tag:www.splicetoday.com,2005:/rss/departments/on-campusSPLICETODAY.com2024-03-13T22:16:19Ztag:www.splicetoday.com,2005:Post/333102024-03-14T06:29:00-04:002024-03-13T18:16:19-04:00No Teacher’s Pet<p>As America’s public education system continues to plummet into the land of sick jokes—when will AFT president Randi Weingarten get sacked?—I’ve noticed a lot of old-timers and Gen X social media stalwarts letting the country know what teacher “changed my life.” I suppose for a tiny minority of people that’s true, but generally it’s almost as ridiculous as people (probably the same) claiming that an album or book made them what they are (or aren’t) today. Nineteen years ago, I read a column in a lefty weekly by a self-righteous know-it-all (understated)—who, still bitching about the 2000 election, usually closed his stream-of-nonsense blog posts with “Thanks, Ralph”—saying that as a 15-year-old Bruce Springsteen “changed my life” with his release of <i>Born to Run</i>. Weird, undoubtedly, and if the guy wasn’t such a dick I would’ve, momentarily, felt bad if that were true. I have a number of favorite LPs, with <i>Highway 61 Revisited</i>, at least today, on top of the heap, but none “changed my life.”</p>
<p>Nor did any teacher in the Huntington, New York public schools I attended. Looking back, I’d say the best educator—and, believe it or not, there were dedicated men and women who really were “educators”—I encountered was a straight-laced Irishman named Jerome McGillicuddy, a tall, ruddy-faced Catholic man who taught my 11<sup>th</sup> grade AP English class. He was tough but fair, and made no apologies for the heavy load of homework every week. I had no bone to pick there—many teachers tried to be friends with their pupils and went easy on grading and number of tests—since I read a lot on my own (some authors classicist McGillicuddy scoffed at, such as Tom Wolfe and Joan Didion), but we got along well.</p>
<p>What’s memorable about “Jerry” was the pre-collegiate curriculum he embraced, including a second-semester term paper that would count for half the grade. Like my buddies in that class, initially I was daunted by the task—my first in high school—but then dove in, selecting Dylan Thomas’ still-marvelous <i>Under Milk Wood</i> as my topic. There was no assignment I took more seriously: it meant repeated trips to the local library, checking out books on Thomas (in short supply) and straining my eyes at the micro-fiche contemporary reviews of the play that was published in 1954, a year after the acclaimed writer died at 39.</p>
<p>One advantage I had over most of my classmates was that I could type, and for three days, after a lot of organization, with notes, newspaper clippings and books spread out on the floor, I banged out copies of the essay on an old Royal at the dining room table, using white-out and carbon paper, and was finally satisfied with the 10 pages I turned in. I’m not sure if it was deserved, but Mr. McGillicuddy gave me an A, and took five minutes for a private conversation, in which he expressed his pleasure that I’d worked hard on the subject, and suggested I major in English at college. My self-confidence was high, perhaps obnoxiously so, but his encouragement put a spring in my step. Nonetheless, it didn’t “change my life.” That I remember his name 53 years later isn’t insignificant, but then again—talk about a cluttered mind—I could rattle off the names of 90 percent of my teachers from kindergarten to 12<sup>th</sup> grade.</p>
<p>However, unlike my son Nicky, whose pre-five-years-old memory is flabbergasting, my own recollections of life before school started are gauzy at best. Two exceptions: as a toddler my dad plucked me out of a threatening wave at Jones Beach, something I dreamed about often as kid (and for some reason Jesus Christ is present, giving me water from a pouch, which makes no sense). And I have a blurry vision of eating birthday cake and opening a Donald Duck present when I turned three.</p>
<p>The accompanying photo on a winter day (I’m on the left) at the porch of our house is a mystery. I recognize Kenny and Laurie McGuire, but not the kid at top, but why it was recorded for posterity is anyone’s guess; it must’ve been snapped by one of my brothers or mom, since my dad would’ve been working. I’ve no idea whether my companions on that day are still alive or what became of them. Truthfully, I don’t really care one way or the other, for they didn’t “change my life,” even though, unconsciously, there was no doubt I was born to pick winners and losers, get lost in the rain, and mix Texas Medicine and railroad gin.</p>
<p>Take a look at the clues to figure out the year: Lee Petty wins the first Daytona 500; <i>A Raisin in the Sun</i> opens on Broadway; the first two American soldiers are killed in Vietnam; Howard Hawks releases his masterpiece <em>Rio Bravo</em>; Miles Davis’ <i>Kind of Blue</i> is released; <i>The Wizard of Oz</i> is shown on TV for the second time, and becomes an annual CBS tradition; the Pan American Games are held in Chicago; Matthew Modine is born and Errol Flynn dies; John Knowles’ <i>A Separate Peace</i> and Philip Roth’s <i>Goodbye, Columbus</i> are published; Billy Wilder works with Marilyn Monroe for the last time in <em>Some Like It Hot</em>; Barclays is the first bank to install a computer; Margaret Thatcher becomes a Member of Parliament; Lloyd Price’s “Stagger Lee” is fourth most popular song; and Berry Gordy Jr. founds Tamla Records in Detroit.</p>
<p><i>—Follow Russ Smith on Twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/mugger2023">@MUGGER2023</a></i></p>
Russ Smithtag:www.splicetoday.com,2005:Post/331812024-02-22T06:27:00-05:002024-02-22T01:37:10-05:00School's Out<p>In<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/414999.Childhood_s_End"> <i>Childhood’s End</i>,</a> Arthur Clarke writes of a future earth where human beings experience dramatic increases in intelligence. Life evolved while earth was moving through a cone of radiation that beams out from the center of the galaxy, which depresses mental functioning. Children born after earth’s emergence from the damping radiation are practically a new species, with psychic powers and a collective mind. A race of aliens—who evolved outside of the harmful radiation—arrive to observe the changes, and help the children join a universe-wide collective mind that’s kind of a deity.</p>
<p>Recently friends have complained to me about children in D.C., whose evolution is going in a different direction. One couple showed me their home in the gated community of Hillandale in the northern end of Georgetown, where attached houses begin at just under $2 million. They’re leaving D.C., tired of shopping in Georgetown where the CVS drugstores are stripped bare by shoplifters and you must ask an employee to bring out items you’d like to buy. They’re tired of shopping at the Safeway grocery chain where feral kids wander about shoplifting and the store has increased the number of security guards. They’re tired of a car that sells illegal drugs to people who work at Georgetown’s Medical Center. They’re tired of homeless people and beggars. These people aren’t complaining about Anacostia, or Ivy City, or some downtrodden or recently gentrifying neighborhood, the ones you hear about in the news. They’re complaining about Georgetown.</p>
<p>Since the Covid lockdowns I rarely shop in DC, though I live there. I go to northern Virginia every day, where restaurants stayed open later during lockdowns and re-opened earlier than in DC. Briefly I rented an apartment there, even though I own a co-op in DC. I moved my real estate licenses (DC, VA, and MD) to a Virginia office. I started teaching in Virginia schools. So in D.C. I only sleep, visit friends, or show property. Even my car is garaged in Virginia—I take the subway to get to it.</p>
<p>But the situation isn’t completely different. In one class (I push into a number of classes to teach remedial literacy to the students with the worst assessments in these areas) a kid begins to admit to others asking that he’s “banned” from Target. He’s walked off with $500 worth of merchandise (“I borrow”) and when it hits $900 his Virginia county will prosecute.</p>
<p>The students—I suspect half from Latin immigrant families, the rest a diverse collection of every other ethnic group—do everything wrong. In many rooms of 20-24 students, two will sleep through an entire class. Several others will go to the bathroom and miss most of the class. Several will forget their laptop or the charger for it (I then take them to the library to do their work on library desktops—but all classes don’t have a spare person like me). One girl will spend the entire class applying makeup, and one or two others will watch fashion videos. Several boys will play video games. Half a dozen will pass snacks back and forth and have inane conversations. Asked to work on the assignment presented produces responses of how they’ll do it in a minute or at home. Absenteeism is rampant, especially among the children doing badly.</p>
<p>The works that Virginia Common Core and Standards of Learning demand be covered—<i>Julius Caesar, Romeo and Juliet, The Odyssey</i>—may be beyond these students. Many of the students are like Penelope in the <i>Odyssey</i>, weaving a burial shroud for her husband Odysseus by day, unraveling it at night, and telling her house full of ravenous suitors that she can’t pick one of them until she finishes the shroud. These students are almost as clever in finding ways not to learn.</p>
<p>Perhaps one solution would giving them what they want: no school. Why not legalize child labor, down to a certain age (12? 14?) at least for illegal immigrants or their children? Why not end mandatory public schooling at least for illegal immigrants and their children? Let them go to work. For a year, or two, or four. And then see if perhaps they’d like to try education, at least a G.E.D. or a “career center” plan of vocational instruction.</p>
<p>Currently these teens are a waste of space, money and resources. They disrupt the school. They set bad examples for better students. They drag things down. They depress teachers. Let them go. Let childhood end.</p>
Bruce Majorstag:www.splicetoday.com,2005:Post/325912023-10-16T06:29:00-04:002023-10-16T00:34:54-04:00Watch Those Fingers<p>I don’t care for lectures from affluent “I’ll be an expert for a day” commentators who approach subjects that’re minimally interesting to them. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/12/opinion/school-manual-labor-shop.html">Last week <i>The</i> <i>New York</i> <i>Times</i>’ Pamela Paul</a>—perhaps after a lunch with colleague David Brooks, who’s the gold standard for condescending, full-of-shit 800-word exercises in making himself feel helpful and jolly; Brooks is easy pickings for waterboarding, but as long as the <i>Times</i> persists in employing him, he’s fair game—published an “Opinion Column” aimed at parents and kids who attend middle and high schools, suggesting that the return of home economics, woodworking and “automotive arts” classes might break the apparent lethargy caused by reading, writing and trigonometry. This is an observation, as my children are long past secondary school, but it’s pertinent to any curious American wondering what sort of education tomorrow’s ruling, and “heartland” workers, classes are receiving.</p>
<p>Paul, a 1993 Brown University graduate, author of eight books, and <i>Times</i> bigwig since 2011—she edited the paper’s weekly Book Review—does, perhaps to her credit, perhaps not, let some truth trickle into the end of her column. She writes: “Personally, I found shop class scary. It was unnerving to sink a saw into a block of hardwood, to be surrounded by hormonal youths wielding hammers and hot metal.” Long ago, in junior high school, I didn’t find wood or metal shop classes (mandatory) “scary,” but rather clock-watching tedious, mostly because I was all thumbs and produced nothing of value, save a clay ashtray that a friend helped me construct. I didn’t care for the teachers (the distaste was mutual), but made enough of an effort to receive C’s. She continues: “But in a culture that has stripped children of all possible hazards, kids could use a few more risk-taking opportunities, a sense of danger, even.”</p>
<p>Rhetorically, or maybe not, was that the Chardonnay speaking? Anyone who pays even limited attention to the news knows that there are “hazards” aplenty in schools today, public or private, not only the periodic mass shootings, but bullying resulting from careless social media use and teachers—those that are just caretakers for the paycheck (inflated if protected by an AFT union that ought to busted; shitty if not—proselytizing on everything from gender identity to whatever’s happening in Ukraine and now Gaza. (An aside: isn’t it strange that so many horrific videos from Israel and Palestine have overtaken X and TikTok, whereas a minute fraction of that number has been presented from Ukraine and Russia—is the Ukraine War real or a <i>Wag the Dog</i> skit created to enrich defense contractors and politicians? Probably incorrect, but it makes you wonder.)</p>
