Education is Killing Us
Statistics Canada is reporting that there were 1.01 million university registrations this year. But what does that stat tell us in and of itself? Does it mean more of us are devoted to higher learning? Does it mean that we are churning out smarter adults? NO.
It means a bunch of other things though, that are symptoms of the sorrowful democratization of education we have experienced in this country over the past 20 years:
1. That corporate institutions are growing obese by stealing filthy amounts of money via tuition from stupid peoples' mouths and their stupid parents' credit lines.
2. That a lot more stupid people are graduating with worthless undergraduate degrees.
3. That a lot more stupid people will live the rest of their lives under the horribly mistaken illusion that they are educated, but they'll be doing the same jobs they would have qualified for in the 1980s with only a high school diploma.
4. That scores of North York, Woodbridge and Vaughan teens will continue to drive SUVs to York U every day, play cards, find spouses, drop out and grow up thinking Machiavelli is some designer who makes awesome shoes and hand bags.
5. I could go on forever here, but basically, it means that we are increasing our stupid quo exponentially.
Down with education for the stupid! Up with elitism!
Stop the madness- let them eat mud and drool in the fields where they belong!!!
It means a bunch of other things though, that are symptoms of the sorrowful democratization of education we have experienced in this country over the past 20 years:
1. That corporate institutions are growing obese by stealing filthy amounts of money via tuition from stupid peoples' mouths and their stupid parents' credit lines.
2. That a lot more stupid people are graduating with worthless undergraduate degrees.
3. That a lot more stupid people will live the rest of their lives under the horribly mistaken illusion that they are educated, but they'll be doing the same jobs they would have qualified for in the 1980s with only a high school diploma.
4. That scores of North York, Woodbridge and Vaughan teens will continue to drive SUVs to York U every day, play cards, find spouses, drop out and grow up thinking Machiavelli is some designer who makes awesome shoes and hand bags.
5. I could go on forever here, but basically, it means that we are increasing our stupid quo exponentially.
Down with education for the stupid! Up with elitism!
Stop the madness- let them eat mud and drool in the fields where they belong!!!
Labels: Reports
posted by K-Dough at 12:23 PM
25 Comments:
Finally, something we can agree on.
Hey JC- that's not fair. We've agreed on many titillating topics.
I disagree.
Same ol' same old. People who are interested in life, and passionate about something...hell, ANYTHING...will be successful. The rest are pylons; university educated or not.
I'd have to fall on the side of believing the focus on the importance of education is a good thing, though I have serious concerns whenever I see the alarming degree of illiteracy at that level. How the fuck is that possible?
Leather-I absolutely agree that "focus on education is a good thing". In a vacuum.
Problem is, the reasoning is weak these days. It is no longer a broad goal of universities to make better people. Neither is it a broad goal of the mass of mouthbreathing students to become better people.
It's about money on both sides. It's about increasing economic status or social mobility. That's noble on the low end of the scale. But the reality is that the large increase in registrations is not due to an influx of those on the bottom rung of our socio-economic ladder.
The(generalized)reason teens go to college or university now is because they are expected to. That's pretty much the same as sitting on a really expensive couch all fucking day putting in time.
It's McEducation.
I agree. I got me no book learnin, and now I are a writer!
Interesting, if depressingly accurate summary. (Perhaps my definition of "successful" would be bafflingly elusive to most modern day students.)
But really, K-Dough, what institution these days, at it's core, ISN'T about increasing economic status?
As artists, we both pursued careers in the arts driven by pure motives, but at some point (when record companies become involved, for example)it always comes down to increasing economic status. That has become the universal measuring stick. Fortunately, thoughtful people still inhabit the earth, albeit in decreasing numbers.
(Having said that, it would be nice to be able to pay down that fucking credit card this month, thus freeing my soul for further enlightenment...)
I know, I know... I was just the first one to post and I couldn't think of anything, so I spewed that instead.
McEducation... if you go for a doctorate is that like super-sizing your education?
If you don't finish your thesis, is that like ordering sans the transfats?
Frankly, given the doorknobs I've been spending the last 3 weeks interviewing, I'd settle for them being able to read.
Do they not teach people how to research in University anymore?
