that is rising up from their guts and is pushing them to reconcile.
We need efficiency measured by how QUICKLY we get kids to to turn into fire-eaters and constructivists, building their world view as they build their bodies.
We haven't done much integration of purpose, potential and personal power in our schools.
Not taking the cue from the German/European model is a mistake. We are failing to fund our future and flat-out DENYING our kids what they need - to know how they learn, what they like and how strong their potential is.
This is the path that reaps rewards; they catch fire when they see their progress. Time flies and the kids come clean, do the right thing and can make contributions to this hand-me-down remnant of a culture.
As I have been harping in this forum, if you want an educated citizenry - contributing members of society - to lead us when we become feeble, to make this world a better place for EVERYONE, you are looking at them - everyday! Our future is now - the children.
We must invest on them now - all of them. Those who fall between the cracks are already beyond anyone's reach. And, their numbers are increasing every day we lollygag due to mediocrity in leadership.
You can talk business and ROI, but while you're talking about it, they will climb your gated communities, scale your concrete walls, and find holes in your electronic firewalls. And, they will go after what you have.
Are we going to be building steel gates and high walls and impenetrable firewalls forever? They will continue to scale them.
Have we lost our humanity to greed? How much can a coffin hold?
She stands alone like Hector at the Bridge.
She's an artist of the heart, opening doors to tomorrow, finding water where there was only desert.
She turns ugliness into beauty with the turn of a phrase, a smile and some stimulating lessons about animals or balloons, finding ways out of dead ends.
She melts the sand and blows glass art; she shreds the weakness of a child and makes strength of a million men.
the little teacher stands between lost life and proud accomplishments, asking for respect, not for herself, but for the tiny urchins wondering how things could be
Nancy--
You describe education as an investment. How many state/local resources should be devoted to it?
Turrialba's question goes to the root of the issue- how much, partly, but more accurately, HOW?
By continuing to pile tax-dollars into the failed, corrupt system of No Child Left Behind, etc, we have left them all behind.
They have very little connection to this place, but they all have TOYS - xboxes, cell phones, laptops, cars, etc.- mere distractions that prevent acculturation, rather than augmenting opportunity. They piss away their youth.
An integral part of learning is the hook-up to the planet, to the doings and undoings. By emphasizing a seismic shift toward placing value on capability so as to develop potential, we could sow way less and reap way more.
Technical education, skills in trades of tomorrow, and investment where there is individual strength would make more sense than dumping billions into fat, former principals' semi-retirement as consultants and denying Johnnie a shot at finding out how stuff happens.
I am not ready to concede that No Child Left Behind is a failure or corrupt. It forced schools to adopt standards. The standards are open to debate, but the lack of any standard is not somewhere I want to go. Been there and done that.
In CCSD we are throwing $7k a year at the problem and after 12 years we have a 50 percent graduation rate and too many of those who do graduate lack the basic skills needed to function in the real world. These institutions are no better than warehouses for many students. Keep the kids amused and push them through.
In the 21st century its about training and retraining through out life. The basic reading, writing and math skills make this possible. If we spend 10k per student, will there be any appreciable improvement to justify the investment? When we talk invest me, we are talking return on investment as well.
As far as I can see the local community colleges are successful in undoing the mess in a short amount of time and at a reasonable cost. I would pour money in there first until the K-12 warehousing of human capital problem is solved.
When you look at UNR and UNLV--there is the problem of costs. Which programs do we invest in and which should be discontinued?
Turrialba,
Is it actually $7,000, I assume you mean per student, a year? What are the figures and how do they compare nationally? How are other states doing that spend more? Statistically are the results significant?
Education administrators NEED A PLAN other than HOW MUCH MORE MONEY CAN WE SPEND. Past time to cut those programs / majors with LIMITED APPEAL and LIMITED ENROLLMENT. We NEVER SHOULD HAVE FUNDED THIS OVER SPENDING AND WASTE. And how many of those past Legislators who KEPT GIVING AWAY THE FARM are now claiming they are "dedicated public servants?" Hawww Chris G? Barbie B?
The State of Nevada's new motto: "The public good be damned!"
The "public good" is NOT to overpay professors who are so insulated from reality that their only reaction is a temper tantrum. CCSD Super Jones has a calm coherent response--unlike "higher ed"--Mr. Jones recently said that "should a reduction in force, reduction in staff..." we want to be able to keep math/science teachers and EFFECTIVE teachers regardless of seniority. HE MUST SEE SOME WRITING ON THE WALL??? But "higher ed" "management" reaction has been hysteria and attempting to stir up a political reaction from voters. One threat after another (about closing several campuses) and then semi-apologies that that's only one scenario and that there are many other traumas that could occur. Get a grip on it guys. There are many other TRAUMAS THAT HAVE OCCURRED JUST OUTSIDE YOUR DOORS--open the door, a window, clean the eye shades.
God bless our Idiocracy!
Nancy: You want MORE TAXES? from the feeble seniors that are losing their homes and are trying to subsist on $1K a month SS? You think self-absorbed "educators" and young former "students" are going to lead us anywhere? The ones who might lead us are those with enough going for them that they can accomplish things like ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE, obtain a degree WITHOUT GOVERNMENT HAND OUTS, who can put off spending on new cars and houses until they get their degrees. Who can put off having children they can't afford right now.
Sorry Mark, yes, the estimate is about $7k per student and was incorrect. Nevada spent about $8,200 in 2008. The national average is about $10. per student. http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp...
http://www2.census.gov/govs/school/08f33...
page 14 has a bar chart showing the numbers.
For the current 2010-2011 school year CCSD reports expenditures of $7,800 per student.
http://ccsd.net/news/publications/pdf/CC...
Numbers bounce all over the place depending on the year.
Turrialba:
Nevada has one of the lowest tax rates in the nation. We are a state rich in natural resources (particularly precious metals) which (over 150 years ago), created an economic boom for California but which today create an economic boom for globalist/foreign corporations and the wealthy "elite" who control them. We need to develop a more fair tax structure that not only taxes the plebians but also the corporations that derive income from this state. Otherwise, we risk becoming like Africa where the diamond market (e.g.) was controlled by Cecil Rhodes and subsequent generations of "masters," and profits were (and continue to be) largely spirited away from the continent. A few sheqels were redirected toward greedy and amoral war lords to maintain the "divide and conquer" strategy (and thus maintaining the status quo - recent films such as "Blood Diamonds" deal with this theme) just as lobbyists do in this country today to buy off politicians. We honestly need a fundamental political change in Nevada and the rest of this nation.