<p>This Paul nugget is priceless: “Home ec and shop skills especially make sense in light of current environmental and health challenges. For kids who wear fast fashion but care about climate and overconsumption, it’s worth knowing how to darn a sock or patch a hole. Likewise, in a country with skyrocketing obesity and high consumption of processed foods, learning how to make healthy, inexpensive meals is important.” As I mentioned above, if you’re a klutz no class will help in darning a sock. As for obesity, the simple message of “Don’t eat so much” is just as helpful. And, from her rarefied world, Paul doesn’t deign to mention that the inflationary cost of foods at supermarkets is a bigger “hazard” than worrying about time-consuming “extracurriculars” and college entrance exams.</p>
<p>The picture above is of my dad (left) receiving instructions from a DeWalt representative on the new power saw installed in our basement (it was a pretty fancy and expensive tool, but came to the family from one of my mom’s contest winnings, first place in a new jingle for the company). I never touched the contraption, figuring it’d be best to grow up with all 10 fingers. On rainy days, home from his car wash, dad would repair to his “office,” and he was proficient at this kind of hobby, although I’ll be damned if I can remember what he fixed or created. Nevertheless, it was a hobby he enjoyed.</p>
<p>Look at the clues to figure out what year it is: Fidel Castro’s <i>Radio Rebelde</i> begins broadcasting from Sierra Maestra; Bertrand Russell launches The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in the UK; Holly Hunter and Drew Carey are born and Tyrone Power and Pope Pius XII die; the Montreal Canadiens win the Stanley Cup; Notting Hill race riots in London; Pope John XXIII is installed at the Vatican; “The Greatest Game Ever Played” takes place in December; Kate Bush is born and W.C. Handy dies; Terry Southern’s <i>Candy</i> is published; and John Ford’s <i>The Last Hurrah</i> is released.</p>
<p><i>—Follow Russ Smith on Twitter: <a href="http://Twitter.com/mugger2023">@MUGGER2023</a></i></p>
Russ Smithtag:www.splicetoday.com,2005:Post/324842023-09-28T06:29:00-04:002023-09-28T01:08:27-04:00Tight Quarters<p>College life, and strife, isn’t of particular interest to me, since my sons are 30 and 29, and increasingly larcenous tuition bills no longer appear in the small stack of mail that’s dumped in our vestibule every evening, excluding Sunday, between seven and nine—that is, if USPS has enough employees to make their rounds. Nevertheless, I read what’s now considered <a href="http://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-09-22/uc-regents-question-small-room-size-of-new-ucla-dorm-delaying-approval">a lengthy story in <i>The Los Angeles Times </i>last week</a> about a student housing controversy at UCLA. A planned residence hall with “micro rooms” at the low (for the Westwood neighborhood) price of $600/per month was put on hold when the University of California Regents raised questions about how the small units might have an impact on “student mental health.” Regent Hadi Makarechian said, “I don’t want to call these jails… but these aren’t really good dorms.” A recent survey, according to the <i>Times</i> article, showed that students weren’t dissatisfied with 250 square feet rooms.</p>
<p>I’m not especially well-versed—aside from what I read—on the problems college students, and their parents, face today, from crippling financial burden to ad hoc violence, and, perhaps most significantly, a curriculum (even at a top-notch school like UCLA) that’s dictated by current liberal nostrums and wouldn’t be recognizable even 20 years ago. Still, my guess is that most of the young men and women who choose a collegiate experience are resilient and that “mental health issues,” while real, as they’ve always been, are exaggerated.</p>
<p>Fifty years ago this month I entered the freshman class at Johns Hopkins University—the student body was then 2000 and has quadrupled in size since, as JHU buys up more and more Baltimore real estate (upping the tax burden for city residents)—and arrived at my room at 103 Griffin House with a trunk and a smile on my face, thrilled to join what was a first step to the “real world.” It was long before social media, and the University paired roommates as best they could by surveys mailed to your home, and I’ve no idea whether that mattered all that much. My roommate, from Texas, and I were lumped together because we were both English majors (four out of 500 freshman) and smokers. I was lucky: Mark was a smart, friendly guy who shared similar musical and literature tastes, had long hair, brought a record player and his guitar, and we quickly (as people of that age do) became close friends.</p>
<p>I bring this up because, as you can see from the picture of our room taken that fall, space was tight; I’d ballpark it at 160 square feet. (At that time, JHU provided on-campus living only for first-year students; after that, it was up to you to find housing in Baltimore, which was very cheap and far preferable.) We were on the first floor: the communal bathrooms and showers on the second floor, and there was no air conditioning or hot plate set-up. The beds were bare-bones, bolted to the wall; the counter that functioned as desks had students right next to each other; and we each had an open closet for clothes.</p>
<p>We never locked the windows, since it was easy to get in from outside if keys were forgotten, and as you can see from the messy floor, the weekly “maid service” wasn’t all that effectual. There was a laundry room in the basement, and next to Griffin was a snack bar and mail room. The chairs were spartan hard-backs and I took many a tumble when leaning back while reading. But I was 18—like those students today at UCLA—and falling on my ass was no big deal. (Today, it goes without saying, such a mishap can have repercussions. Several years ago, my foot fell asleep while watching a ballgame; I got up, fell, and the next morning was fitted for a six-week boot.) There was a phone at the end of the hall, and the two guys next to it had the unfortunate task of answering it (when in the mood); so I’d get a knock on the door from Irwin, saying, “Hey Smith, you’ve got a call… it’s a chick!” This wasn’t that frequent, I’ll admit, and sometimes that “chick” was named Mom, ringing for our monthly catch-up.</p>
<p>My roommate wasn’t in frequent touch with his parents either—he got along fine with them—and I wonder if the constant texting between students and parents (not so long ago called “helicopter parents,” and I’ve no idea what the current slang is) contributes to “mental health issues” that are in the headlines. The heavy use of social media (and a list of available drugs that I can’t even pronounce) must be a distraction at best, a source for cyber-bullying at worst. Again, I’m not denying the unease and depression of some teens today—it wasn’t talked about much in my day, but at JHU there was a counseling center near the dorms which was helpful to some friends—often the anxiety decreased when they decided to drop parental “pre-med” orders and majored in what they were really interested in—but I doubt the size of dormitory rooms is biggest hurdle to overcome.</p>
<p><i>—Follow Russ Smith on Twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/mugger2023">@MUGGER2023</a></i></p>
Russ Smithtag:www.splicetoday.com,2005:Post/323622023-09-05T06:26:00-04:002023-09-04T01:38:57-04:00Another Dumb Thing I Said<p>As a college boy, I sat outside a dean’s office and chatted with a young man who was sitting there. I’d come in because of the wind, which was blowing strong. I didn’t know the building but it belonged to the university, and I had a habit of dodging into quiet, tasteful waiting rooms that belonged to the university. My dorm room was crowded and a mess, since unfortunately those are my habits.</p>
<p>The other fellow was waiting to be interviewed. A door stood there, I think, and our row of chairs was along the wall opposite. I slid into a chair that was a couple of chairs down from him and let my face de-flush and my body unbrace. The weather had really been going at me.</p>
<p>The other fellow asked why I was there, and I said the wind, and there was a hitch in his face. I hastened to say that I was serious, really it was the wind.</p>
<p>Maybe I asked why he was there, I don’t remember. But he told me. He wanted to go to the university, he was being interviewed for that, and I think a grant or a scholarship was involved. The odd thing: I told the truth and encouraged him, yet I feel like a crumb about how I did it. I just had to be cute, that’s all. After listening to him—he’d done poverty work in Atlanta and the suffering he’d seen had hit him—I said the people at the university were looking for candidates with a social conscience, so he should do well with them. All true, but what a consciously chintzy way of saying things. I had to be too cool for school; no enthusiasm from me, no belief.</p>
<p>What I might have said: “The students here are a mixed bunch. Most of us live in the playpen, but there are students with an idea of what’s going on outside, over the walls. The larger world and how we fit in with it. The university wants to have people like that and they’re good for the rest of us. So I think you’re a good bet and I hope you get in.”</p>
<p>But back then I didn’t know I lived in a playpen. So I behaved in a playpen way. I acted like concern for poverty was a style choice and he’d picked correctly for his audience. Many people treat this concern as a style choice. That doesn’t mean it is, and in his case it wasn’t. From my brief acquaintanceship, he seemed like somebody with zero concern for making an impression or cutting a swash. He was a straightforward type who’d run face-first into some disturbing facts and reacted accordingly. But I wanted to show I was above that.</p>
<p>In the end, not much harm was done. His face hitched again, but it unhitched because he saw I was encouraging him. We shook hands, I left. He had his interview. Honest guess? He did fine, I didn’t throw him off too much. But it would be nice if I could’ve said the right thing, not something that passes if you give it some leeway. I just had to maintain my brand, He Who Keeps It Real.</p>
<p>I went on to continue living in the playpen, which is something you can carry around with yourself. I suppose the other guy went on to live a life. If so, good for him.</p>
C.T. Maytag:www.splicetoday.com,2005:Post/323092023-08-23T05:55:00-04:002023-08-22T23:24:28-04:00How to State It Personally<p>Picking a college or graduate program is easy: you google a city or field of study and then fire off a bunch of applications more or less at random. Once you select a school, the work won’t end there. It takes standardized test scores, transcripts, and preapproved loans to gain admission—and I can’t help you with those things, at least not right now. However, I can help you with what many tongue-tied scaredy-cats consider the most intimidating aspect of the process: the personal statement.</p>
<p>Personal statements are what university-admissions officers rely on to separate the wheat from the chaff. In other words, most personal statements are chaff and wind up separated from the wheat, whatever that means. However, if your personal statement is eye-catching and heart-stopping, you’re “in like Flynn.” Let’s take a look at the writing process.</p>
<p>First, you must announce your intentions. A good way to do this is a simple “Hey you!” or “Listen up!” If you’re more of a formalist, try a traditional salutation like “Hello Dears” or “Dear Diary.” With a powerhouse greeting like that, you’re sure to have them hooked. From there, it’s time to reel them in, gut them, and toss them in your icebox. In other words, it’s time to tell your sob story.</p>
<p>These admissions officers read the same old personal statement over and over again. “I was president of my high school track and debate teams, I go to the dentist twice a year, and I have overcome some problems and achieved a high degree of diversity.” Nerd alert! I’d want to tear my hair out if I had to wade through this tedious stuff. Even if you were president of your track and debate teams and are punctilious about matters of dental hygiene and diversity, you can’t tell them that because that’s what they’re expecting.</p>
<p>What they’re not expecting, friends, is a healthy dose of the unexpected. Let rip with a real heartstring-tugger such as this one: “After spending 20 years roaming the sewers of New York, I decided the time had come for me to cure Lyme disease as well as COVID-19, and this is why I am applying for a Ph.D. in Comic Strip Studies.”</p>
<p>Isn’t that a humdinger? How many people do you think have the courage needed to tackle a big task like curing Lyme disease as well as cancer after a lifetime spent in the New York sewers à la Chris Claremont’s Morlocks? How many people could do this just by writing a dissertation on phallocentrism, Bourdieu’s habitus, and trans identity in Charles Schulz’s “Peanuts”? Have no doubt about it: The person reading your statement will never forget you.</p>
