What’s The Opposite Of Diversity?

9 Replies to “What’s The Opposite Of Diversity?”

1. Politics coming to a classroom near you.

2. “As the graph below shows, in the 15 years between 1995 and 2010 the academy went from leaning left to being almost entirely on the left. (The 12% in the red line for 2014 is mostly made up of professors in schools of engineering and other professional schools; the percent conservative for the major humanities and social science departments is closer to 5%).”
   Like I’ve said before, the best solution might be a salvage operation. Save the Best (STEM) and forget the rest. Replace in-person profs with higher quality online profs. As much as I admire think tanks like The Heterodox Academy acknowledging and seeking solutions to the problems of orthodoxy and conformity in universities, I don’t think they really have a snowballs chance of having any impact.
   Parents and students understanding those problems plus the outrageous costs and deciding to turn to education alternatives are more likely to produce change. Then there’s the return on investment. The reported stats are great – university grads make x% more than high school grads- but, like most stats, there’s a lot more there. The stats are skewed by the applied science and math (accountants, etc.). My pet peeve is that they never compare university grads (STEM and non-STEM) to skilled trades, science/eng techs and computer techs. All the guys I knew easily made $100,000 or more if they work overtime. Finally, the non-STEM graduates are not only becoming a dime a dozen but, like manufacturing, are increasingly under pressure from technology and out-sourcing. Only well-connected grads will get the good careers. The rest will just have 4 years of student debt that can’t be paid off.
   Personally, I won’t be recommending university to my kids. Instead, I’ll suggest a polythechnical school leading to careers that are skilled and require a human presence and/or on-location repairs or maintenance. Better money, more flexibility and somewhat better job security. I’m betting that’s were the good jobs will be once the boomers are retired.

3. “Humans are a blank slate, and “human nature” does not exist.”
   That is the most serious misunderstanding the left has … it will be their undoing. Human nature is constant and it has needs and desires that will not go away.
   Repress the people at your peril.
   Human nature always triumphs good or bad. Just as nature itself will see that ‘the climate will balance itself’

4. Yup. That is certainly in accord with my own observations. Actually, natural science faculty are probably almost as left-wing as the “humanities” people, but do think there is a physical reality. They also tend to believe that it is wrong to indoctrinate students. This varies – physical oceanographers are more flakey than most.
   The humanities are not in themselves without value – in my father’s day, in the RCAF, if you wanted to be a fighter pilot it was a good idea to have a solid Arts degree (test pilots would do Engineering, naturally). My second cousin made a career in marketing with an Hons. BA in history. The Humanities, properly taught and carefully studied, do teach about human psychology, human history, and the STEM subjects don’t (and don’t talk about academic psychology or sociology – the former properly pursued turns into neurophysiology; the latter was a real subject in the hands of German academics but is just treif in North America). However, the Humanities are worse than useless in present-day universities. Aaron Clarey is correct – normal intelligent human beings should avoid a university miseducation.

5. “Humans are a blank slate, and “human nature” does not exist.”
   Yet somehow miraculously, this does not apply to homosexuality.

6. this posting was up last nite for a brief time and then disappeared along with my comment.
   mysteries of the universe.
   the bigger mystery is why edjukashun in Canuckistan is so fcuked up.
   not once have the ‘authorities’ to my knowledge, EVER come close to covering real life skills like negotiating tips for major purchases.
   ie, whut, WHUT is your ‘ace up the sleeve’ the first time you purchase a house?
   all else the same, it’s this: NO NEED TO DISPOSE OF AN EXISTING HOME. YOU ARE EXTREMELY LIKELY TO BE IN THE POSITION TO CLOSE. it adds immensely to your bargaining position and therefore the asking price must reflect that. apologies for shouting but it has ALWAYS pyssed me off one must learn this stuff by getting ‘thrown in the deep end’.
   so *&$$&$^#&!@ much of the curricula is FILLER. boring beyond endurance for some like me who catch on quick and thirst for discovery and enlightenment.
   ah jeeze! captcha ‘HARPER ROAD’ !!! lol !!!

7. “That is the most serious misunderstanding the left has … it will be their undoing. Human nature is constant and it has needs and desires that will not go away.”
   Well said ! We carry the DNA of “all” our ancestors….An accurate memory map may explain why simple folks can answer complex questions and some have extraordinary talents. It just could be that the tree of Knowledge is embedded in everyone, but most don’t know how to find the answer. It has been my experience that knowledge is not distributed by conventional means. Magic

8. My own brother, who was only 2 years older than me, was not interested in college. Instead, he learned (from a friend) how to be an auto mechanic. He was a voracious “learner” who read extensively from technical manuals, and took many classes and seminars on mechanics. He learned the details of electrical systems, hydraulics, and every ever-increasingly complex automotive system. He didn’t need a “college” or even a “technical school” to learn these skills. He was a far better “student” than any of my contemporary college classmates. It always makes me LAUGH, when American leftists disparage those who don’t have a college “degree”. My brother was far smarter than any of them. My brother was always very well paid and was in high demand in our local area. He bought a house (in the very expensive SF Bay Area) far earlier than I did … and was financially independent from the age of 18. American “colleges” have become a JOKE. Turning out marginally-educated (read: brainwashed) “graduates”, who are suited for nothing more than a government job shuffling paper and imposing dogmatic bureaucracy.

9. College graduates are well credentialed but typically about as educated as cold p**s.
   A very good example of a person who is well educated but not (by Yank standards) well credentialed is – Mark Steyn.