How amazingly funny and hypocritical.
.
Brian Greenspun writes a column whining about the loss of free press versus the internet, how badly it would adversely affect us, then blocks people from posting unless they "sign on" to the Sun's propaganda machine.
.
How pathetic.
Michael:
Does Nevada offer reasonable educational opportunities for its citizens?
If not, what opportunities should be added/subtracted?
My job as a taxpayer to ensure that adequate and reasonable opportunities exist for those willing and able to take advantage of them. It is up to the students and their parents to take advantage of the opportunities. I can only open the door for the student. It isn't my job to see that he/she walks through it.
I think once you look at this question, maybe we can talk about taxes to see what is necessary and doable to offer the opportunities.
anchorbine:
Just about every newspaper in the country does this including the Review Journal.
The problem with standards as they currently imposed, is that they fail to diversify. They simplify issues that need expansion - specifically - what the kid CAN do.
Teachers aim kids to pass the test, but the kid still has very little connection to concrete, substantial, verifiable hook-ups to the world. She can recall and perhaps apply, but seldom find extrapolative or extensive evaluation of the learned kernel. Enough to ace the test, but nothing like life calls for.
Without a rehashing of who the kids are, where their talents may lie and how they learn, we are looking good on tests and failing to generate thoughtful people. Standards divide and conquer; we need cohesive and integrated whole people to face this changing world, kids who think on their own because they know how satisfaction comes - from figuring stuff out the hard way, their way.
But Turri's point about CCs addressing successfully the deficits in grads is well taken; our kids are smart, and with personalized curricula they get at the CCs, they gobble the stuff, improve their skill and launch lives. Why wait until we have failed them for 12 years??
I am asking for sanity in the way we run things. I am asking for leadership. I am asking for leaders who are not beholden to anyone but the ones they are supposed to serve. In my previous post, here are the three things we need to think about - instead of arguing and calling each other names:
1. Let's find a way to make the family whole again so that the children are cared for as they should be.
2. Teachers are the only ones left that children can look up to. So we need to 'tighten up' the qualifications before they are hired. For those who are already teaching, principals need to stop lollygagging and fire those who are not up to par.
3. We need to remove politics in education. Leaders need to lead and not be beholden to some political agendas. There are too many administrators who have nothing to do with educating children, requiring paperwork and fancy equipment and tools to justify their positions.
To all of you who keep using fancy words (and sometines really nasty words) and fancy ideas (and sometimes really nasty ideas), start using your time and effort to think along the lines 1, 2, and 3. If you have something to contribute, by all means do so. If you are simply spouting your frustrations because your life is miserable, keep your opinions to yourselves. There!
Thank you to Dr. Pravica for writing this letter. The so-called "business model" for education is a new trend advocated by the American right-wing ("new" in that it's only been around about 50 years as an idea, now being pushed on all of us as a public policy by the G.O.P. and their conservative think-tanks). This model ignores entirely any concept of community responsibility for our young people, the demonstrable economic benefits to a society over the long-term, and the cultural and social values of public education essential to the preservation of democracy.
About costs: last time I calculated what it would "cost" in dollars and cents for a student to pay entirely for a university education in Nevada, tuition would rise to about $25,000-$28,000 per year; and this would not pay the whole cost, either, as the state would still need to put in at least 20% (roughly) of what it does now to provide essential infrastructure to be able to keep the doors open. What would this do? Our university system would become a very expensive, very elitist institution that educates mainly the rich (if we could improve its reputation enough to attract rich students); and opportunities would be lost for thousands of good, hard-working young people who wish to improve their lives but now would not be able to afford higher education.
What about considering the other direction? The same one that the late Governor Kenny Guinn -- a good, centrist, rational Republican politician ever open to discussion and compromise -- envisioned and advocated with the "millennium scholarship" program? Why should we not establish a state fund of, say, $400 million, that would vastly reduce costs for students who can make the grades and prove they deserve funding? In other words: provide a "free" education for students who truly can succeed? This would be about 2 cents on the dollar of our total state budget, yes" but aren't our young people worth that 2 cents? Wouldn't this then make Nevada a far more desirable place for significant new businesses and industries?
At the same time, we could reorganize and restructure K-12 to consider a two-track system more generally, along the lines of the German model: Vocational Technical training in the trades; and College Preparation. And we'd also add a third track: Remedial Education, aimed at doing what we can do for the high percentage of drop-outs before they drop out. What would such a system look like? How much would it cost to achieve this? Would this work?
Joe:
I agree that there is entirely too much emphasis on the test part. As usual in this country, we swing from one extreme to another. New York State has offered the regents tests for decades. It can work. If you set a standard, a kid will work to make it.
When you see the average kid leaving school without any ability to construct a sentence or having read nothing but textbooks for 12 years, something is wrong. Limit the use of multiple choice tests and make the kids write their way through it. Start early and keep pounding through each and every grade.
The No Child Left Behind Law is asinine. Does anyone in his right mind really think that the schools will be able to pass 100% of its students? NCLB requires that by the year 2013-2014, schools should pass 100% - that is ALL STUDENTS in K-12! Never mind that we have over 100 languages we deal with everyday, and more coming every year. Never mind that we have crack babies coming to schools. Never mind that we have children having children and do not know what they heck they are doing. Never mind that we have children whose parents are incarcerated and they move from one foster home and from one school to another many times in a school year.
The NCLB only made it possible for those publishing companies who know somebody in the system to get even richer. They tout their "academic programs" as "research-based" like magic salves to cure the school's ailing AYP. And, the schools buy them, spending millions of dollars and pushing it on us teachers. We barely master the old programs when new ones are pushed on us with directives of "fidelity of implementation." Now, we have to gather data every week, and heaven help us if our data do not improve each week. All we do is test, test, test. Adding insult to injury, we were given a token raise and now are taking it back and cutting our salaries to boot. OK! Can we do anything about it? Of course not. We do not have a voice. We have mufflers!
And here is the community's contribution: WE DO NOT WANT TO GIVE YOU ANYTHING BECAUSE YOU ARE OVERPAID AND YOU ARE NOT DOING WHAT YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE DOING! Well, ladies and gentlemen, keep your money. I do not want it, but I am asking you to care about what is going on in society.
The teachers are the least of your problems. We simply do what we are told. Why don't you look at those who are running this Punch-and-Judy show?
Professor Unger:
Good morning. Applying your numbers of $25,000 per year per student to a student body of a hypothetical university would equal $625 million. Thrown in the overhead and infrastructure, you wind up with about $750 million or $30,000 per student per year.