<p>Another thing you have to include in your personal statement is an inspiring quote. The internet is a great place to find these, but if you’re pressed for time, you can try a few of mine. I really like “It ain’t over till it’s over,” “It is what it is,” “Takes one to know one,” and “I know I'm going to get got, but I'm going to get mine more than I get got, though.” Here’s how you can incorporate those quotes, as well as many others, in a paragraph that will bring down the house even faster than the combination of funnymen Steve Martin and Eugene Levy and rapper Queen Latifah can:</p>
<p>“After I left the sewers and decided on the Lyme-and-COVID-curing path that was going to change the world for the better, I said to myself, ‘It is what it is and it ain’t over till it’s over.’ Then, a few hours later, I realized that it ‘takes one to know one.’ That was the path less taken and the road not traveled, but this is what happens when you go for the gold. ‘I know I'm going to get got, but I'm going to get mine more than I get got, though,’ said star NFL running back Marshawn ‘Beast Mode’ Lynch. Mr. Lynch was a man like myself who knew the value of a hard day’s work, which is why he also said that saving a penny is just like earning one. In short, I am going to hitch my wagon to a star, seize the day, and never stop believing.”</p>
<p>If that doesn’t move an admissions officer to tears, you can be sure there isn’t a fire in the world hot enough to warm their cold, cold heart. Oh, and notice how I just used “their” in that last sentence? You need to be extra careful about gender these days, on account of all the lawsuits and genders you’ve read about in VICE, so I want you to use as many “theirs” and “zirs” in your personal statement as possible. Regardless of your gender identity, refer to yourself as “they” or the “royal we” whenever you get a chance. Switching into the third person to write, “Ze has always wanted to cure Lyme disease ever since ze was a little gurl,” will let the reader know what a gender-conscious young person you are—a real do-gooder who’s conscious of all or at least most of the genders. Even if you’re not, and were instead raised on a farm by evangelicals or Amish or some such thing, “fake it until you make it.” That’s another quote I really love.</p>
<p>Now that you’ve followed these steps, you’re pretty much enrolled. As that old urban legend and holiday hitmaker Santa Claus might say, “It’s in the bag.” But you still have to conclude this thing, so it’s time to fall back on those skills you honed when you were signing your friends’ high-school yearbooks. “Best wishes for a great summer” is an excellent way to sign off, although a more intimate phrase like “Hugs xoxo” demonstrates a sweetness of character that is lacking in so many of today’s dispassionate scholars.</p>
<p>Do keep me posted about your applications, true believers. Until next time, best wishes for a great summer.</p>
<p>Hugs xoxo,</p>
<p>Oscar Berkman</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
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Oliver Batemantag:www.splicetoday.com,2005:Post/320782023-07-10T06:27:00-04:002023-07-09T23:39:53-04:00Conservatives Are Against Legacy College Admissions<p>Paying attention to some Democratic politicians, you’d think conservatives favor legacy college admissions. That’s false. Colleges and apathetic state legislatures have allowed this nepotistic practice to persist. Last month, the Supreme Court ruled on two cases regarding racial preferences in college admissions brought forth by Students for Fair Admissions against Harvard and the University of North Carolina. It ruled that racial preferences in admissions are unconstitutional, which led to some politicians pivoting to whataboutism regarding legacy preferences.</p>
<p>Nina Turner, the national co-chair of the Bernie Sanders 2020 presidential campaign, tweeted about legacy admissions for the first time on June 29, 2023, the day the court made the decision. "When will the Supreme Court take up legacy admissions?" one of her two tweets read. "Hint: they won’t. Conservatives went after affirmative action first and came after *only* affirmative action. And it’s a shining example of how these inequities play out." Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) expressed outrage that the court didn’t legislate from the bench and abolish legacy admissions in a case dealing specifically with race in admissions. "If SCOTUS was serious about their ludicrous 'colorblindness' claims, they would have abolished legacy admissions, aka affirmative action for the privileged," she wrote. "70% of Harvard’s legacy applicants are white. SCOTUS didn’t touch that—which would have impacted them and their patrons."</p>
<p>And Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) must’ve also discovered legacy admissions existed on June 29, 2023. "Affirmative Action still stands today, they’re called 'Legacy Admissions,'" she tweeted. "SCOTUS struck down Affirmative Action for non-white applicants."</p>
<p>All of this is stupid.</p>
<p>Conservatives have argued for meritocracy in college admissions. Students for Fair Admissions leader Edward Blum, South Carolina Senator and Republican presidential candidate Tim Scott, and political commentator Ben Shapiro are among the many prominent conservatives who’ve publicly advocated for ending legacy admissions. I made the case against legacy admissions for <i>The Washington Examiner</i>; likening it to legal bribery. I've often criticized these admissions several times, <a href="https://www.splicetoday.com/on-campus/the-truth-about-college-admissions-scandals">dating back to 2020</a>.</p>
<p>The difference is that conservatives generally don’t look at legacy admissions from a racial perspective. They think it’s wrong that family connections and donations to a university give students an edge in the admissions process. They’re not worried that legacies are majority white. Many conservatives despise the modern elites and think they’re too liberal. Therefore, they have little incentive to defend a practice that benefits such people. Two other issues receive less discussion. One is that letting unqualified students into schools puts them in a position where they’re more likely to fail. Even though legacies aren’t the most sympathetic bunch, it’s still bad because they may accumulate debt, drop out, and be worse off than if they’d never attended college. Much of the American elite comes from elite, selective colleges. People who attended those colleges, including Harvard, have told me that the network and connections are more important than the individual classes. We should want our elites to be the brightest and hardest workers, not merely those with the right skin color, connections or squash skills.</p>
<p>Instead, colleges themselves keep legacy admissions in place. In Massachusetts, Harvard, Williams, Tufts, and Wellesley are among the top schools considering legacy in admissions. While Harvard mourned the loss of its racist affirmative action policy, it hasn’t announced any plans to change its elitist legacy admissions policy, nor have any of the other aforementioned schools. Tufts stocks some of its men’s bathrooms with tampons. These aren’t schools led by conservatives.</p>
<p>The Massachusetts legislature has had a Democratic supermajority for over 30 years. It could’ve ended legacy admissions at Harvard any time it wanted to in that stretch, but they haven’t, just as they haven’t made public college tuition-free or healthcare universal. No one is stopping the legislature from passing a legacy admissions ban or the legislatures in states like Connecticut, New York, and Rhode Island, which also have Ivy League schools. Only Colorado has banned legacy admissions. If liberals and conservatives agree that legacy admissions are unjust, they should come together and pass bipartisan bills ending this corruption.</p>
Tom Joycetag:www.splicetoday.com,2005:Post/320622023-07-05T05:57:00-04:002023-07-05T02:29:30-04:00Harvard and Other Liars<p>An old joke about totalitarianism suggests that under such a system everything is either mandatory or forbidden. The vast area in between—where things are optional and you make your own choices—gets forgotten. Unfortunately, most politics, including the politics around affirmative action, is expected to operate in this binary, all-or-nothing way in most people’s minds, and not just in totalitarian countries.</p>
<p>So it is that the U.S. legal system is expected to render one giant thumb up or down on something like racial preferences in college admissions. The Supreme Court now says, roughly, that you can’t use racial preferences even if the goal is to help out marginalized ethnic groups. By contrast, for several decades prior to this, endless technicalities aside, the government told universities to increase the number of their non-white students even if lower academic standards had to be applied to blacks and Latinos to reach the desired numbers.</p>
<p>If the liberal establishment had honestly explained this was the plan—and furthermore that it was a very crude but temporary form of legal compensation for centuries of coercion in the other direction in the form of slavery and Jim Crow laws—the overwhelming majority of Americans, including conservatives and libertarians, probably would’ve accepted it. They did, in fact.</p>
<p>But liberals had to go and claim that they were using completely race-blind standards at the same time.</p>
<p>And shame anyone who didn’t seem to be doing so.</p>
<p>And claim that they were at the same time trying to place extra value on ethnic diversity in the student body and faculty by paying attention to race.</p>
<p>And that they were merely responding to real ongoing bigotry that was blocking perfectly equally qualified non-whites from gaining admission.</p>
<p>And that they, as the collegiate elite, were competent, non-bigoted referees of race-neutrality.</p>
<p>But also that in the absence of conscious favoritism, whites would dominate their campuses.</p>
<p>And that they merely wanted to legally mandate student bodies, like company workforces, must match the demographic proportions of the general population—regardless of any uneven distribution of interests, talents, and personal histories.</p>
<p>But also that decreeing proportional student bodies would somehow help blacks and Latinos without decreasing the number of whites or Asians on campus, which is obviously algebraically impossible—obvious, that is, unless you’re a human resources department or public relations b.s. artist who can insist with a straight face that, say, restricting the incoming student body to three percent Asians even if Asians were 30 percent of your high-scorers by all academic metrics in no way harms or inconveniences Asians.</p>
<p>Chinese communist bureaucrats and Orwell characters have nothing on H.R. and P.R. personnel when it comes to stringing warm-sounding nonsense sentences together to make it seem as if Policy X is not in fact Policy X. (This might be one of the most important arguments nowadays for being more accepting of Asian immigration: The West has thoroughly proven it’s capable of collectivist brainwashing and doubletalk all on its own, no malign foreign influence necessary.)</p>
<p>This sort of habitual evasion and illogic has by now, after decades of practice, infected essentially all liberal personality types, not just the panicked, conflicted souls tasked with making every edict from the H.R. department seem consistent with the prior ones.</p>
<p>The liberals’ evasions go by different names—outside-the-box thinking, alternative perspectives, relativism, “listening,” postmodernism, irony—but in the end, it’s your ability to juggle blatantly contradictory beliefs or moral/legal imperatives that qualifies you for membership, and possibly a lucrative career, in the herd-like ranks of modern liberalism. If you can overlook nonsense, you’re in. When in doubt, mock some other tribe’s nonsense as a distraction, possibly religious fundamentalism.</p>
<p>And now, in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision, Harvard wants you to know they don’t look at applicants’ ethnicity, except when they look at ethnicity. But not of Asians. Except when welcoming them with open arms. In smaller numbers. And so on.</p>
<p>No wonder liberals and the left, contrary to the impression the media give you, are so much more likely to be mentally ill than moderates, conservatives, and libertarians. Society didn’t drive the left nuts. The left practiced being nuts to help them maintain their faith in the illogical command-and-control systems by which the authorities in most sectors of 21st-century society run things.</p>
<p>And unlike the Supreme Court, I—like any good libertarian free-marketeer—think Harvard or any other institution that wants to jump through those mental loop-de-loops should be allowed by law to do so, so long as they’re completely honest about how they do it—no misrepresenting the stats or lying to prospective students. Misrepresentation under these circumstances, luring in tuition-paying customers who might instead have wanted a genuinely race-blind admissions process, warrants a colossal class action suit.</p>
