Well, I finished the last of my Fontbonne classes last Thursday and just checked my grades and will be leaving that part of my education with a 4.0. Now, my mom could verify this for you, but I’m pretty sure I haven’t had all As since about 2nd grade and two semesters in a row is pretty crazy. The really terrible part is that this was the most expensive, but easiest educational endeavor I’ve ever encountered, and it has been frustrating the whole way through. You could check the archives of my Blogger site to really see, but I guess in the end, I’ve just been lucky before with Hannibal and Truman and hopefully I won’t keep being disillusioned with higher education in the future…
Glad That's Over…
Well, I finished the last of my Fontbonne classes last Thursday and just checked my grades and will be leaving that part of my education with a 4.0. Now, my mom could verify this for you, but I’m pretty sure I haven’t had all As since about 2nd grade and two semesters in a row is pretty crazy. The really terrible part is that this was the most expensive, but easiest educational endeavor I’ve ever encountered, and it has been frustrating the whole way through. You could check the archives of my Blogger site to really see, but I guess in the end, I’ve just been lucky before with Hannibal and Truman and hopefully I won’t keep being disillusioned with higher education in the future…
Kinda sad…
Some statistics from the May 2006 issue of Popular Science:
- 68% of American fourth-graders perform below math-proficiency levels for their grade
- American 15-year-olds rank 21st out of 30 industrialized countries in math
- American 15-year-olds rank 19th out of 29 industrialized countries in science
- 42% of American middle school science teachers lack certification in their field
- 23% of undergraduate degrees are awarded in science, technology and engineering in the United States
- 64% of undergraduate degrees are awarded in science, technology and engineering in Japan
It’s stuff like this that makes me consider teaching high school instead of going into industry, etc…or at the very least, teaching high school around retirement time rather than at a college somewhere…
Brooke and I are both reading a book now titled “The World is Flat,” by Thomas Friedman, which is about rapid globalization in the 21st century…how the U.S. is quickly falling behind other countries like India and China in technology, etc…? He points out how it can be a good thing for the U.S., since we as Americans tend to do well when we’re challenged (i.e. World War II, the Space Race, etc.), but we’ve gotta start getting in gear unless we want to be left behind.
In any case, it makes me wonder what everyone’s doing with their lives, then. If we’ve got so many people going to college nowadays, why aren’t more of them majoring in “pure” sciences or engineering? It’s not like getting degrees in physics or chemical engineering are going to leave you without a lucrative job when you get out… Maybe it’s because you really need a graduate education before you get a money-making job (not in all cases, of course)?
I dunno…I still find it sad, though…especially sad that the American public is more preoccupied with their own wealth and with Tom and Katie’s new baby rather than with trying to figure out how the world works and, therefore, how to fix its problems.
Need I say more?
So, I was flipping through Daily Kos (who was interviewed on The Colbert Report a few weeks back, so I’ve been checking out the blog recently) and saw this posting referring to an article at Think Progress regarding a new policy by our friends in the government regarding funding for abstinence education. Think Progress made the following highlights:
“In addition to being costly, inaccurate, and ineffective, the programs must now operate under a strict new definition of abstinence:”
Abstinence curricula must have a clear definition of sexual abstinence which must be consistent with the following: ‘Abstinence means voluntarily choosing not to engage in sexual activity until marriage. Sexual activity refers to any type of genital contact or sexual stimulation between two persons including, but not limited to, sexual intercourse.’
Later, the guidelines explicitly define marriage:
Throughout the entire curriculum, the term ‘marriage’ must be defined as ‘only a legal union between one man and one woman as a husband and wife, and the word ?spouse? refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife.’ (Consistent with Federal law)”
Seriously…can’t people simply stop persecuting the people who a). they don’t understand and b). they don’t agree with? What damage, exactly, would pre-marital sex and homosexual relations have to America (or the world)? Isn’t it worse to get married just to have sex, and then have a baby, and then get a divorce? Are they going to outlaw birth control next?