The $400 million is about 2% of the biennium budget of about $20 billion (the general fund is only a portion of this and I assume that you are taking total expenditures). Am I following thus far? This is $200 million per year?
Plugging all of this together, we wind up with $8,000 per student if everyone gets a scholarship. This leaves $22,000 per student.
Where does this come from? Does your proposal supplant state funding or is it in addition to it?
What do you propose Nancy instead of no child left behind?
To Turrialba: sorry for being unclear... $400 million would not take care of ALL students... about 1/3, going for those in need who do qualify and demonstrate potential. This would reduce costs not eliminate them entirey... And it's just an idea expanding on Gov. Guinn's vision.
About costs: your 30K per year is about right, these days -- that is the actual "cost"; and Nevada wouldn't be alone in this cost... New Hampshire has an almost entirely tuition-funded state university at U. of New Hampshire: students pay about $25,000 (last time I checked, it's probably more now). What's happened there is that UNH has become a "second choice" school to the Ivy Leagues, mainly a rich-kids' college -- not much diversity to the student body, and, wow, so many middle-class students and their parents go so deep in hock to pay this (that percentage of middle-class students who attend). It's a good university, but I'd hate to see that model here, and don't think it would benefit at all the hard-working, older students we get at UNLV...
My argument is that the state should pay more, for all the good economic and values reasons we have been discussiong. But don't do it through the NSHE system. Do it by inducements and rewards directly to the most worthy students.
And of course, that brings up how to pay for this. We must do a gut check in this state on taxes, as we're doing now.
Turri:
One more time:
1. Make the family whole again. Let's put our heads together and think about that. I, with a Cheshire cat grin, proposed having children as a privilege - with stiff licensing requirements. That would be akin to Hiel Nancy! So. Let's think of something more practical: Begin parenting classes in middle schools? Require those who get government assistance take parenting classes periodically? Require all parents to take parenting classes before we issue them driver's license?
2. Before we accept applicants to the teaching program, let's look at our requirements first. If you do not have the stomach to be a teacher, you don't qualify. The 'stomach' requires taking insults, feeling like a failure but keeping at it and improving oneself, does not think money is important, work long hours, care about the future, missionary zeal, intelligence, patience, creativity, tenacity, and the like.
3. Principals do their jobs! Leaders need to be leaders! Stress on accountability. Fire those administrators whose teachers are mediocre and did not do anything about it.
Help Turri. You're smart. Instead of us posturing about this and that and money this, money that, let's look at what we have and do something about it. There are thousand of laws, NCLB, is one of them, that were not given much thought before it was adopted. I also believe that money is not the only answer. We need more accountability to add value to what we have.
P.S.: I agree with A Sad Teacher about beginning with the family unit, addressing the deep, underlying social problems that afflict our community, and truly, this is the real reason our schools are failing (and not only here but nationally)...
The problem: the larger economic stresses force even two-parent households to do less than they should to raise their kids -- two parents putting in overtime at low-wage jobs such that (and this is sad, but true) about half of Nevada families don't even have the time to sit down to a meal together more than twice a week, much less monitor homework (or help). My thoughts: more spending (even locally) on community centers, structured activities, tutoring services, big brother and sister programs... But that's in a more ideal world in which citizens recognize the benefits for the whole of paying higher taxes.
Dr. Unger:
I realize what I am proposing is idealistic. However, it does not mean that because it is difficult that we should not do it. We keep doing the same things over and over and expecting a different result. This is insanity (and stupid). MAYBE IT IS TIME WE TRY SOMETHING ELSE.
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
Margaret Mead
US anthropologist (1901 - 1978)
The community really needs to be more involved. Indifference is widespread. Society has become selfish and greed is like cancer that has metastasized. We reward greed. We admire wealth and material things. Our leaders are chin-deep in it. And, we have forgotten what is really important - THE CHILDREN - THE FUTURE.
A Sad Teacher: I agree, I agree, I agree... And I try to do my part (have run high impact, grant-funded literacy programs in high schools, have sat at the table arguing myself hoarse with CCSD curricular folks, have raised funding for various kinds of volunteers...). Problem is: do this long enough, hard enough, and we burn out. There are not enough reinforcements at the volunteer level, and when the private funding for all of the above goes away, the only solution is to push raising taxes (or so it seems to me...)
Nicholas Kristoff has a great column in today's NYTimes: how teachers need to be paid more, not less, to solve a part of our education problem. Great statistics to back up his argument; and fine comparisons with other industrialized nations that are succeeding.
Thank you for your posts, and your good heart --
The CHILDREN have never been the concern. Listen to the screaming out of Wisconsin, IT'S THE MONEY HONEY. You can't even TEACH OUR CHILDREN TO READ--Scandinavian immigrants can do this for a lot less than you're making.
Roseanrose:
Please, please understand the post. PLEASE. Your understanding of the issue is very shallow. YOU CANNOT TEACH A CHILD UNLESS YOU TAKE CARE OF THE CHILD'S MULTIPLE ISSUES FIRST. IT WILL NOT GO IN! Come to my classroom and I will pay you double of what those Scandinavian immigrants you are talking about make. I will give you a child whose mother was using crack all the time she was pregnant with him. Let's see if you can do better than what we are doing. Or easier, the one who does not even speak English. ONE CHILD, not 20, not 30, just one. That is all. Let's see what you can do.
I'm not sure, what the public school system can do for the crack baby, except to offer opportunities outside the normal classroom environment.
As for the non-English speaker, ESL for 2 years and the kid goes into regular class.
There is a limit to the problems the school system can solve. Remember there is the plain old run of the mill average kid. We can't forget him/her.
Nancy, I completely agree with you. It starts at home and that's what we should be focusing on, educating parents on how to parent. If one didn't grow up with parents talking to them, reading to them, counting with them, pointing out things in the world, they don't have a clue that that is what a good parent does. It's so incredibly easy, yet so many don't have a clue.
As for roseanrose, I'll bet she'd run screaming from the task you proposed in two weeks or less.
Sorry Turri:
Yes. I haven't forgotten about them. The what you call run-of-the mill kids make our day. They are what make us think this jobs is worthwhile despite what our ignorant society thinks. The smart ones are like a gust of warm air on a cold winter night. The really difficult and challenging ones are the icing on the cake when we get them to learn!
