In my mind, state unis are a blessing to our society. They encourage minds to absorb more knowledge and the state sponsors such systems because their graduates benefit our society. And for all the talk about how worthless X or Y degree may be, we can still see the benefits of citizens who are more educated versus those who are less educated.
But I am aware that my own politics and worldview are not shared with the majority of my fellow Americans. And so we learn that California's universities (once world-renowned, now enduring the third year of extreme cuts that is having a profound effect on its ranking, quality, and accessibility) are absorbing yet another cut of TWENTY PERCENT of their state budgets.
I don't understand this. I don't see how cutting these kinds of beneficial services is a good idea. It's like saving money by unplugging the fridge, only to then throw out all your food and waste money replacing it. It's incredibly short-sighted, ill-guided, and absurd.
I don't like that my exasperation in our profession is so frequently pushed to the extreme that I consider leaving it for another profession on a now-monthly basis. Surely there is more than this. Surely it isn't that bad.
Very apt metaphor of throwing out what's most important in a society--education. But then again, maybe that's NOT what's most important to the government, despite platitudes that it is, indeed a priority.
ReplyDeleteOur SLAC benefits from the cuts to the CSU system, but students don't necessarily benefit...
Who do you suppose IS benefiting?
I think that, due to the way our political system is set up, long-term thinking--such as what Monkey is suggesting here--is not rewarded. All politicians are worried about is what will keep them in office, which is a whole bunch of short-term goals. Education is a long-term thing, hence why they lip about it but don't actually legislate any pro-education things.
ReplyDeleteCalifornia made the decision a long time ago to build prisons and fill them to overflow with the idiotic drug laws and the "three strikes laws", etc. Some of that has to do with crypto-fascist politicians helping the fat prison guards union, a little more with Ronald Reagan's govenorship, but a lot of this comes from the decades of living under Howard Jarvis' Prop 13. To everyone who wants to teach in the UC or CSU systems, I'm sorry , the fix is in.
ReplyDeleteIt's the same thinking, I'm pretty sure, that underlies the assumption that we'll fix all those crumbling roads, bridges, dams, water and sewer pipes, etc., someday, all without raising taxes (and while paying social security and medicare at the same rate we do today). Short-term thinking, as Snarky says.
ReplyDelete@Strelnikov: the growth of the prison-industrial complex really scares me, on general principles and because it's becoming such a big employer, with a lot of capital sunk into it to boot. It's going to be harder and harder to reverse.
I'm by no means a bleeding heart when it comes to crime, but I can't help thinking that we'd be better off turning a few more of those facilities into combination drug treatment centers/alternative high schools/community colleges.
@Contingent Cassandra
ReplyDeleteThe prison-industrial complex is just the physical version of the student-loan drag on the US economy; neither of these things actually works like it should, they're too expensive to keep going, and they're both backed by the Federal government in some way, shape, or form. I agree with your conversion plan, but it will take much effort to break the "prison as mindless punishment, not reformatory" mindset the GOPsters have driven into the popular mind.
The government, which has essentially become a puppet for corporate America, does not want a populace with critical thinking skills. There is an increasing emphasis on narrow, specific types of training for low wage jobs that become obsolete about every five to seven years, thus requiring entry into another short term training program that will lead to another low wage job in the next soon to be obsolete industry. By keeping people on the edge of a carpet that can be yanked out from under them at any time (via obsolescence or unemployment), you create a class of people who don't have the energy or ability to ask questions about what government and corporations are doing. Or why one profits obscenely while the other looks away.
ReplyDeleteChoking off the state funding of public schools just drives education and, theoretically, the development of critical thinking skills, out of reach for growing numbers of our society.
I believe driving up the cost of public education, while driving down the quality, is the intentional goal of certain segments of society.
Hate to piss on this party, but in the fly-over state in which I teach, in-state students pay about 50% more for tuition than cal state students.
ReplyDelete"CSU pay the systemwide State University Fee which currently is $4,230 per academic year [2010-11]." Plus fees.
http://www.calstate.edu/SAS/fa_coa.shtml
No one in there right mind wants to see the cost of education rise. Regardless, CSU tuition looks like a relatively good deal.
Suzy, you're talking about the state program, which is more community college level. That's different from UCLA et al.
ReplyDeleteCassandra, it's been my understanding that a 10 year sentence could suffice in reforming a prisoner better than a 25-year sentence for much less the cost to taxpayers. I don't think the punishments currently have anything to do with the crimes; it's about keeping a certain level of the population imprisoned and working for 18c on the dollar.
I'm not a big conspiracy person, but the motivation and drive behind prisons have nothing to do with protecting the general population. It's about instilling fear and contributing to persistent instability in specific groups of the population under the guise of protection.
If I were to leave academia, I would like to get into prison reforms. But no one is interested in reform. It's too big business.
I think the fine folks teaching in ugrad & grad in the cal state system might be a little miffed that they have been relegated to the status of "community college level."
ReplyDeleteFor your information:
23 CSU campuses - $4300 per AY
110 CC campuses - $26 per unit
This is happening in many states. California is the canary in the coal mine for the rest of us though in terms of severity. My system is now looking at enrollment caps, strong retirement incentives, and layoffs as ways of cutting costs. They will not raise tuition or taxes (a staple of the CC budget) because that would offend their constituents, so the rest of us will just have to make do with larger class sizes, fewer supplies, unreliable and outdated technology, and more duties. There is, however, always money to hire administrators when those vacancies come up, and we have created some new positions that we never seemed to need before the budget crisis.
ReplyDeleteI teach in a UC, and tuition is so high now, and the quality of education so compromised by overstuffed classes, that I have no plans to send my kid to one. Better a small liberal arts college where you get an actual education for your student loans.
ReplyDeleteNot that I'll have a job when she hits college anyway.
I know a lot of people at Cal State. I'm familiar (too familiar) with their curriculum and students. And the 4 campuses I'm familiar with definitely put them at third tier status and even steven with juco and CCs.
ReplyDeleteBut you know what they say -- anecdotal evidence is not statistical evidence. So maybe I've just had a loooot of bad experiences with that particular system.
It's off topic anyway.
Every day there is more and more reason to leave. Meanwhile, a sizable proportion of my grad students are high school teachers who want to break into college teaching. They're all a-bubble about how great it would be to teach at the college level. How do I tell them nicely to forget it and keep the jobs they have?
ReplyDelete