Liberal professors least of college worries
Posted: 12:01am on Mar 6, 2012; Modified: 6:19am on Mar 6, 2012
College isn’t cool on the GOP campaign trail.
First we had Mitt Romney accusing President Barack Obama of hanging out, at least metaphorically, in “the faculty lounge,” a supposed bastion of liberal intellectual pontification that doesn’t really exist. University professors don’t have much time to lounge these days.
Now we have Rick Santorum taking umbrage at Obama’s suggestion that young people aspire to the college classroom.
“President Obama has said he wants everybody in America to go to college,” Santorum said at a recent tea party event. “What a snob. ... There are good, decent men and women who go out and work hard every day and put their skills to test, who aren’t taught by some liberal college professor (who) tries to indoctrinate them.”
[+]
Note from Terry: I know people have mixed feelings about links. But when I see the 100 CM correspondents are unable to get even one post up by noon, I think, "Hey, might as well upload something," if for no other reason for today's correct date to be at the top of the blog. Is that bad?
I feel like a hypocrite, because I'm not one of the 100 writers. But, yeah, when half the day is gone and there's not a single post, vidshizzle, or link, I just feel like maybe the page has gone under.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like it used to be busier.
Yawn, more "woe is me the page is dying" crap. Go read something else.
ReplyDeleteI don't mind the links. Between this and my FB newsfeed (where colleagues send along the latest claptrap coming out of the Crampicle), this is where I get the bulk of my news re: education.
ReplyDelete@WhatLadder:
ReplyDeleteI've been reading a long time. I love the page. I think it's okay if I state my opinion about the frequency of posts.
I don't understand how several one person academic blogs have a post nearly every day, and this is a blog with 100 authors, and there are many days when we get to noon (like Terry noted above) and there's no posting.
Maybe I'm greedy, but I'd like to read more. No, I don't write for the blog. I don't think I'm a good enough writer to match the wit and style of most people who I admire on here, but I still feel as though I'm part of the community.
A lot of people write the page and query the same way: 100 writers? and you get 2-3 real posts a day?
ReplyDeleteI know many folks who are vocal don't think that's a problem. I'm on record as wishing we had more posts, more traffic, etc., not out of an ego - try being a moderator if you want a true zen-like destruction of that - but out of a belief that what is at the core of our endeavor is worth sharing with every academic we can reach.
There are about 60 people on the correspondent list who post no more than 1 time every 6 months. You all which writers do the heavy lifting in posting and commenting.
As one very visible member of the community often writes to me when this topic comes up: "It is what it is." Which is, I have to say, my least favorite saying in the world. Because this can change.
Back on topic...
ReplyDeleteSantorum is right. Kids nowadays are coddled into believing they're all smart, special, made of magic, pixie dust, and can do anything they set their mind to. Harsh reality is 50% of society is below average intelligence and someone has to work at mcdonalds.
Too bad Rick Santorum is the last person who should lecture anyone on living in a self-important fantasy.
DeleteOMG, thank goodness Stalker's here to keep us on topic!!!
DeleteMore to the point, someone needs to fix cars and plumbing and install hvac systems and build roads and take care of the young and the elderly and other stuff that can't be done halfway across the world and shipped or piped in via fiberoptic line or satellite. But as numerous commentators have pointed out, Obama realizes that; he's calling for everyone to get a high school diploma and *some* post-hs training and/or education. At least until and unless we make the minimum wage a living wage (and I don't see that happening any time soon), that's the minimum necessary to sustain an independent adult life.
DeleteGeeze, excuse me for having a day job. I'll try to work up my impotent rage for another post, but I don't want wear out the "Job hunting sucks" theme.
ReplyDeleteThe mail on this issue is running decidedly against the notion that we try to increase the number of posts. And, Bison, seriously, nobody was calling you out personally. 100 people have rights to post; you aren't the one anyone thinks is slacking.
DeleteThis is an issue I've felt strongly about since I started the page in June of 2010, but it's clear there's very little support for it. I hate to let it go, but clearly it does nothing but ramp up the disapproving emails and I apologize to anyone who was annoyed by comments about it. I will do my best not to bring it up again.
My bad! I was being a sarcastic bastard, but I should have indicated that in my post. I realize now that one could read it straight and think I took offense (I didn't).
DeleteI think it might just be that time of year, where we are all holding our breath for spring (or spring break at least). Lately I've all I've wanted to do is put in the barest amount of office time possible and then run home to inhale as much scotch as I can until I pass out, awakening only to do it all over again.
Having links as part of the mix is fine with me. And, while I understand Fab's point of view, I also worry that more content would mean my spending more time reading here ;)
ReplyDelete1. Wait, didn't Rick Santorum go to college? Does that make him a product of his education? That's scary to consider.
ReplyDelete2. I don't mind links at all (not to rehash that old topic). At least they keep me up to date on news.
3. Do you know how disheartening it is to spend an hour writing a blog entry and to have only five people comment? Yes, sometimes it's the blase content, or people are tired and are just skimming, and sometimes many posts go up in a matter of hours and something you worked on gets pushed to the fifth page even though it's new. Instead of whining that there aren't any new posts up, I go back to read old ones from days when I was too busy to do anything but my regular job. Maybe the nature of a blog is that whatever is at the top is the best thing, but I enjoy reading ones that got pushed down b/c three people suddenly posted something. A bunch went up last week (I know b/c one of mine got pushed down to the degree that by the time I posted, three others were above it already).
FabSun, are there no new people volunteering to contribute? If old timers aren't posting anymore, then they can go back to being people who email you their posts, can't they? I wouldn't be offended if I were too busy to post and my posting 'privileges' were given over to someone else who is actually able to contribute.
Oh, Christ, here we go again.
ReplyDeleteAnd, we're off and running in the same old unhelpful direction again.
DeleteI'm with Cassandra: more posts mean that I'd spend more time here. Be careful what you wish for -- if this place were really bustling, some of the constant readers and occasional contributors would have to drop out because we have other things to do that actually bring in money.
ReplyDeleteI have no particular problem with e-mailed posts if my slot is keeping someone prolific from contributing. It would mean that I can't pick my own graphics and formatting, but I could just e-mail a hyptertext file with the desired graphics attached.
Oh, and this page is a "true stories" page. The reality is that almost nobody has enough true stories of academic misery to post every day.
DeleteIf there was someone posting every single day for months on end, I would suspect them of exaggeration.
Exactly. Sometimes it's just miserable, not entertainingly miserable.
Delete