Honestly? You can't pay me enough to do this job, but I worry about what my own children and what my granchild's future would be like. I want to have a little bit of influence on what that future can be. To me, children are like raindrops. Droplets make a puddle. As each droplet falls, that puddle will become bigger and bigger and will encompass streams, lakes, and rivers and one day will meld into one big push for change. The power of a teacher is in each droplet. That is why I teach.
And, that is why I am sticking my neck out.
Nancy--you have not represented yourself honestly. You are a happy warrior and not a sad teacher.
Turri:
If you worked in schools, you will see what makes a teacher sad - children disenfranchised from the very start with neglect and abuse by parents, by their caretakers, and by society. Children are the poorest segment of our society and the most abused because they are defenseless.
-----------------------
Shannon K:
Here's a high flying five!
-----------------------
To all those who are for children,let us put our heads together and come up with a better plan and stop the clowns from running the show. If you have the resources, please, let's begin. Anyone out there?
Nancy:
No way I could ever be a teacher.
Minden_avenger:
As we must look at EVERYTHING (as you say) during a recession from which may NEVER recover, why don't we look at the billions of dollars in BONUSES paid to Wall Street hacks all the while the taxpayer was forced to cover their losses before picking on education. You may not consider that an educated person is worth much but the fact is that our society has its' priorities backwards in celebrating and paying people who can kick a ball some dozens of yards far more than a dedicated teacher will earn in a lifetime. Think about it.
Dear Prof. Unger:
I am honored by your response to my letter and am grateful for the very logical and necessary posts that you have been making on this forum.
Best regards,
Michael
Turrialba:
Briefly in response to your question about how we can improve education in Nevada:
1. Keep academic advising center open (it will be shut down with the budget cuts). This helps incoming students immensely.
2. Give support and incentives to Nevada's best teachers. Recognize that, in the case of universities, a balance between research, service, and teaching must be emphasized, encouraged, and achieved.
3. Don't cut philosophy - that is the core essence of a true education. Downsize it perhaps but don't cut it out.
4. Encourage scientific literacy amongst our general populace by offering non-mathematically oriented courses for the general public and for our students.
5. Compensate the university for students who are required to take remedial courses.
I could go on and on but I have to go for now. We can discuss this further if you are interested.
Or, a 15-year singing Oh baby, baby, baby a hundred or so times and people buy the records without any qualms, making him earn millions! The same people who HEE HAW about money spent on schools.
I have a doctorate degree and they begrudge me my few thousand salary A YEAR with student loans to pay for as long as I live! Geez.
Micheal:
I agree with the philosophy department.
As for the remedial courses. This is one area of education UNLV should not be in.
Basically, the community college is where this should happen. If I understand some of the number the community college can do it for about one-half the cost of a university. I think the state should require entrance exams to those seeking admission or to matriculate to UNR and UNLV. Those who can't cut it, should look elsewhere to get themselves up to speed.
Less stress today.
I couldn't help but notice points 3 and 4 in Mr. Pravica's comment above. Personally, I would have made them 1 and 2.
From my own experience I will state without hesitation that the three most important courses I have ever taken have been Logic, Philosophy and Public Speaking. I have used what I learned from them every day of my life.
High school students get some exposure to these subjects, but not nearly enough. Even geometry, which is intended to teach critical thinking, is not presented (usually) with that being the goal. I would suggest that rather than require geometry, that a class in formal logic be offered to those students who are frightened by what they consider to be "higher math."
ASADTEACHER: Get a job that you're effective at.
Pravica,
Nevada's tax collection per capita is 24th in the nation. http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxfacts/...
Our education and research spending on higher education per pupil is 15th..
How much more do you want? http://www.deltacostproject.org/analyses...
Turri, Mark, Pravica,
Nevada's K-12 education spending was $9,000 in 2008 http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d10/t... (daily average attendance)
$8,300 in fall enrollment http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d10/t...
both are adjusted to 2009 dollar values. Neither include expenditures for debt repayment or capital costs.
That said, most experts agree the relationship between spending and student achievement grows weaker and weaker every year and in many cases no longer exists...
Fellow Americans:
Following the events in Wisconsin pertaining to education, I noticed a very similar-type organization behind the scenes entitled: "Wisconsin Policy Research Institute" (http://www.wpri.org/) which was very instrumental in aiding the Governor's effort to destroy collective bargaining there. As the Nevada Research and Policy Institute (http://www.npri.org/) has been mentioned quite frequently on this forum, it would appear that both organizations are cut from the same cloth in the national effort to destroy quality education for non "elites." Given the pathetic and desperate efforts that we have read from NPRI "professionals" on this forum and elsewhere, this reminds me of an organization, the "Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine" which was a pseudo-intellectual front to deny global warming (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?tit... ).
With "experts" who don't even understand proper statistics making wild claims about the uselessness of higher education, it appears that Nevada has been infected with similar pseudo-intellectual efforts to ruin this state. All Nevadans should educate themselves on the efforts of these privately-run "think tanks" to rescind their future and freedom.
Pravica,
Has it ever occurred to you that the route to profit includes satisfying the needs of the customer?
Think about this for a moment.
How many types of cars can you buy? How many colors? Engine choices? Seat coverings? Wheels?
The car companies compete for your business by providing what you want and are able to provide cars for a minority of people and a majority of people at the same time.
Government can't do that. At best it can serve the needs of 51 percent and disappoint the rest. Why else do you think these political discussions are so heated?
Gibbons:
Welcome back! I was eagerly awaiting your comments which as usual, I am totally unconvinced by.
http://www.lasvegasvegas.com/content/nev...
http://www.etax2011.com/archive/Lowest%2....
BTW, I'm still waiting for an explanation on how "regression analysis" is used in your "studies."
Funny thing, I've been waiting for you to actually prove your claims....
The Tax Foundation study actually does in fact rank our Tax Collection per capita about 25th 9I cited the liberal Brookings Institution instead of the conservative Tax Foundation).
That said what you're referencing is taxes collected from residents. The Tax Foundation methodology excludes taxes on visitors and businesses.
Since you're referencing low taxes on residents to mean low tax collection (these are two seperate things) I wanted to point out that overall tax collection in Nevada had been quite high.
Gibbons:
Was Bhopal about satisfying the customer? What about high fructose corn syrup? What about E coli-tainted foods (spinach, chicken, beef, etc.) mad cow beef - just as good as non- mad cow beef from a business leader's perspective as long as the customer doesn't know. What about British Petroleum? What about Chinese dry wall and melamine-tainted milk/pet food? What about faux medicines manufactured in China? What about dangerous SUVs which 99% of Americans don't need. Businesses create their markets by, more often than not, creating hype over substance, propaganda over truth about their products. Often, when no one is looking, they will pull the classic "bait and switch" tactics to make their profits at the expense and safety of the public. Upton Sinclair wrote a classic novel entilted, "The Jungle" about these corporate abuses. It is the government that must police these wild "laws of the jungle"/profit-at-all cost entities for the public interest. Who else will?
