Revalorizing the Trades - The Chronicle Review - The Chronicle of Higher Education
Jobs, jobs, jobs: We need a sweeping revalorization of the trades. The pressuring of middle-class young people into officebound, paper-pushing jobs is cruelly shortsighted. Concrete manual skills, once gained through the master-apprentice alliance in guilds, build a secure identity. Our present educational system defers credentialing and maturity for too long. When middle-class graduates in their mid-20s are just stepping on the bottom rung of the professional career ladder, many of their working-class peers are already self-supporting and married with young children.
The elite schools, predicated on molding students into mirror images of their professors, seem divorced from any rational consideration of human happiness. In a period of global economic turmoil, with manufacturing jobs migrating overseas and service-sector jobs diminishing in availability and prestige, educators whose salaries are paid by hopeful parents have an obligation to think in practical terms about the destinies of their charges. That may mean a radical stripping down of course offerings, with all teachers responsible for a core curriculum. But every four-year college or university should forge a reciprocal relationship with regional trade schools.
I think university should have a purpose outside of (and perhaps exclusive of) job training, Camille is on the money when it comes to postsecondary education in general.
There is hope. Only a few years ago, to challenge the supremacy of the new nerd religion was to invite scorn from most undergraduates. This is no longer so. A post-Facebook generation is appearing, and its members are questioning the legacy of their predecessors. Recently, when I asked students not to tweet or blog during a lecture, so that they might exist, they stood and cheered.
The End of Human Specialness - The Chronicle Review - The Chronicle of Higher Education
Google's Book Search: A Disaster for Scholars - The Chronicle Review - The Chronicle of Higher Education
When teachers condescendingly handle literature as repositories of reactionary values, crossword puzzles, and historical documents, Morson observes that students are driven away by “a nose for nonsense.” When the pursuit of truth, beauty, and goodness is replaced by political grievances (Gender Studies, Ethnic Studies, Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender Studies, Postcolonial Studies), we do not advance humanistic education. Instead, we “nurture the feckless antinomianism that Jacques Barzun dubbed ‘directionless quibble,’ ” as Roger Kimball wrote in Tenured Radicals.
I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.
This is not the same as saying, “I disapprove of what you say, but I will not only defend your right to say it, but I will help you say it as loudly, as often, and in any venue you please.”
It is perfectly reasonable to say, “I disapprove of what you say, and while I can’t stop you from saying it, I still think you shouldn’t.”
Just be mindful of when your beliefs and preferences are in the wrong. We’re not always right and sometimes people’s responses are a sign we made a mistake.
True enough. It can also be a sign they don’t like something about you, or that they’re in the wrong. I try to pay attention, though.
“Drawing attention to it?”
If you mean the guy who’s femmy and has a lisp (the “fabulous” archetype) that’s just someone being themselves. It’s no different than me wearing my fauxmilitary jacket or you listening to music you like.
Self expression is not rubbing your face in it. It’s just being.
I agree in part. Being black and straight, I have way more experience with the black token than the gay token, so that’s coloring my response. Sometimes self-expression is just being, sometimes is projecting. Or maybe I just don’t like hanging out with the “fabulous” / femmy types.
Ngl, I don’t think I’d enjoy being friends with you.
I’m not really surprised, considering I’m politically and socially conservative, and an evangelical seminary student. You might though. I’m not really that bad in person.
(via queersecrets)
I’m talking about someone who is of less worth socially because they hurt people. Maybe douchebag is a better term.
I mean that I’m okay with the fact that my beliefs and preferences offend people sometimes. It’s unavoidable, so I don’t worry about it too much.
I agree, but also think being a toolbag is sometimes fun.
I don’t see how.
Denis Leary, “I’m an Asshole”…that’s how.
Who even does that? Seriously? I have never met a single gay, trans or whatever person who talked all day about it. It’s not that interesting to us, since we live it. More often it’s cis and straight people who ask us incessant questions about it.
I’m not sure what “cis” means, but that’s cool. Maybe GLBTs are different where you’re from. I’ve worked with several men who couldn’t stop being “the gay guy.” They didn’t always talk about what it’s like to be gay, but they were always drawing attention to their sexuality. This is the same as a guy my wife worked with who couldn’t stop being “the black guy.” I just don’t like being around people who can only talk about one issue, or people who yearn to be the token.
I do however know of many trans folks who have to constantly correct cis folks about shit they’re saying about them that is wrong. If that’s you think rambling about it is, you’re sorely mistaken.
That’s not what I was thinking, no.
But if it’s just an attention span and boredom thing, that’s cool. I get that. I hate hearing about people’s favorite bands all day too.
Boredom and annoyance. Yes, just like that. “I don’t want to talk about your sexuality / the White Stripes / LOST / the Yankees anymore. Please change the subject, or go somewhere else.” It might sound rude, but I’d only say that if I still wanted to be friends. Otherwise I’d distract you somehow and mysteriously disappear…
(via queersecrets)
Hot Air » AP: Gee, those stimulus projections seem optimistic
That’s a real shocker, isn’t it? That last sentence is a perfect description of Obamanomics. Heck, the Recovery Summer campaign was nothing but rosy predictions based on fantasy and ignorance of the “challenges, pitfalls, and economic realities” of the American economy as a whole.
(via queersecrets)
If you truly didn’t care, listening to people talking about their self-descriptions shouldn’t bother you.
I’m pretty sure it’s not listening to people’s self-descriptions, it’s their obsession with them. Too many people find their identity in their sexuality, and have no way of relating to anyone without it. Instead of talking to a waiter who is gay, I’m talking to a gay man who is a waiter. There’s a massive difference.
Even if there is a difference, it’s not my place to have a problem with it. I don’t have a problem interacting with waiter who is gay or with a gay man who is a water. It’s not my place to police others’ self-expression.
It’s not your place to have a problem with it? Do you mean “it’s not my place to limit another person’s expression to suit my preferences” or “it’s not my place to have a preference”? The first is fine, the second is ridiculous. No one’s policing self-expression, but I have a right say, “You’re annoying me, so talk about something else. If you want to keep talking about this, talk to someone else.”
You’ve got a right to your preferences. It’s just that some preferences (and some ways of expressing them) make you a colossal asshole.
I’m okay with that, though I didn’t create this graphic.
If you really don’t wanna talk about identity and whatnot, just change the subject. Be like, “oh hey, I wanted to get your opinion on [insert thing unrelated to identity here]” It’s not hard to avoid being a toolbag.
I agree, but also think being a toolbag is sometimes fun.
And maybe you should think about why you don’t wanna talk about identity. Because preferences can come from a bigoted place (like the white girl who says she could never date any black man based on the few she’s met) and that matters a lot. So I’d think about that too.
Maybe you shouldn’t assume I haven’t thought about this deeply. I’m pretty sure I said above that the problem isn’t talking about identity or self-expression. The preference isn’t against the thing, it’s against talking about it all the live long day. That’s what therapists are for. I pay mine good money to listen to me talk about crap no one else wants to hear, and I have no interest in taking up the profession.