Although I just signed up for French class' at the local college... A Catholic College, so you know the parties are good. My French teacher is this little Parisian hottie who can't be more than 25 years old, with huge tits, and a tight ass.
My wife is definately going to wonder why I'm so excited about going to class.
Usually I just read the textbooks and take the tests... my attendance is not mandatory in my mind.
So there is no way she isn't going to get suspicious.
Lucky for me they don't have "Spouse/Teacher" interviews.
"Well Mrs. Joe, your husband would do much better if he could focus more on the work and less on my ass".
K-Dough, generalizations are not good. I agree that there are people who shouldn't be in university or college in the first place but a lot of students do go to university to get higher education instead of finding a way to make a lot of money.
At least I can speak for myself. I didn't go to university because that is what my parents expected me to do. I went because it was what I wanted to do. And I worked hard to get into university. I am not one of those gifted people who can get good marks without studying. I had to study to get those marks. And when generalizations like that are made, it undermines my and many other people's efforts to get into university for getting an education instead of finding a channel for making loads of money.
Ha! I feel a thesis coming on here:
The Political-Economy of Personal Fiscal Pressures, the Credit Industry and Their Effects on the Antiquarian Ideal of a Gentleman's Leisure Education in Contemporary Canada
That's good...really good. For my defense, I can site failed marriages as collateral damage....
Joanne- you have alot of spirit. Don't let my blathering affect that. I see university from a different view point than you. I've experienced the seedy dictates of infrastructure on curriculum and the cattle mentality that profs ascribe to your pool of wide-eyed feeder fish.
When you make it to the grad or TA level we'll talk. But in the mean time, continue your zealous study. It's good for you. And eat your fibre too!
JC/Leather- I would never write such a book. My vernacular-level title would be "Why You Should Fuck Your French Teacher Because I Can't- But Here, Let Me Show you First"...
Hmm,,I wonder if little Miss Kay-Dough will be expected to go to University..I bet she will.
But of course, she will be brilliant, right?
(oh, and marry doctors.)
ALT: Oh, look at you now: all contrary and such. Why can't you just change your name to A Little More Sympathetic Thought?
Ok. Education almost killed me; same as the music induistry. Know why? Because man can not live on Kraft Dinner alone! My organs were all turning orange!!!! Oh and I smoked 2 packs a day and stayed up all hours writing papers and theses and drank and cavorted. Hey, wait a sec...what's changed. I digress.
In any case, the constant intellectual bending-to-the-point-of-breaking killed my academic spirit. Good thing I believe in the phoenix.
Thanks for calling me a diamond. Although, I think of myself more as Lemmy without the moles and better hygiene.
My daughter wants to sing in a band with me. (That's when the heavy drinking started...)
I am a roads collar.
Cletus: At least you aware... admitting is the first step towards euthanasia.
thangks for your kind thots all aite kids want to go but the plain fair is alot.
Thanks KD, thanks very fucking much... because of you, I've now got images of my youth, and hot dog stew, floating in my head.
I hated school, I hated paying for school, I hated not having any money left after paying for school, but most of all, I hated my parents for making just enough money to screw me out of students loans while knowingly spending all their money so they wouldn't have any left to pay for my schooling... bringing me full circle to the hot dog stew dinner.
I will take this opportunity to thank Amex for being so patient with me through University... if not for the green card, and Dinners club, I'da starved man.
Sorry to tell you this, pal, but university students stupid quotient has not changed one bit over the years. The only change is that papa's money isn't the only thing that gets you in nowadays. The doors are open a bit wider, but the raw material (and the product) ain't much different.
John Testor for the big cheese job!!! John Testor will lead Montana out of the 1800's and into the 22nd century.
We have the right to bear arms, and thats god-given. We might wanna rethink the "we have the right to shoot people" part though.
what!!! you mean i'm not a failure for not finding the husband? for not marrying; popping out kids (sorry Kimmie...); holding down an over-rated job? You mean i'm not a success for finally getting my over-achiever honours bachelor -- 10 years after i initially started? you mean, education isn't going to give me a standing, a position, or a social strata? Shit...that's $40K down the drain.
Sheena is very happily ABD and will likely be so for the rest of her life.
There. I've said it. Now I can move on.
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