See here: http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxfacts/...
Both the Urban Institute and Brookings Institution are left-of-center think tanks.
The statistic you're looking for to make your point is not how low the taxes are on residents but how much taxes are collected PER resident (that tells us how much the government actually collects for the people it serves).
Gibbons:
Nevada has no income taxes. We need to get corporations to be more patriotic to their "customers" and the citizens of this great state and contribute their fair share. End of story!
high fructose corny syrup exists because of 1) government subsidies and 2) the U.S. taxes imported raw sugar at 120 percent....
E Coli outbreaks are rare but we had 3 agencies regulating and checking food even before the last outbreak. You guys always want more regulation everytime there is a problem.
We had over 100 financial regulatory bodies by the market crashed in 2008....yup you guys wanted more regulatory powers...
That said for every example you give where there was a problem there are a thousand more companies working hard to satisfy customer needs.
Pravica,
That is silly. First of all, if your end goal is just a corporate tax or more taxes we have a different story all together.
Second, the corporate tax is highly volatile.
Third, corporations are just middlemen for tax collection. They pass taxes off to 1) consumers with higher prices 2) workers with fewer job opportunities or lower wages before they pass them off to 3) shareholders
Corporate taxes, in other words, are just indirect taxes on the people - its the government taking advantage of people who don't know better.
Finally, "fair share" is an entirely meaningless term.
an interesting aside Pravica, several states don't allow collective bargaining for government workers - Wisconsin isn't the first. Second it seems to slow down rapid unsustainable government spending but still doesn't slow it down to the point of making the spending growth sustainable in the long run. That is, ending collective bargaining isn't the end game the left (or right) makes it out to be.
Gibbons:
You are the silly one. I can't debate ignorance and immaturity. You are arguing for the "trickle down" theory of economics which is entirely bogus and never worked but was just a guise for the rich to get richer. Corporations that derive income from Nevada need to pay their fair share - why is that meaningless? Just because you are the "expert" and say so? This is the problem with America. No one - especially not those who can afford to pay for propagandists to trumpet their "cause" - wants to pay their fair share. Globalist corporations are not patriotic to this nation and are expecting the ever-shrinking middle class to cover not only their losses but also expecting ordinary Americans to shoulder the tax burden to pay for ridiculous and expensive wars in the Balkans, Afghanistan, and Iraq while our nation's infrastructure is crumbling.
Pravica, don't call people ignorant and immature if you're going to throw around "trickle down economics" not know what it actually means or even realize I said nothing about trickle down economics. In other words, actually comprehend what I'm saying and debate the points I'm making, not reconstruct my points so you can argue with a straw man.
Gibbons:
Why do the excessively wealthy (many of whom - not all of course - who have garnered/stolen their wealth from the backs of hardworking citizens) have the right to pay for lobbyists and for the election of (i.e. "buying of") politicians in this country but ordinary citizens don't have the right to collectively bargain? I alert you to the following story:
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arch...
The term fair share is meaningless. Who determines what is "fair"? Who gets to define fair?
Why do you think corporations take? Did they put a gun to someone's head? What if the people voluntarily part with the money in exchange for a good or service? That isn't taking.
Government takes. You take. You demand. Should we have you pay the fair share? After all you're a bigger beneficiary of government spending that I am.
I think as a scientist you should appreciate sticking to objective measures not subjective nonsense like "fair share"
Do you think an entity which is attached to another entity which controls a monopoly on violence and for which the customers it serves have no other choice but to pay for the provision of its services have, itself, a monopoly to bargain for additional wages and benefits that said customers have no right to negotiate, no right to know the details, and no right to choose another service provider if the prices get to high?
Its about government collective bargaining not private sector collective bargaining. Government workers shouldn't have collective bargaining rights because of the unfair advantages it gives government workers over the citizens who by law (and by force) must pay without equal representation in the negotiations).
Gibbons:
You are throwing around the immature and silly words. I am just responding to them in kind. You honestly don't debate very well. You like to criticize and insult anyone who doesn't share your point of view but don't enjoy it when you are criticized - that is immature. If you want to dish it out, you had better be prepared to take it.
That said, I'm not necessarily a fan of collective bargaining but I am totally against the corporate control that is exerted in Washington and elsewhere via lobbyists and political contributions. That has to change for our nation's future success. This is a democracy - not a corporate oligarchy. Our best, most productive, and most patriotic citizens are not necessarily the wealthiest. In the past and today, corporations abused their employees that forced strikes, and the formation of unions to combat the "profit-at-all-costs" mentality that destroyed many lives. The problem with our society is that there is no balance between the rights of individuals (the pursuit of happiness and freedom) and the power of corporations as the checks and balances are falling like dominoes and this is beginning to cause class warfare. Every true, compassionate, and good-hearted American understands the meaning of "fair" - it is ingrained in us by our Creator or by our evolution - however you wish to view it. I feel sorry for you that you don't seem to understand this. When a corporation understands that it is in the best interest of its' customers and employees to have them educated, they will contribute their fair share of taxes without complaints and without trying to buy off local "elected" officials to alter the tax laws to skirt their responsibility to the communities they serve and profit from.
Gibbons:
Yes, I am a scientist and understand and routinely visit the objective, cold cruel world of Nature via my experiments where Her secrets are not given up willingly. However, I am not a robot. I am a human being who cares about my fellow human beings, is fascinated by the Universe in all its' glory, and realize that without education, we go back to the Dark Ages where witches, dragons, and the Bubonic Plague routinely persecuted and visited our ancestors and to the status of a desperate and impoverished Third World nation with a very small number of fabulously wealthy "elites" and the vast majority of impoverished plebians. I realize that education is freedom and ignorance is slavery. Yet it seems that 1984, where the opposite would pass as "Newspeak," is creeping up on us in 2011. I want my students to be free thinkers and to ask questions and challenge "conventional" wisdom. It is these questions that will drive the next generation of discoveries that you or I are unable to predict. Better to be a little bit "subjective" and compassionate than to be overly "objective" and fascist.
Bravo, Michael Pravica. Well said on all fronts.
I spoke too soon. Sorry everyone.
Patrick--I have told you repeatedly not to send emails to me. Period.