<p>But then so would, say, admissions processes a century ago that purported to be purely merit-based while quietly using an old-boys network to exclude Jewish applicants. (By the late-20th century, that problem had so thoroughly vanished that I recall a joke letter to the Brown Daily Herald saying that if admissions is based on proportional representation of the U.S.’s general ethnic makeup, Brown should be trying to get its Jewish student population down to about three percent instead of the roughly one-third of the student body that was Jewish in a more or less free market of admissions and acceptances.)</p>
<p>Let the market do what it usually does—provide different systems for different customers’ preferences, even Harvardians’—and you no longer need to worry about the government decreeing a one-size-fits-all solution to the whole mess, whether that solution is pro-black, pro-white, rigidly neutral, or varying according to faculty tastes. There’s no one obvious solution so right that every university should be made by law to have the same student body composition. Apply to the place where you think you’ll fare best, both as an applicant and later as a student.</p>
<p>We can have a perfectly civil and honest conversation about that—but not if that conversation is dominated by people like the shameless liars at NPR, who aired a piece claiming Asians were never harmed by affirmative action at Harvard at all and that they’re now merely being used by racist whites who want to end all such programs. Since many Asians can do math, I don’t think they’re going to fall for NPR’s cynical political coddling and fuzzy math.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Biden touts a new equity initiative ostensibly aimed at aiding everyone but straight, white males (and I’d add capitalists to the short list of the disfavored under that or any government program, since by contrast those tied to the governmental redistributive apparatus will still get a cut). He gambles that Americans are more likely to vote with outrage in favor of rescuing the country’s governmental racial spoils system from the Supreme Court than to welcome an era of increased individualism and choice. Opinion surveys say he’s wrong.</p>
<p>But then, choices in the marketplace should decide this on an individual-customer and individual-institution basis, not a majority on the court, at the polls, or in surveys.</p>
<p>—<i>Todd Seavey is the author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Libertarianism-For-Beginners-Todd-Seavey/dp/1939994667">Libertarianism for Beginners</a> and is on Twitter at <a href="http://twitter.com/ToddSeavey">@ToddSeavey</a></i></p>
Todd Seaveytag:www.splicetoday.com,2005:Post/320302023-06-29T05:55:00-04:002023-06-28T19:56:10-04:00School’s Out <p style="text-align:start; text-indent:0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width:0px; margin-bottom:10px"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="line-height:15.693333625793457px"><span style="font-family:Calibri, sans-serif"><span style="caret-color:#000000"><span style="color:#000000"><span style="font-style:normal"><span style="font-variant-caps:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="letter-spacing:normal"><span style="orphans:auto"><span style="text-transform:none"><span style="white-space:normal"><span style="widows:auto"><span style="word-spacing:0px"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto"><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-size:14pt"><span style="line-height:19.97333335876465px">We see them every year around June 15<sup>th</sup>. Pulling up to houses with ladders strapped to their Subaru Outbacks. The ladders are either paint-splattered or new depending on how many summers these brush-wielding academics have plied the painting trade. Painting educators are often unlicensed, uninsured, and lack a bond, but it doesn’t matter because they’re usually working on the houses of family, friends, and friends of friends who’re happy to be spared the bother of finding and scheduling a professional painting contractor.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="text-align:start; text-indent:0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width:0px; margin-bottom:10px"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="line-height:15.693333625793457px"><span style="font-family:Calibri, sans-serif"><span style="caret-color:#000000"><span style="color:#000000"><span style="font-style:normal"><span style="font-variant-caps:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="letter-spacing:normal"><span style="orphans:auto"><span style="text-transform:none"><span style="white-space:normal"><span style="widows:auto"><span style="word-spacing:0px"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto"><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-size:14pt"><span style="line-height:19.97333335876465px">They usually have a teenage kid or two with them, either their own or someone else’s, a someone else who is doubtless thrilled to have their progeny under the tutelage of a presumably trusted member of society for the summer—and earning some bucks. I run the emotional gamut, irritation with, active aversion to, and grudging respect for these fair-weather opportunists.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="text-align:start; text-indent:0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width:0px; margin-bottom:10px"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="line-height:15.693333625793457px"><span style="font-family:Calibri, sans-serif"><span style="caret-color:#000000"><span style="color:#000000"><span style="font-style:normal"><span style="font-variant-caps:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="letter-spacing:normal"><span style="orphans:auto"><span style="text-transform:none"><span style="white-space:normal"><span style="widows:auto"><span style="word-spacing:0px"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto"><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-size:14pt"><span style="line-height:19.97333335876465px">Respect when I consider the working lives of teachers looking to augment their incomes over the three-month summer vacations. I wonder if they prefer painting houses to instructing underperforming children consigned to summer school. A fair share of the teacher painters I’ve met are decent and often solicitous of advice. I’ve been approached by history or science teachers earnestly asking about various caulks and grits of sandpaper.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="text-align:start; text-indent:0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width:0px; margin-bottom:10px"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="line-height:15.693333625793457px"><span style="font-family:Calibri, sans-serif"><span style="caret-color:#000000"><span style="color:#000000"><span style="font-style:normal"><span style="font-variant-caps:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="letter-spacing:normal"><span style="orphans:auto"><span style="text-transform:none"><span style="white-space:normal"><span style="widows:auto"><span style="word-spacing:0px"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto"><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-size:14pt"><span style="line-height:19.97333335876465px">The irritation swells when these learned moonlighters display ignorance and/or an air of superiority. One teacher/painter told a homeowner that her house didn’t need a pressure wash, that the dirt actually made the paint adhere better. He didn’t get the job, my company did, and the grime flowed off like a dirty river. Another teacher/painter and his crew were fired and my company was called in to finish the job. In addition to some substandard work and roof overspray, the students had left fast-food wrappers under the customer’s deck.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="text-align:start; text-indent:0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width:0px; margin-bottom:10px"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="line-height:15.693333625793457px"><span style="font-family:Calibri, sans-serif"><span style="caret-color:#000000"><span style="color:#000000"><span style="font-style:normal"><span style="font-variant-caps:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="letter-spacing:normal"><span style="orphans:auto"><span style="text-transform:none"><span style="white-space:normal"><span style="widows:auto"><span style="word-spacing:0px"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto"><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-size:14pt"><span style="line-height:19.97333335876465px">Exterior painting season in rainy Oregon generally runs from about May 15<sup>th</sup>to September 30<sup>th</sup>, so there’s a lot of compressed activity. From time to time we find ourselves working right next door to an instructor and his amateur outfit. Once an older teacher and his study were working on the house next door. He seemed fine at first, but I should’ve trusted with my first instinct. After he realized I was amenable to conversation he started bragging about how much money he makes over the summers. This is when you start thinking about a call to the Construction Contractor’s Board’s enforcement hotline. The fines for unlicensed activity start at $1000.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="text-align:start; text-indent:0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width:0px; margin-bottom:10px"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="line-height:15.693333625793457px"><span style="font-family:Calibri, sans-serif"><span style="caret-color:#000000"><span style="color:#000000"><span style="font-style:normal"><span style="font-variant-caps:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="letter-spacing:normal"><span style="orphans:auto"><span style="text-transform:none"><span style="white-space:normal"><span style="widows:auto"><span style="word-spacing:0px"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto"><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-size:14pt"><span style="line-height:19.97333335876465px">I got into back-fence chat with another haughty teacher-painter once, looked up, realized, and then pointed out with measured patience that his apprentice was applying acrylic </span></span><span style="font-size:14pt"><span style="line-height:19.97333335876465px"><a href="https://www.familyhandyman.com/article/can-you-paint-vinyl-windows/" style="color:#954f72; text-decoration:underline">paint to one of the customer’s new vinyl windows.</a></span></span><span style="font-size:14pt"><span style="line-height:19.97333335876465px">That’s the kind of thing that usually shuts these under-the-table brush-slingers up.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="text-align:start; text-indent:0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width:0px; margin-bottom:10px"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="line-height:15.693333625793457px"><span style="font-family:Calibri, sans-serif"><span style="caret-color:#000000"><span style="color:#000000"><span style="font-style:normal"><span style="font-variant-caps:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="letter-spacing:normal"><span style="orphans:auto"><span style="text-transform:none"><span style="white-space:normal"><span style="widows:auto"><span style="word-spacing:0px"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto"><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-size:14pt"><span style="line-height:19.97333335876465px">There’s a standing joke I’ve made on jobsites over the years: “We’re not trying to teach kids, so why are these guys trying to paint houses?” They always disappear after Labor Day. I’m never unhappy.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="text-align:start; text-indent:0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width:0px; margin-bottom:10px"> </p>
