Friday, April 14, 2017

How Will You Get into Princeton, Binkley | Bloom County

There's some buzz from New York about dissatisfaction with Cuomo's proposals for providing state support for state schools, etc.  They said this is more about getting re-elected than about the students.

Here at the Rockhouse, it looked like he makes a coherent step, one of many which is needed before there is an equitable system of education in America.

Meanwhile, what does Binkley want to do?


The Rockhouse has a problem with the cartoon since it's saying to us all kids need to go to trade schools so they get a job after graduation or they wasted their money.

(cough to mask the sound)  Bullshit

If you take a university degree in Arts for English Literature, the probability of finding a job in which you can analyze poems is low.  There are many degrees of that nature which are important disciplines but don't pay worth a damn.  Cadillac Man took his degree in American History and I've not heard any regrets about that; quite the opposite, in fact.

Cynic:  so such people have more money than sense

That's not true since they don't always have much money but they do have a need to learn.

Cynic:  they do poor arithmetic since they still need to survive

The state does poor arithmetic since the education shouldn't cost so much it's an impediment to survival.  That's necessarily stratifying by classes which is something America says it abhors or the Forefathers did.

Cynic:  do you want the English Lit major to get an executive gig anyway?

No and they probably don't want one anyway.  They know they have to get some real writing out to publishers very damn fast or they will wind up writing swill for CNN.  They may even wind up at Uber anyway and write on the side since it's rare to see young writers get noticed.  In any case, the English Lit major knows that deal and takes it anyway.


The pragmatic approach to education that it's not worth anything if it doesn't make money is false reasoning since that just about annihilates Arts programs and multiple others which don't have any particular commercial potential.  In some cases, the undergraduate degree program serves as the farm team for those who will ultimately become professors and students know that deal as well.  In this one you need to go for the PhD or, yes, you will end up at Uber.  However, if you do get the PhD then you will end up doing real research in the field you apparently love.  Students know the deals and they willingly take them.

It's the ones who don't understand those deals who wind up in chaos.

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