Say it on this site or not at all.
Drs. Pravica, Unger, Lamy, Turrialba, et al.
Please do not even respond to immature and silly comments. It is a waste of space. We need to use this forum to find solutions to the problems at hand. It is hard to duel with someone who does not have the same weapons as you have. Let us just ignore him. We really cannot change anyone's thinking when his frame of references are on the other side of the spectrum. It's futile.
Patrick you have zero credibility on education issues.
Go away and leave us good citizens alone so we can have a grown up discussion about these issues.
If parents must do the teaching WHY ARE WE PAYING "TEACHERS" SO MUCH? WHY ARE WE PAYING THEM AT ALL? End over-funding of K-12. CSR is bankrupting this state. MEDICAID to illegals is bankrupting the nation.
roseanrose: You seriously think that parents aren't responsible for teaching their children anything? You don't think that parents are a child's first teachers and continue in that role until the children are of age? Wow. If that's the prevailing attitude among people, no wonder teachers are fighting an uphill battle.
Gibby has shown the world his inability to carry on polite discourse with his constant insistence on having THE truth.
Poor thing likely was mistreated and abused so bad that he continues to carry such abysmally destitute regard for interactive discourse.
This kind of person is the antithesis of what teachers do. It's easy to understand how his experience in the classroom as a teacher was quite limited and likely quite abusive of the kids he was there to parent.
Parenting by Intimidation, How to Mash the Little Ones Around with Authority, Unilateral Superiority and Discord, by the Gibby
Thank you Professor Pravica for knocking down Patrick's propaganda. I say this as a completely non religious person but amen to telling Patrick to go away Turrialba. Do you think there is a strong correlation between what we as a society spend on education and how well we all do?
On a positive note, it's always fun to see how others view this monster of a responsibility, education - leading the little people out of the cave.
I have enjoyed the perspective and tried like a banshee to proffer my input so that somebody could benefit from my decades in teaching, training and exploring life. Yes, I get carried away by the intensity of emotional involvement at times as when in my earlier post (as I read over it with hindsight), it approached a sermon-like tone.
The one recurrent theme to most of my comments is the success of individualized instruction to reveal to learners how they learn, what their strengths are and where their powers might lie.
Discovering strengths from social and work-related experiences seems to be a lacking exercise in the regular curriculum. Adjusting the k-12 to accommodate work-related tasks and opportunities would benefit everyone: the non-scholar with aptitudes in the field, the scholar whose success is hampered by the intrusion of the non-scholar's frustrating outbursts and behavior issues, and the teacher who could direct lessons at the learners there to benefit from them.
As usual, many of the liberals here have resorted to name calling and insults. I don't see a single post in which Gibbons has done anything other then offer his opinion, yet he's been insulted, called immature and worse by multiple liberal posters.
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My solution is far more simple.
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Eliminate the federal withholding deductions for dependant children. This would massively raise the revenue collected by the government, allowing for more educational spending.
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Perhaps people would think twice before spawning five or six children they can't afford to raise, it would ensure the people having children would stop getting a huge discount on educating their children, although those without children still get the short end of the tax stick.
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Easy solution.
No Child Left INSIDE is a placed-based education coalition of educators who want kids to get a grip on their world by touching it, playing in it and getting dirty from it.
As such, it involves them in activities designed to integrate curricular standards with outdoor activities in their realms. Kids in Maryland learn about oysters and lobsters, water quality, run-off etc. kids in Nevada meet coyotes, mice, hawks, salty sand and sagebrush. Oregon kids learn of Salmon, rivers and tall trees.
Everywhere they get involved and integrated into how their community prospers from recognition of the resources and surroundings.
It incorporates where classroom classes alone isolate. Kids like doing things; teachers see kids grow from a variety of surroundings and different approaches to broader topics. It's their world, and until they know its wonders, they are xbox kids, cell-phone-users and TV things. Give 'em a break OUTSIDE their box!
Anyone who attacks an individual rather than their reasoning is not worth reading. Just means the attackers have little to work with as far as logic.
Teachers and "educators" who are UNABLE TO PERFORM do not warrant funding.
@anchorbine
LOL. This conservative is also tired of reading the nonsensical gibbo rants day after day. No doubt you will receive an email rant from the Gibbons.
roseanrose: Where have you shown any reasoning on this thread?
roeanrose appears to be another ranter, raving and raging against the future, ala Gibby - sans rational, thoughtful discourse, but rim-full of disgust with teachers trying to deal with what parents did not do - raise their kids.
There's no way to sugarcoat the truth on her posts - not a scintilla of reason, just a moaning series of contempt, animosity and anti-future blabbing.
Volunteering would help her see what is actually going down in the classrooms; but then without a rational mind to appreciate the effort, it's quite likely that even exposure would not bring closure. The flapping trap would blab on and on - "STOP helping them learn, save the MONEY, FORGET school..."
I actually had someone on another forum tell me that since teachers have kids for most of their waking hours from age 5 on up that it's obviously the teachers' fault. I calculated how many hours I had students per week and it equaled 15% of the week. Compare that to the 43% or so the parents have their kids and I'm not sure why anyone in their right mind would think that parents don't have any influence on their children's education.
Dear Fellow Americans:
I have clearly hit a "nerve" with NPRI extremists and like-minded anti-intellectual/anti-education individuals as the propaganda battle against my viewpoints has gone beyond this forum. To demonstrate the techniques of these individuals who must "get their way" at all costs, there is some extremist blogger "Chuck Muth" who as Mr. Gibbons did, published some vicious attacks on me in his blog. In the blog post, titled: "Prof. 'Pravda' Pravica Strikes Again," in response to my letter, he racistly mocks my last name intimating that I am a Communist instead of a true American patriot who cares about my fellow Americans - this is clearly unAmerican. He calls me a "ignoramus" and anyone who agrees with me "an ignoramus squared." For one who condemned me for "hyperbole" earlier in response to my Review Journal letter two Sunday's ago, Muth is a hypocrite! Chuck Muth mentions my alleged salary which is way off base. Nine months of my salary derives from the State of Nevada-the rest came from Department of Defense and Department of Energy Federal grants. Physics is extremely critical to much of our national security, wellbeing, and economy (not that scientifically-illiterate people such as Mr. Gibbons and Mr. Muth would know) and our high pressure center is world-reknown so much so that Los Alamos donated over 2 million dollars of equipment to my lab. Though I don't make as much as a Los Alamos scientist, nevertheless, my research is considered important as well as my training of students for future careers in these facilities. But for propagandists such as Muth, we'll absorb that extra income (as well as per diem reimbursement for expenses derived from my many business trips) and any benefits and pretend that it all comes from Nevada!