Mark Ellistag:www.splicetoday.com,2005:Post/319982023-06-22T05:55:00-04:002023-06-21T20:52:47-04:00Circumventing College<p style="text-align:start; text-indent:0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width:0px"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="line-height:16.866666793823242px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif"><span style="caret-color:#000000"><span style="color:#000000"><span style="font-style:normal"><span style="font-variant-caps:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="letter-spacing:normal"><span style="orphans:auto"><span style="text-transform:none"><span style="white-space:normal"><span style="widows:auto"><span style="word-spacing:0px"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto"><span style="text-decoration:none"><span lang="EN" style="color:#222222"><span style="background-color:white">Millions of Americans graduated from high school this year and will pursue higher education. Some will attend college hoping to obtain the skills necessary for a desired job. Others will go because they want the so-called college experience: sex, alcohol, drugs and parties. And for others, it’s a mix of both. But those who attend college because they want the credential should reconsider whether or not it’s is necessary to obtain the job they want. Alternatives exist.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="text-align:start; text-indent:0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width:0px"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="line-height:16.866666793823242px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif"><span style="caret-color:#000000"><span style="color:#000000"><span style="font-style:normal"><span style="font-variant-caps:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="letter-spacing:normal"><span style="orphans:auto"><span style="text-transform:none"><span style="white-space:normal"><span style="widows:auto"><span style="word-spacing:0px"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto"><span style="text-decoration:none"><span lang="EN" style="color:#222222"><span style="background-color:white">Few would expect an aspiring plumber, welder, or construction worker to rack up student loan debt attending a four-year college. Yet, people do this for jobs where they can obtain the necessary skills outside the traditional academic setting. Some include police officers, firefighters, journalists and coders.</span></span> <a href="https://psmag.com/education/cops-and-college-do-police-need-book-smarts-21852"><span style="color:#1155cc"><span style="background-color:white">Just eight percent</span></span></a><span style="color:#222222"><span style="background-color:white"> of police departments in the United States require cops to attend college, while 83 percent require a high school diploma. Most departments in the country are willing to hire a cop who doesn’t have a degree in psychology or criminal justice.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="text-align:start; text-indent:0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width:0px"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="line-height:16.866666793823242px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif"><span style="caret-color:#000000"><span style="color:#000000"><span style="font-style:normal"><span style="font-variant-caps:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="letter-spacing:normal"><span style="orphans:auto"><span style="text-transform:none"><span style="white-space:normal"><span style="widows:auto"><span style="word-spacing:0px"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto"><span style="text-decoration:none"><span lang="EN" style="color:#222222"><span style="background-color:white">Instead of spending tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars on schooling, one could look at the job requirements of various police departments that are hiring, figure out what the departments are looking for, and develop those skills, whether it’s maintaining a clean record, meeting physical fitness requirements, taking civil service exam practice tests, or attending a police academy.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="text-align:start; text-indent:0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width:0px"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="line-height:16.866666793823242px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif"><span style="caret-color:#000000"><span style="color:#000000"><span style="font-style:normal"><span style="font-variant-caps:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="letter-spacing:normal"><span style="orphans:auto"><span style="text-transform:none"><span style="white-space:normal"><span style="widows:auto"><span style="word-spacing:0px"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto"><span style="text-decoration:none"><span lang="EN" style="color:#222222"><span style="background-color:white">Meanwhile, communities need volunteer firefighters, so one can learn about firefighting and gain experience without obtaining a degree. Departments may require various certifications to hire people full-time, including EMT knowledge, especially in smaller departments, but even EMT training usually costs </span></span><a href="https://www.exploremedicalcareers.com/emt/cost/"><span style="color:#1155cc"><span style="background-color:white">less than $2,000</span></span></a><span style="color:#222222"><span style="background-color:white">. In the case of one of my friends in Maine, the department covered the cost of EMT training.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="text-align:start; text-indent:0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width:0px"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="line-height:16.866666793823242px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif"><span style="caret-color:#000000"><span style="color:#000000"><span style="font-style:normal"><span style="font-variant-caps:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="letter-spacing:normal"><span style="orphans:auto"><span style="text-transform:none"><span style="white-space:normal"><span style="widows:auto"><span style="word-spacing:0px"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto"><span style="text-decoration:none"><span lang="EN" style="color:#222222"><span style="background-color:white">As for journalism, I know firsthand that one can do the profession without a degree. In the digital age, people can write online about topics that interest them to gain experience and parlay those experiences into paid writing gigs. They can read about how to write articles and learn basic article structure. Grammar checkers exist online, so being an English language expert, although helpful, is initially unnecessary. Over time, a dilligent and motivated person writing will learn from these corrections.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="text-align:start; text-indent:0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width:0px"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="line-height:16.866666793823242px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif"><span style="caret-color:#000000"><span style="color:#000000"><span style="font-style:normal"><span style="font-variant-caps:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="letter-spacing:normal"><span style="orphans:auto"><span style="text-transform:none"><span style="white-space:normal"><span style="widows:auto"><span style="word-spacing:0px"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto"><span style="text-decoration:none"><span lang="EN" style="color:#222222"><span style="background-color:white">Fewer small-town newspapers exist, but there are online publications covering various niche topics. In the digital era, having vast knowledge of specific topics is usually the best way to gain an edge over the competition. When I was younger, I wrote about sports, particularly baseball, because I followed the sport closely. Eventually, after consuming content about current events, I had the knowledge to write about politics.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="text-align:start; text-indent:0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width:0px"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="line-height:16.866666793823242px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif"><span style="caret-color:#000000"><span style="color:#000000"><span style="font-style:normal"><span style="font-variant-caps:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="letter-spacing:normal"><span style="orphans:auto"><span style="text-transform:none"><span style="white-space:normal"><span style="widows:auto"><span style="word-spacing:0px"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto"><span style="text-decoration:none"><span lang="EN" style="color:#222222"><span style="background-color:white">Additionally, some people attend college for computer programming, but that’s not necessary to learn coding skills necessary. While the liberal media and politicians like Joe Biden tell coal miners that they should learn to code was downright ridiculous a few years ago, someone interested can learn it online from many resources; some cost money, while others are free. Like other professions, one should look at skill requirements on job listings to figure out what employers want rather than sitting through classes that have nothing to do with the major at some overpriced college or university.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="text-align:start; text-indent:0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width:0px"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="line-height:16.866666793823242px"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif"><span style="caret-color:#000000"><span style="color:#000000"><span style="font-style:normal"><span style="font-variant-caps:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="letter-spacing:normal"><span style="orphans:auto"><span style="text-transform:none"><span style="white-space:normal"><span style="widows:auto"><span style="word-spacing:0px"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto"><span style="text-decoration:none"><span lang="EN" style="color:#222222"><span style="background-color:white">Given that only </span></span><a href="https://www.studentclearinghouse.org/nscblog/60-percent-of-all-college-students-graduate-with-a-degree-within-eight-years/"><span style="color:#1155cc"><span style="background-color:white">60 percent</span></span></a><span style="color:#222222"><span style="background-color:white"> of college students graduate and </span></span><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2013/05/28/half-of-college-grads-are-working-jobs-that-dont-require-a-degree/"><span style="color:#1155cc"><span style="background-color:white">one-third</span></span></a><span style="color:#222222"><span style="background-color:white"> of graduates work in jobs that don’t use their degree, the four-year degree is often a worse investment than people think.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
Tom Joycetag:www.splicetoday.com,2005:Post/319862023-06-19T06:28:00-04:002023-06-19T00:49:26-04:00Affirmative Action Needs to Be Reformed<p>The Supreme Court may end colleges' ability to consider race in admissions. The court will rule on <i>Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) v. University of North Carolina</i> and <i>Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard University</i> this month and likely ban race-based affirmative action in college admissions.</p>
<p>That’s good. Affirmative action is a bad policy and it disproportionately benefits a group who weren’t victims of historic oppression in America: recent black immigrants, including wealthy ones from countries like Nigeria.</p>
<p>Typically, affirmative action attempts to benefit blacks, Hispanics, and Native-Americans at the expense of whites and Asians. Usually, two arguments exist against racial preferences. One is that it’s bad for the so-called beneficiaries of affirmative action because it puts them in positions where they’ll fail.</p>
<p>Sometimes this is true, and it can hurt people in higher education. It’s one reason why blacks and Hispanics have higher college dropout rates. And when people drop out of school, they’re unlikely to return to any school and finish. Some students are better off going to a school that appropriately fits their aptitude, and the so-called soft bigotry of low expectations idea from George Bush and other right-wingers has some merit. Affirmative action does benefit other blacks and Hispanics, like those who graduate from elite schools that reject whites and Asians with similar SAT scores.</p>
<p>The other right-wing argument is that affirmative action hurts Asian students. Although this is true, Asians aren’t only one group that it hurts. The other is white people, who comprise not only the majority of the United States but also a majority of right-wingers and opponents of race-based affirmative action. No mainstream politician will claim to oppose it for being anti-white, although they’ll say it’s bad for blacks and Asians. There’s some truth to all of these arguments and when it comes to elite colleges, African-Americans aren’t benefitting from affirmative action as much as one might think.</p>
<p>Harvard University's average SAT scores indicate that they have lower academic standards for black and Hispanic students than for whited and Asians. Their admissions data also shows that they value having racial diversity on campus. The Harvard Class of 2026 is 14.4 percent black, according to <i>The New York Times</i>. Blacks comprise about 12 percent of the American population. Yet, <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/race-ethnicity/2022/01/20/one-in-ten-black-people-living-in-the-u-s-are-immigrants/">10 percent</a> of black people in America are immigrants; they’re not the descendants of American slaves or grandchildren of the victims of Jim Crow-era segregation. Given that America’s system prefers educated and wealthier immigrants, especially those who hail from countries outside of Latin America, there are rich African immigrants in the United States. About 41 percent of all black students at Ivy League colleges are African immigrants, according to <i>The Harvard Crimson</i>. Yet, if one is trying to check boxes and fill racial quotas, the black child of Nigerian aristocrats counts just the same as the black child born to a single mom on food stamps. It also means that despite being about 1.2 percent of the population, black immigrants likely comprise about 5.9 percent of Harvard's Class of 2026 student body, while African-Americans are likely about 8.5 percent.</p>