This morning, I received a weird message from someone posting on Gibbons' facebook page decrying my salary illustrating yet again that when they can't win the argument with facts, the extremists such as Mr. Gibbons must resort to more vicious, barbaric and libelous means. But, far from being intimidated, I'm ready for more! Truth will always ultimately be victorious over lies and propaganda and this issue is far too critical to ignore.
The lessons learned are clear: When the extremists can't get what they want and just don't know how to debate you, they try to scare those who demolish their ridiculous and immature arguments and publicly attack them just as was done during the McCarthy era. Call them "ignoramus's" even if they have a Ph.D. in physics from Harvard. Who needs Ph.D.'s? Insult those who don't agree with them and intimidate true debate to prevent the coalescence of shared points of view (divide and conquer). And of course, do everything behind their back similarly to what the communists and the Nazis did so well. Folks, this happened in Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia and we should never tolerate this behavior in this country lest we lose it to creeping totalitarianism.
Dr. Michael Pravica,
Don't let the bastards get you down, bro. Sure they'll squeal and rant - that's their only line of defense against the onslaught of accurate information portraying their picayune point-of-view as what it is - an anti-education stance that undermines our better values and seeks to empty our brains of rationality.
I have enjoyed your input, and I respect your efforts at bringing this place to a higher plane, beyond subsidized stupidity that the NPRI crowd would demote us to. Rest assured that I am not alone in this sentiment.
Their cowardly 'Joe McCarthy' approach is what it is - a clear statement of disregard for honesty in dealing with issues that impact all of us for generations to come. It's a sad commentary on how far the money will go to maintain their grip on the ignorant.
Joe Lamy
Professor Pravica:
Don't let the dirt get you down by their name calling.
T.
Maybe we should modify our educational system to accommodate the "Khan Academy" model? The Department of Education might not like it because it actually works. The teachers may like it because it would make their jobs easier and they could handle more students in each class. It's the way of the future. Nevada parents and private industry should get a head start now instead of waiting for the Government to do something. So far they have only succeeded in "dumbing" us down. Kids can't even count change these days.
Muth and Gibbons won't tell you their salaries -- nor who pays them. Neither will they tell you who fronts expenses for their right-wing screeds: the neo-fascistic "think tanks" and "PAC"s that do the bidding of big business interests at the expense of the ordinary citizen (and taxpayer).
Dr. Pravica: still, all you have to do to answer these dangerous idiots is to quote their ideology right back at them -- i.e.: it's a "free market" and it pays what the market bears.
Also: that you bring in five times your Nevada state salary in grants that are of direct benefit to the university and its students, and to the knowledge base in your field.
So many of us do: they tried this tactic on me as well -- an old R-J gimmick to gin up ignorant public opinion against education by quoting salaries. Then so often, they cite the wrong amount as they portray qualified, top-ranked professors as drags on the state budget.
Though Humanities cannot compete with the Sciences for grants, for 2001-2006, count three of us working for the old IIML who brought in 700K per year in private donations and 80K in grants; now the Black Mountain Institute that has partnered with the program I co-founded (and the old IIML) continues to bring in aproximately 500K per year due to Dr. Harter's fund-raising talents and very dedicated work.
Few understand this, and the Gibbons' and Muths' of the world will never admit the truth: that a good professor works not only for the classroom and the lab but contributes multiple times his or her state salary for the prestige and financial well-being of the university and for the citizens of our state.
Keep going, Dr. Pravica. You are a voice of clarity and reason during this difficult debate!
Professors Unger and Pravica:
We still have fiscal constraints of today and the long-term cost issues. Higher education still faces the issue of cost containment. This is certainly a long-term issue. If UNLV were provided $47.5 million for next biennium wouldn't it be back for more in 2013 and probably more than cost increases observed in the general economy?
We are here in Nevada in 2011. More money will not forthcoming in the near term given the current economy and the culture of this state. This is the here and now.
Given the existing constraints coupled with the modest at best prospects for long-term growth, doesn't something have give?
Michael Pravica, well said and nicely written.
As to speaking with the liberal minions about logic, good luck, you'd have a much more intellectual conversation speaking to a nail in the wall than attempting to effectively communicate anything logical or substantive with the liberal mindless minions who post here. You're wasting valuable time trying to educate a mindless liberal troll who can't comprehend the simplest task in life; we call this thinking with your own brain and not relying on other peoples thoughts to makes up one's own mind.
The fiscal constraints can be solved -- what it takes is changing what you call "the culture of our state." The "no new taxes" mantra must also butt up aginst the reality: the Nonpartisan Tax Foundation has found that every year for the past three decades Nevada ranks among the lowest combined state-and-local tax rates in the nation (ranging from 47-49). According to "The Sun", a majority of our fellow citizens would rather see a tax increase than the complete decimation of education and state services.
The solution: don't "sunset" the 2009 fix; and either add a 1% tax to services, or raise the "fix" -- this could provide 80% of the budget deficit "hole". This would be far better than the immoral choices: leaving hundreds of vulnerable children at risk because of cuts in family services; leaving mentally ill people out raving in our streets because of cuts in mental health services; and decimating what took a generation to build at UNR and UNLV.
As for costs: in higher education, our universities can contain them; already, costs have been cut radically. Give higher education the last biennium's budget, cut the salaries 5% as planned, and let's not raise tuition on our students.
Turrialba referred to the 'culture of this state' and it erupted in laughter in my heart.
Culture is rooted (!) in agriculture sort of stuff, growing a civilization, developing refinements and engendering prosperity.
Nevada, by its current scheme of orientation, is the antithesis of culture; it demeans, reduces and diminishes life. The kids learn little, the folks don't seem to care and the money flows to the top where it feeds this whole operation in dehumanizing.
Culture defines the best we could be; Nevada, the worst. It's about hording other people's money, not development, not passing on the cream, not establishing civilized respect for manifest humanity.
Professors a couple of observtions:
First, I am not surprised by Professor Unger and Professor Pravica's comments. They wouldn't be worth a damn if they were not advocating their cause. Cuts would be easy if this were the case. Instead we have some very hard choices. Choices are good.
Second, Professor Unger notes the 5% salary reductions under consideration at the UNLV. This is certainly help on the costs side. Can these be sustained over time?
The answer is propably not. The costs higher education have exceeded those in the general economy for almost every year over the past 50 years (there are a few notable exceptions during the mid-1970s). This is a systemic problem. The solutions described above don't drive at the core of the long-term problem.
http://www.commonfund.org/CommonfundInst...