<p>What kind of country offers benefits and preferences to people who, in some cases, aren’t even American citizens? Not only is it stupid for a country to put non-citizens first, but with affirmative action, we end up with a racist system that pits different groups of people against one another rather than judging the individual and admitting the most deserving people.</p>
<p>If schools look past superficial characteristics, they could find what matters: diversity of thought and opinion. However, colleges are often hostile to differences of opinion and free speech, especially for those who think there are two genders, men can't get pregnant, human life begins at conception, and affirmative action is unfair. While the children of wealthy Nigerian and Caribbean families won’t dominate admissions at state colleges due to racial preferences, the privileged immigrant element at elite academic institutions is worth considering when thinking about racial preferences in higher education and American society. I hope the Supreme Court thinks it's as ridiculous as I do.</p>
Tom Joycetag:www.splicetoday.com,2005:Post/319522023-06-12T06:29:00-04:002023-06-11T23:37:42-04:00Don’t Know Nothing About Nothing At All<p>Last Thursday morning I spent 30 minutes with a nurse at GBMC—a fine hospital in Baltimore County, where you’re not treated like a slab of meat as in Johns Hopkins Hospital downtown—and she was her usual gabby self, a plus since the fairly simple blood procedure I undergo every eight weeks (a manageable condition) can be tedious. I asked about the latest in her family, and as she pricked my finger, and then my arm, she was off on a 20-minute tear, no let-up, about her disgust for the middle school her youngest daughter just finished up with. It was illuminating for me, since the public schools my brothers and I attended on Long Island, though crowded, were for the most part, first-rate, although I assume that proficiency now belongs to the era when stamps were a dime and the <i>Daily News</i> cost seven cents.</p>
<p>My friend’s child, “a good, if sometimes distracted student,” ran into a raft of teacher incompetence in the last two months of the school year. Never mind that most of her classes were rudimentary at best, a glorified daycare center at worst, and though she enjoys reading, a self-starter (I believe the nurse, for in the past she’s never held anything back about the ugly side of her kids and relatives) who doesn’t mind studying for whatever tests are still administered, she crossed a wet-behind-the-ears teacher who was offended when the teenager had the audacity to look at her phone to check the time. (An aside: like the 10-cent stamp, wearing a watch today is uncommon, which shouldn’t baffle me, but does, mostly because I can’t remember ever having my left wrist unadorned with a timepiece, from the cheapest in town to a fancy number my wife gave me for my 40<sup>th</sup> birthday.)</p>
<p>Anyway, the teacher, in a self-created puddle, summoned her charge out in the hallway, patted her down, and discovered she was carrying <i>Tylenol</i> tablets, which is apparently against the rules. She was suspended for a week. Once back from the mandated intermission, the girl was singled out for reprimands, not allowed to use the rest room, and when she was at her locker the teacher took videos of her to report to the vice-principal. During a lull, I was able to get a question in, and asked about the eighth-grade curriculum at the school, and was treated to a double-snort, with the response, “Honey, I won’t even go there; let’s just say I doubt the bitch teacher has ever heard of Charles Dickens, even <i>A Christmas Carol</i>!” In my experience, this suburban woman isn’t given to cultural or political hysterics—she has intricate tats and keeps her fake Christmas tree up all year, the exact kind of voter both parties are courting—but when I asked about the “wokeness” of sex education at the school, she simply threw up her hands and said, “Not much I can do there.”</p>
<p>Thankfully, I’m long past the parent-teacher conferences at my sons’ schools—usually a waste of time—and this is the closest I’ve recently come to any glint of the state of public school education today (and I’d imagine that the pricey private schools aren’t much better) and though my nurse’s rant was anecdotal, it’s probably not unusual.</p>
<p>Take a look at the photo above, my mother’s first-grade class at a parochial school in the Bronx. (She’s fifth from the left in the back row.) Crowded as well, and though corporal punishment wasn’t yet banned—one of my uncles regularly got his hand rapped with a ruler for cutting up during class—my mom’s problem was with the nasty and imperious nuns, not the schoolwork. As she wended her way through the system, she received a “classical” education, which meant Latin, rigorous history, penmanship mathematics and English classes. When I was a kid she’d recall her school days (after graduating 12<sup>th</sup> grade, she defied my grandfather, an Irish immigrant who didn’t believe women needed college, and took classes at Hunter on the sly) and, as I said, though she loathed the religious tone, she was a lifelong reader and fine writer, which she grudgingly admitted was due, at least in part, to several particularly challenging teachers.</p>
<p>Take a look at these clues to figure out the year: The Irish Civil War ends (sort of); after his third stroke, Vladimir Lenin retires from Soviet government; Pancho Villa is assassinated; the occupation of Constantinople ends; the first issue of <i>Time </i>is published; The Walt Disney Company is founded; Hank Williams is born and Wee Willie Keeler dies; “Down Hearted Blues” by Bessie Smith is the fifth most popular song; and P.J. Wodehouse’s <i>The Inimitable</i> <i>Jeeves</i> is published.</p>
<p><i>—Follow Russ Smith on Twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/mugger2023">@MUGGER2023</a></i></p>
Russ Smithtag:www.splicetoday.com,2005:Post/318452023-05-18T00:01:00-04:002023-05-18T00:13:58-04:00Debate on Postmodernism (1984)tag:www.splicetoday.com,2005:Post/316492023-04-10T06:27:00-04:002023-04-09T20:57:58-04:00Americans Against Higher Education<p>The American public finally realizes that college is often useless. Fifty-six percent think four-year college degrees are a waste of money, according to a recently released <i>Wall Street Journal</i> <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/americans-are-losing-faith-in-college-education-wsj-norc-poll-finds-3a836ce1">poll</a>. In 2013, 40 percent of people agreed, according to the report accompanying the poll. In many cases, they’re correct. While college makes sense for some, not everyone needs it. Young Americans do need more clarity in developing the necessary skills to get their desired job.</p>
<p>Americans carry about $2 trillion in student loan debt, and higher education prices continue to rise. The best way to avoid this debt is to avoid student loans. Not everyone gets full scholarships to attend school, nor do they or their families have the money to pay for college out-of-pocket. Many jobs exist where people can earn a good living without a traditional college degree. Some trades have decent salaries, and other blue-collar union jobs that require neither a college degree nor a trade school certificate may offer solid base pay and significant overtime opportunities. That’s great, but not everyone has the connections to get a spot in the International Longshoremen's Association, Seafarers International Union of North America, or the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen. Also, some people aren’t proficient at manual labor. The idea that college is a waste doesn’t mean everyone must work with their hands or enter a trade to make a living.</p>
<p>Yet, college is a waste for at least three reasons. One is that many never finish college. About <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2019/09/10/a-dereliction-duty-college-dropout-scandal-how-fix-it/">40%</a> of students drop out—and the rate is higher at private, for-profit colleges, many of which are complete scams. Those who drop out are unlikely to re-attend college and graduate. For those students, college is a waste of money. They spend hoping to get a credential to improve workforce prospects. But after spending that money, they receive no degree. In many instances, they’re worse off than if they had never gone to college in the first place.</p>
<p>Many people who finish college have jobs that don’t require degrees. Remember during the Great Recession when there were stories about Starbucks baristas with master’s degrees? That’s not the typical case, but many make that college investment and end up working a job that does not require a college degree. About <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2013/05/28/half-of-college-grads-are-working-jobs-that-dont-require-a-degree/">one-third</a> of college graduates aren’t using their degrees. They work in jobs outside their field that don’t require a degree. Some of my former college classmates are landscapers, realtors, and restaurant employees, and they make more money than they would if they had a typical journalism job.</p>
<p>Other avenues exist for people to get decent-paying white-collar jobs. If someone wants to be a doctor, architect, or pharmacist, they should attend college. However, we live in a country where some members of Congress, <a href="https://ehlinelaw.com/blog/states-you-can-become-a-lawyer-without-law-school">lawyers</a>, journalists, and police officers lack college degrees. Some states allow people to take apprenticeships to learn about law rather than attending law school—or any college.</p>
<p>I work in journalism and learned the necessary skills outside the classroom. I learned by reading, writing articles, and getting feedback from people with more experience than me. The one year I attended Emerson College was a waste. I learned more about how much the teachers and students loved Bernie Sanders and hated Donald Trump than journalism.</p>
<p>At times, attending school was also a hindrance. When I was younger, I pursued sports journalism but sometimes had to miss school to work. When I was a senior in high school, I had to leave school early to <a href="https://archive.is/wip/2M9v9">interview</a> Tim Wakefield for <i>The Hingham Journal</i> and some Pawtucket Red Sox players on PawSox media day for Yawkey Way Report. I got quotes for an article that was in the May 2015 issue of the program sold outside of Fenway Park. I started writing content mill garbage and daily fantasy sports picks and made about $200 per week between a bunch of low-paying writing gigs.</p>
<p>As a college freshman, I missed classes to cover high school sports games for <i>The Patriot Ledger</i> and <i>The Brockton Enterprise</i>. Additionally, I once skipped a school day to go down to Florida to interview David Ortiz. One hopes kids will consider the alternative pathways to break into their preferred profession if they want one where many people have college degrees. With the right work experience and training, they can build better resumes than their college-educated peers. Once that happens, maybe the higher education cabal will implode.</p>
Tom Joycetag:www.splicetoday.com,2005:Post/315802023-03-24T06:27:00-04:002023-03-24T10:34:09-04:00Catholic Schools: Stop Hiring Rick Pitino<p>Why call yourself a Catholic school if you are not trying to adhere to Catholic values? At least two so-called Catholic colleges in New York should answer that question, given their involvement with Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer Rick Pitino.</p>
<p>St. John’s hired Pitino as its new men’s basketball coach this week; he left another Catholic college, Iona College, to take the position. Pitino has enjoyed more; he has two NCAA March Madness championships on his resume and made it to the Final Four seven times. However, even with that winning record, no school that identifies as Catholic should hire this man unless he can prove he’s a changed man. No human beings are perfect. Just about everyone commits sins, but not like Pitino.</p>
<p>In 2003, Pitino had an extramarital affair with the wife of Tim Sypher, the Louisville men's basketball equipment manager at the time. Pitino got her pregnant and gave her $3000 to get an abortion. The woman later tried to extort Pitino because of the incident, and it ended up in court. Pitino testified that a member of the coaching staff that may have been him drove the woman to and from an abortion clinic in Cincinnati, which is 90 minutes from Louisville. In common law, there was nothing illegal about Pitino’s actions at this time. Adultery was legal, and so was abortion. Even so, Pitino belongs nowhere near a Catholic school.</p>