Third, it lead to the question of if costs have increased at a pace which exceeds consumer prices, have the benefits also increased at a similar pace? Do the marginal benefits of higher education (however you account for them) exceed the marginal costs of education? Does each dollar added to the budget bring something equal to the one dollar back to society? This is a very subjective problem.
Fourth, do any of the above apply to Nevada? If we don't value something, does it mean it doesn't have value. Joe maybe alluding to this in his comment immediately above.
Fifth, the problems discussed above relate to a fundamental question of how we organize our society. Plato was concerned with this question in the 5th century BC Athens during a period of crisis. It is still relevant today, even for those of us who only see the shadows in the metaphoric cave. We still can try.
Yes airweave is onto something again. The "educator" "united" front will immediately ignore, scream and shout and "discredit" the Kahn academy that shows TEACHING STUDENTS CAN BE DONE at minimal expense and STUDENTS LEARN WHEN TAUGHT.
Quit making stuff up, roseanrose.
Kahn stresses science. No problem with that. But all videos. No interaction w/ a human being... great for whiz kids, but for the moiety?? BORING!
I saw zero History, Social Studies, Literature, Composition, Logic, Philosophy, Creative Writing, Music, Song-writing, Poetry, Art, Drawing, Oils, Clothing Design, Fashion, Architecture - you know rosie, the stuff of life in arts.
Science is great, but Kahn is good at 20% of the curricular needs for 20% of the kiddos.
And for the moiety??
Costs: I know what it's like to cut costs. As Chair of English during the first rounds of state cuts 2007-2009, I cut the budget of the largest department on the UNLV campus from 5.5 million to 4.75 million: 4 lay-offs of non-tenured Faculty-in-Residence (real cost: 32 classes per year); 2 retirement or transfer positions left un-replaced (real cost: partial integrity of one degree track and sacrifice of one sub-field of literature taught for decades now no longer taught); 8 Part-Time Instructors (real cost: 24 classes per year); reduced paper costs (copy machine) from 60k to 40k by going digital as much as possible (real cost: less effective communications); and other costs -- travel, phone, the little extras that improve morale like modest holiday celebrations at lunch for the staff; all cut, cut, cut" When faced with a department repair estimated to cost 10K in that aging, badly designed building (re-writing, partial wall re-construction, asbestos abatement, a nightmare)" well, let's just say an angel magically appeared in the middle of the night and drilled a hole in the wall, strung $30 worth of patch cable, and the problem got "fixed" (in violation of codes)" Still, what else to do for a broke department? Plus, out of my own pocket, as there was no longer any budget for it, I personally paid the dinner checks for prestigious visiting writers and scholars so selected students and faculty could benefit from this up-close time with them (a custom in our field, great for the students, and a first-rate university cannot just invite a Pulitzer Prize winner or a Nobel Laureate and say "dinner on your own""): my personal out-of-pocket expenses for just for this topped 5K per year. By the end of 2009: class schedule so streamlined at 90% capacity (achieving 100% is impossible) that some students (a few) could not register required courses( also a "cost"); graduate student offices still like a slum, not accessible to a fine, worthy student in a wheelchair (also a "cost";) and, far worse: a sense that any vision of building for better quality, continually improving for the future, has been lost to Nevada's "no new taxes" parsimony. And educators don't do what we do for the money, we do it for the gratification of contributing to humanity and the world, of building something of value that lasts beyond our own lives, and, more basically, the satisfaction of being a positive influence on the lives of our students, of passing on our knowledge and what we know about acquiring knowledge to them, as a legacy.
Costs? We've already cut costs. But the real "costs" cannot be measured in dollars and cents. The true costs of what we have already sacrificed can't be measured. And, personally, I'd rather go take a job as a deckhand on a fishing boat (as I used to do) than ever have to cut a cost again.
Why doesn't Professor Michael pitch his research is important game to businesses better financially positioned in promoting, funding and utilizing any resulting benefits instead of furthering the promotion of government oppression and victimization of a society under the diamond anvil of legislative theft?
We can not solve today's problems with the same level of thinking which created them. -- Einstein
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Professor Unger:
This is why the high education system must be rebuilt from the ground up. The model now in place is unraveling. The state needs to pick certain areas and concentrate resources in those areas to insure that these areas are the best they can be. This means fewer programs and students.
It isn't going to be pretty, but the higher education has to work within its means. If the $47.5 million is restored, what next?
I count myself one lucky dog for having one fine graduate student teach my Honors English Composition back at the U in the 60s. Joe Dougherty gave me faith, inspired us all and led many of to write like it mattered - not to be great writers but to get it out the way it was.
And then another full Professor using Writing to Be Read and Telling Writing by Ken MacRorie further fired me up to pass on the Writening Like Lightning to kids to feel their powers.
And then Daniel Pink's book, Drive, The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us was like a another bolt of truth that spurred me to do what I love, Energy stuff that involves some communications with gobs of folks in positions of power.
Were it not for the likes of these guys and the Douglas Ungers and Michael Pravicas in this place, we'd be fighting over coyote bones and goring oxen for spite.
Joe:
You nailed it on the head. Education should be affordable and accessible. The cost problem is pricing everyone out, the student, the taxpayer, and this is not good.
This is everyone's problem. The model needs fixing.
Hi Joe,
We are in essence fighting over coyote bones in terms of funding and taxation. Meanwhile the 400 wealthiest individuals laugh at all the poor and middle class people who vote for conservatives:
http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/stat...
To Professor Unger, Joe, Tim, and Turrialba:
Thank you for your positive comments. Sorry for the delayed response. Unlike Chuck Muth and Patrick R. Gibbons, I have a real job that I love very much and with which I was quite occupied this past week and unable to respond until now. Writing a research paper on aluminum nitride, collaborating with a philosophy professor on another research paper, and performing infrared synchrotron experiments on Long Island were merely a small portion of my "to do" list this past week. Though Mr. Muth thinks that writing in support of education and in support of improving Nevada is extracurricular and self-serving, in fact, I am expected to serve my community by communicating science and the joys as well as benefits of intellectual scholarship. It's part of my job description: community service. In the University and in communities that support and respect scholars, we are viewed as local leaders. Experts to turn to when needing advice (e.g. on the BP Gulf oil spill) and individuals who *profess* their knowledge and expertise to the larger community (from which they derive support) in the philosophy that an educated and informed populace makes a better society and democracy.