<p>In Catholicism, the institution of marriage is far more binding than in American law. Only opposite-sex couples can marry, and marriage is the only place where the church allows sexual intercourse—and without contraception. The church sees marriage as an unbreakable union, meant to share love and commitment and raise families. Pitino cheating on his wife violated that.</p>
<p>The far worse aspect here is abortion. Abortion’s a tragedy because it kills a human in the earliest stages of their life. In the Catholic Church, abortion is a grave sin, which Pope John Paul II called “murder.” People shouldn’t hate women for having abortions and men for causing abortions; the Catholic church doesn’t, either. The women who have abortions aren’t victims, as the pro-life movement would have you believe. However, the demand for abortion deserves addressing, in addition to the supply issue. Rather than trying to prevent so-called unintended pregnancies, supporting women who face these pregnancies, and making childrearing more affordable, politicians decry socialism or argue that women need to abort their children so they can be successful. The latter devalues motherhood and women’s abilities to pursue other endeavors while raising children.</p>
<p>Pitino has never shown any remorse for causing, aiding, and abetting the abortion. He has a net worth near $50 million. He could’ve afforded to give that child a fine life. While basketball’s a great sport, and Division 1 men’s basketball is one of the only two revenue sports in the NCAA, some things are more important than college students playing a game invented for YMCA children in the late-1800s. That’s not to say that all Catholic schools should permanently blacklist Pitino from coaching, but they should require penance before they consider it.</p>
<p>Pitino has enough money to do good for society. He could help feed the poor, save lives in developing countries, or offer support to women facing unintended pregnancies so that they give birth rather than having an abortion. That never happened. Catholic schools hire Pitino because he’s a good college coach, even though he was a terrible NBA head coach.</p>
<p>Catholic colleges shouldn’t expect every student and employee to be a model Catholic citizen. Nobody always lives up to that standard, but people can try to do what’s right, admit their sins, and rectify their mistakes. And when someone took part in what the Catholic Church views as murder and shows no remorse, basketball coaching skills should be irrelevant.</p>
Tom Joycetag:www.splicetoday.com,2005:Post/314812023-03-03T05:57:00-05:002023-03-02T20:20:34-05:00Comedy and Tragedy<p>Although I’m in my early-50s, the impact of having been a high school theatre kid has proven to resonate through a lifetime. First, I finally came out last year—come on, how many theatre kids are straight? We only recruited from the straight side of the fence when we decided to train a football player to be a hunky-looking Danny from <em>Grease</em>, a science experiment almost. He did a decent job, prompting crushes from both girls and boys, and much higher attendance at the gate once we provided directions to the football team on where the auditorium was located inside the high school.</p>
<p>Here are a few life lessons we learned as theatre kids (besides the obvious one from <em>Les Misérables </em>about how the consequences of unprotected sex are worse than war):</p>
<p>1.)<strong> “Not Fitting In” is a Resume Builder. </strong>Being an outcast at many things—social graces, sports, invitations to in-crowd parties-- matters in high school, college and beyond. But land your first speaking role (or God help your ego, a lead) could mean that <em>not</em> fitting in as a theatre kid is something you now “use in character building” and will eventually help provide the skill set you need to get a job you’ll hate forever.</p>
<p>2.) <strong>Project your Voice.</strong> Acting teachers will repeat this in echoey voices of empty theaters ad nauseum and insist you use the diaphragm that you didn’t even know you had-- no, not the birth control one. Using your voice in a compelling way and without fear is a lesson that’s important for more people than just an idiot mermaid who sells it out for a man.</p>
<p>3.) <strong>Costuming is essential.</strong> While most costumes in high-school productions consist of garbage bags, safety pins and other household items, you’ll learn to wear them with flair while singing off-key to non-woke outdated songs by Rogers and Hammerstein. You’ll come to appreciate the concept that whether it’s a top hat and tails or sweatpants and a tank top, the way you dress should be chosen appropriately for each of life’s scenes.</p>
<p>4.) <strong>Sing even when you’re terrible.</strong> Usually life, like the depressed middle-aged chorus director wearing polyester slacks, will funnel out the talent when it comes to singing. You may as well sing your part in the chorus of All That Jazz like no one’s listening, because they probably aren’t (shout out to the 3-4 audience members who appreciated the freshly minted grad school choreographer incorporating those slick vintage Fosse moves because "the film went so disrespectfully astray."). It’s not like you’re playing Velma Kelly and besides, Catherine Zeta-Jones won the Oscar and isn’t a singer anyway. You’re not a great singer either? Don’t worry, the karaoke DJ will turn the volume down on your mic in the drunken group version of “Dancing Queen” by ABBA, so you may as well go up and have a blast singing it anyway.</p>
<p>5.) <strong>Life is an ensemble cast.</strong> When you get a shitty part in the high school musical, the overly dramatic, sullen-eyed, closeted-gay highly functioning alcoholic director will give a speech about how no one should worry because <em>it’s an ensemble cast</em>. This means there was only one halfway decent singer and zero good male dancers, which is why you can never do <em>West Side Story </em>and they have to keep pulling garbage scripts of dead musicals from the 1950s. Embrace the opportunity to have fun, sneak booze into rehearsals, don’t worry about forgetting lyrics or choreography because that other rich-ass high school across town always has the better sets and costumes anyway. Have fun—life is always shorter than a bad high school musical. </p>
Mary McCarthytag:www.splicetoday.com,2005:Post/312842023-01-26T05:55:00-05:002023-01-25T22:53:18-05:00Students Discuss Their Sleep Habits<p>Alma: I have trouble sleeping. Sometimes, I can’t sleep very well. Maybe for four or five hours. I wake up and can’t go back to sleep. It’s worse because of my thyroid condition. Nerves, headache and general fatigue.</p>
<p>Gaspar: I usually sleep about six hours. I have difficulty because I wake up at five a.m. Construction work starts very early. Sometimes I get seven hours of sleep. If I stay on social media, I go to sleep later.</p>
<p>Rujian: I usually sleep for eight hours. Ten to 6:25. This isn’t enough for me. I think my body needs 10 hours of sleep. It’s always hard to wake up. </p>
<p>Rimma: I usually go to sleep around midnight or one. I wake up at six or seven. Six hours is enough for me. When I was younger, I needed more sleep. Now, six hours is okay. I drink coffee in the morning. In the evening, I drink Kalymyk (Mongolian) tea. Milk, butter, salt and tea. My people are from Mongolia, it's the area of Russia on the border. </p>
<p>Fariba: I usually sleep about five hours. This is the side effect of my medicine—to treat cancer. Wine helps me fall asleep. </p>
<p>Bambang: I usually sleep from 10 to 6:30. I sleep eight hours, but it’s interrupted. I have problems sleeping at night. I have frequent urination. This problem started just six months ago. </p>
<p>Nagat: I usually sleep from 11:30 or midnight. I wake up at six. I wish I could sleep two more hours. I wake up because my children have to get ready for school and I need to make breakfast and lunch boxes. My youngest daughter wakes up early. She’s four. </p>
<p>Jieping: I usually sleep from one until 6:30. Five and a half hours total. For 13 years I’ve slept like this. </p>
<p>Li: I usually sleep at 10 and wake up at seven. I often sleep nine hours. My children are grown up. </p>
<p>Maria L: I usually sleep about eight and a half hours. I fall asleep around 10 and wake up at 6:30 because I have to get my kids ready for school. I’m making breakfast and getting them out the door by 7:30. </p>
<p>Sayareh: I usually go to sleep around 12 or one. Sometimes I take care of my sick husband in the middle of the night. He needs help at night. Sometimes, I go back to sleep. Sometimes I can’t. I get up early in the morning to help my husband. I can’t sleep during the day. I’m struggling to sleep. </p>
<p>Simret: I usually sleep from 10 until 6:30. I wake them up and make breakfast. They need to be out the door at 7:30. They need to be at school at 7:50. “Mama, Give me five minutes!” “No, we don’t have time. We have to go! You can sleep tonight!” </p>
<p>Tahani: I usually go to sleep around two or three. I often wake up at 6:30. I wake up because my brother and sister have to get ready for school. Sometimes I wake up feeling sleepy but when I drink coffee I feel better.</p>
<p>Rossmery: On weekends, I sleep from 10 until 6:30. When I have class, I sleep from one until 6:30. This class is killing me [Jonah's editorial], but coffee helps. There's a four-hour time difference in Bolivia.</p>
<p>Julie: I usually go to sleep around 10 and wake up at six. I get eight hours of sleep. I sleep well. Nobody wakes me up. I walk my dog at 6:30 for 30 minutes. This is before sunrise, so the sky is still dark. On the weekends, I wake up later, around eight.</p>
<p>Alejandra: I usually wake up at six. Every day except Tuesday. My daughter needs to be ready at 6:20 because her school starts on Tuesday at 7:30. This morning I walked the dogs at 5:30. It was cold. I make breakfast and lunch for my daughter and me. On Sunday, I wake up at seven. My dog wakes me up.</p>
<p>Concepcion: I usually sleep at 10:30. I usually wake up at 6:30. Eight hours of sleep. I make breakfast every morning. No fussing, no crying. They’re happy to see me. My children are calm and relaxed. </p>
Jonah Halltag:www.splicetoday.com,2005:Post/306212022-09-05T05:57:00-04:002022-09-04T21:21:16-04:00What is Education For?, asks <i>The New York Times</i><p>People suck, and the world is quickly going to hell. What can be done? It’s a difficult situation. Things are not going to get better until we get better, but how can we get better? People are hard to transform, so that it appears that our collective difficulties are intractable. Publicly exhorting people doesn't seem particularly effective, nor does showing them by complex reasoning or scientific studies that they'll likely be happier if certain reforms are introduced.</p>
<p>In the 5th century BC, the earliest systematic political thinkers we know—Socrates and Confucius—tried to describe ideal societies. A pointed question put to both men was how we could get from here to their better place, given the flawed materials out of which human social systems are made. In Plato's Republic, the young men Socrates is talking to are initially skeptical that the utopian society he describes is practically possible. Socrates is worried about that too, and indicates that there’s only one possibility: we need to remanufacture the citizenry by education. Or as Heather McGhee and Richard Ray <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/01/opinion/us-school-citizenship.html?action=click&pgtype=Article&state=default&module=opinion-what-is-school-for&variant=show&region=TOP_BANNER&context=op-whatisschoolfor-topnav">put it</a> in <em>The New York Times</em>'s recent flurry of opinion articles about what education is for: "public schools are for making Americans."</p>
<p>Let's make us some Americans! On that, apparently, all are agreed. Agreement breaks down, however, about what exactly we'll be making, when we make Americans out of the malleable flesh of toddlers, and how we'll be making them.</p>
<p>Well, but education is also for "economic mobility," "care" (as in daycare, healthcare, emotional support), "learning to read" (a bizarre throwback article by Emily Hanford), "connecting to nature" (unlikely), "merit," "hope," etc. Confucius thought education could make us 'human-hearted'; Socrates that it could inculcate selfless virtue (if necessary, by teaching lies). Education’s the only way that people can be re-manufactured, and people desperately need to be re-manufactured, they held. Education holds the key to the future, as the cliché goes. That might not really make us fund it. But it’ll make us fight over it 'til doomsday.</p>
<p>It’s silly, when you think about it. The people in charge of making better people are going to be the bad people of today: us, in short. We'll be reproducing all our real values in the next generation, not the values we profess or even the empty glittering abstractions to which the <em>Times</em> is directing the discussion. The basic question for Socrates and Confucius was more or less how a thoroughly-structured and enduring hierarchy of power and resources could be maintained. Teach our children that it's rational and inevitable, was the answer. That’s still the answer, honestly. Socrates and Confucius argued that a main goal was to manufacture people who'd defer to the experts. All <em>Times</em> writers are agreed on that.</p>
<p>I’m a skeptic of the transformative power of education in this sense. I don't think it works. You may consider this a despairing attitude: if we can't make a better future through education, how can we make a better future? I think of it as hopeful, though, because I'm also saying that even if you turned all the children over to me, or over to the ministry of propaganda, there are limits to those little fuckheads' malleability. It just wouldn't turn out the way Socrates is anticipating, where we all end up happily doing what we're told, which is a version of what McGhee and Ray in their article refer to as education's "solidarity dividend," its uninformative function to create social cohesion.</p>
<p>But I don't think education can fully subordinate and re-make human beings. That's why children are the hope of the future: their individual heads will never achieve perfect isomorphism with the systems of power in which they're embedded.</p>
<p>Here's one reason that it's not going to work out: The schools are going to teach our children "who we are," according to McGhee and Ray, and incessantly Biden, and (in particular) what and who we are not, as Americans. But you may have noticed this: the questions of who we are and are not as Americans is contested. Different Americans and different regions of America and different political action committees have extremely different ideas about this.</p>
<p>People at this level of rhetorical sophistication don't want to argue in terms of what we should become in the future, or what policies we should institute: the argument has the form in every case of both or all sides telling each and all of us who we are. And then it proceeds by trying to recreate us as who we supposedly always already were. It's incomprehensible.</p>
<p>Everyone wants control of your children's curriculum, under the delusion that they can by that means control the future. They want to control what's in the library. They want to control the signs on the bathrooms. They want to annex all children's minds to whatever their little vision is, or whatever their passionate political commitments direct. It won't work because there's no agreement on what sort of people we ought to be making, no "America" in this wacky sense.</p>
<p>This "who we are as Americans" thing has got to go. "As Americans, we are all already X" cannot be a reason that we should become X; how hard should we work to create the antecedently existing facts? So try to make sense for a minute. And if I were looking for someone to tell me who I am, qua American or anything else, it wouldn't be Biden or anyone else in his line of work. "Who we are as Americans" is ambiguous, split, chaotic, subjective: both too complex and too contentless to be useful in motivation or in description.</p>
<p>A bunch of manipulative claptrap, as the basis for instruction or anything else. You're telling me straightforwardly that you're here to tell my children who they are. I'm proposing to leave that to them. You have no idea how to do what you're trying to do, which is somewhat comforting. Perhaps learning to read is a more plausible, less disgusting and dangerous goal than manufacturing identities.</p>
<p><em>—Follow Crispin Sartwell on Twitter: @CrispinSartwell</em></p>
<p> </p>
Crispin Sartwelltag:www.splicetoday.com,2005:Post/305682022-08-24T05:55:00-04:002022-08-23T22:12:07-04:00Don’t Give Up On a College Education<p>Many problems exist with colleges in the United States. But is the answer to those problems to skip college altogether to become a welder? Probably not. I attended Emerson College in Boston for one year. I went there because its journalism program consistently ranked among the best in the country. USA Today <a href="https://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/2015/09/29/best-journalism-schools-bu-emerson/">ranked it No. 1</a> when I was a freshman. Yet, I left after one year for a few reasons. It had nothing to do with grades: I got all As and Bs, was already writing articles for money, didn't learn much, disliked the culture and the long commute. Plus, higher education is expensive.</p>
<p>I felt it was the right decision for me, but won’t discourage people from attending college, unlike many people on the right. Pew Research released a survey 2019 that showed <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2019/08/19/the-growing-partisan-divide-in-views-of-higher-education-2/">59 percent</a> of Republicans and Republican-leaners had a negative view of college while 33 percent had a positive one. Around the time I graduated high school, Georgetown University <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/a-college-degree-is-worth-1-million-2015-05-07">put out a study</a> saying that college graduates earned, on average, $1 million more than high school grads over their lifetimes. That aligns generally with earnings data available in this country. Higher levels of education tend to mean higher career earnings. </p>
<p>And while tradesmen have important and respectable jobs, that doesn’t mean it’s right to discourage everyone from attending college. There probably are too many kids going to college based on the dropout rates, the number of students who don’t use their degrees, and the high debt some face.</p>
<p>The average welder earns <a href="https://www.salary.com/research/salary/benchmark/welder-i-salary">$43,639 annually</a>; the figure is higher in the Boston area—which has a ridiculous cost of living. But even a public school teacher’s average salary is <a href="https://www.salary.com/research/salary/listing/teacher-salary">$55,144</a>. That’s a position that many people say is too low. Working in a physically demanding job like a trade or construction can negatively affect the body as one ages. Plus, many probably prefer working in an air-conditioned space in the summer. So while colleges with shockingly high prices and the usury system in which our country operates may feel like a sham, the answer is that more needs to be done surrounding issues of education and employment.</p>
<p>The cost of college needs to drop. That includes cutting bloat—like administrative staff, athletic programs that annually lose millions of dollars, and not constantly upgrading facilities—and eliminating classes that have nothing to do with the major. It may also include more online learning and using the internet to create free programs. Plus, a state-level endowment tax below one percent on just Harvard and MIT could fund free community college in Massachusetts. That sounds good to me—especially if the federal government repeals its existing endowment tax.</p>
<p>Excessive liberalism in higher education is another issue. But college isn’t the only thing worth fixing. The trades also have drawbacks: mostly, occupational licensing. States make it unreasonably hard to work in some professions. Many states lack universal licensing recognition, meaning a work license in one state may not work in another. Recent state bills make accommodations for military spouses. That’s great, but why not extend that same principle to everyone?</p>
<p>The process of becoming licensed in many jobs is absurd. Why does one need to go to 1000 hours of schooling and spend over $10,000 to become a barber? Half of the European Union countries and the United Kingdom don’t have that requirement. The UK government <a href="https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/job-profiles/barber">tells people</a> "You could get into this job through: a college course, an apprenticeship, working toward this role, freelance work.” Notice the country doesn’t list: 1000 hours of trade school.</p>
<p>Excessive occupational licensing kills <a href="https://www.ncsl.org/Portals/1/HTML_LargeReports/occupationallicensing_final.htm">nearly three million jobs</a> in the United States. Some states license fortune-tellers, florists, and hair braiders. Ridiculous.</p>
<p>Credentialism excludes many talented applicants from jobs. Employers should value skills, not degrees. Some people dislike traditional schooling and prefer different learning methods. And for others, cost and life commitments are barriers. In 2020, the federal government shifted its hiring policy to <a href="https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/talent-acquisition/pages/executive-order-puts-emphasis-on-skills-over-degrees-for-federal-jobs.aspx">value skills over degrees</a>. All government entities should do this—eliminating needless degree requirements—as should the private sector.</p>
Tom Joycetag:www.splicetoday.com,2005:Post/305402022-08-17T05:57:00-04:002022-08-16T19:41:23-04:00The Silent Verses<p>Hotlanta runs cold with cowardice, betraying the spirit of its native son. Fifty-eight summers after a sweltering summer of legitimate discontent, during a march for jobs and freedom, the job of the writer—the freedom of the writer to do his job—is no less secure.</p>
<p>In Atlanta, where Martin Luther King Jr. rests and the papers of Salman Rushdie reside, lies Emory University, the purported guardian of Rushdie’s archive. In the aftermath of the attack on Rushdie, while he lay on a ventilator with multiple stab wounds, during a weekend of lies about his alleged assailant, the university was silent.</p>
<p>Forty-eight hours after the attack, after a tweet about the freedom of students to share their <a href="https://twitter.com/emoryuniversity/status/1558106247437623307?s=21&t=hu25YbiuWmY95vRvG4WmeQ">pronouns</a>, the president of the university shared his <a href="https://twitter.com/gregfenves/status/1558890079833169921?s=21&t=hu25YbiuWmY95vRvG4WmeQ">thoughts</a> about Rushdie. Or rather Emory retweeted Greg Fenves’ tweets about Rushdie, which read like a simpleton’s entry in an online guest book.</p>
<p>Free of context, save Fenves’ description of Rushdie as a fearless defender of freedom of speech, Fenves doesn’t say Emory shares Rushdie’s commitment or that the university is firm in its defense of that which Rushdie represents: the right of the writer to write, free of attacks against his person; free from the pen of redaction and the sword of revenge; free from all enemies, foreign and domestic, who would exact vengeance by repaying words with violence.</p>
<p>Fenves speaks to pacify, not preach, for his words have nothing to do with the Word or the faith of the university’s founder.</p>
<p>Whether Fenves is a Methodist or a Christian is beside the point, because the symbolism of the symbols of the United Methodist Church transcend religion. The cross and flame symbolize pain we can’t forget and truths we can’t forsake, regardless of Fenves’ amnesia or Rushdie’s atheism.</p>
<p>The symbols represent the rights of man, binding together nations and peoples of every language.</p>
<p>Were this not the case, Emory wouldn’t be a university for students of every language in which a translation of a book by Rushdie exists, or a university in which students may read and argue about Rushdie’s <a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/languages-of-truth-salman-rushdie/1137570689"><em>Languages of Truth</em></a>.</p>
<p>In this case, when the torch dies and the trumpet fades, the university also disappears. What remains is a 600-acre preserve for the propagation of ignorance and fear.</p>
<p>To say Fenves combines the two, that what he fails to say says more about the man charged with trying to kill Rushdie than it does about the university whose job it is to protect Rushdie’s lifework, is to say Fenves’s “get well soon” tweet is a disgrace.</p>
<p>Fenves doesn’t name or quote from Rushdie’s work.</p>
<p>Either he knows nothing about Rushdie, or wants nothing to do with those who support Rushdie.</p>
<p>Either the know-nothing style of university politics is a perquisite of power, or a prerequisite for attaining power.</p>
<p>Either way, the result is abuse of power.</p>
<p>Truth is more powerful still, arming every freethinker with the courage of a warrior and the conscience of a writer.</p>
<p>This power, the power to see, arms the outsider with perspective.</p>
<p>The writer who shares his perspective, be it a portrait of an artist or an exile’s portrait of life in the time of acquiescence, defies death.</p>
<p>He’s defiant to the end, not because he has no respect, but because he refuses to respect that which doesn’t deserve respect: telling graduates to do likewise, so they may question everything and take nothing for granted.</p>
<p>So says Salman Rushdie, in his <a href="https://time.com/collection-post/3889267/salman-rushdie-graduation-speech-emory/">commencement speech</a> at Emory University.</p>
<p>Rushdie earns the last word.</p>
Bill Asher