…there are times, yo…I swear…
Oh, ignorance…
So, Slashdot has run a few stories in the past few days about global warming.?? According to a recent poll, 71% of Americans are now ready to believe that global warming is real and is a problem.? This is after researchers, for years, have said that it’s a problem.? Science Magazine, in Dec. 2004, reported that out of 928 scientific papers published in research periodicals, 75% accepted the “consensus view” that global warming is caused by humans, while the other 25% didn’t say either way; none of them said explicitly that humans are not the cause.
So, with overwhelming evidence, why is it that many people refuse to believe it? I mean, there’s a girl in my class that refuses to believe that global warming is caused by human involvement!? She admits that it’s happening, but says that it’s caused by the “natural cycle” that Earth goes through between ice ages. Perhaps most disturbing, researchers are finding it difficult to report their findings due to pressure from the Bush Administration, being told to remove references to global warming from web sites and their reports.
…so wtf?!? I mean, so far as the Bush Administration goes, they just want to keep us under an oil-based economy so they keep getting kickbacks from the Middle East, but why does the American public go along with it?!? Are the just stupid? What is with that remaining 29% that makes them not believe that humans are the primary cause of accelerating global warming?
…as with many social issues, I guess I just don’t get it…
So, I was sitting in class…
…and Dr. Ryerse was talking to us about Gap Junctions. Basically, these are connections between cells that are made up of proteins. Think of them like connecting two pieces of cloth with a hollow rivet… They are very important in a variety of cellular functions, but perhaps most importantly, in synchronizing all of the cells in the heart (and muscle in general) to make one single contraction and pump our blood.
Anyway, in talking about these, he brought up a few points (most of which I can’t remember…) that got me thinking about how much of ourselves we know nothing about. In the physical sense, our bodies “just work”…but how and why? I mean, we go walking around every day and the general public doesn’t know (or care…) about how the cells in our heart know how to contract at the same time and pump our blood.But we’ve been working on “science,” in the general sense of the word, for thousands of years yet we’ve only scratched the surface.
Shouldn’t we care about these things? Shouldn’t we be more interested in learning all that there is to know about our bodies, so we know how to fix the problems there, rather than the problems between bodies in foreign countries? If I remember right, Bush plans on cutting a variety of programs, generally social, educational and scientific interests, in favor of more money to finance his Iraq vendetta. Does this make sense?
I guess it’s just human nature, but here’s the point: people don’t care how something works, only that it continues to work. People don’t care about science until it affects them. Funding for scientific endeavours is only readily available to people working on health-related fields, while funding for other research (such as ecology, sociology, etc.) is harder to come by. We save the minimal amount of funding to pay for “important” things like helping fix lung cancer (caused by cigarettes) or funding faster propulsion (so we can blow up other countries) or funding research into lower emission vehicles (because we have to drive big SUVs rather than using the smaller vehicles we already have).
Seriously, I think if the USA just saved a third of the money being poured into Iraq and other worthless ventures (congressional salaries, military stockpiling, tax cuts for the rich, etc.) and instead put it into general scientific (physics, biology, chemistry…) and social (arts, humanities…) research, the world would get a lot better really quickly.
At the very least, we, as a culture, would be seen as less hypocritical in the eyes of our enemies…’cause that’d solve a lot of other problems…
…it’s amazing what thoughts can come out of a discussion on gap junctions, eh?
College doesn't teach you things
So, today I heard on Rover’s Morning Glory (replaced Howard Stern here in the midwest…) that this group called the American Institutes for Research published a study about college students and how they aren’t prepared for life after graduation; the full results of the study are published online. Here are a few highlights:
- Students in 2- and 4-year colleges have the greatest difficulty with quantitative literacy: approximately 30 percent of students in 2-year institutions and nearly 20 percent of students in 4-year institutions have only Basic quantitative literacy. Basic skills are those necessary to compare ticket prices or calculate the cost of a sandwich and a salad from a menu.
- There are no significant differences in the literacy of students graduating from public and private institutions. Additionally, in assessing literacy levels, there are no differences between part-time and full-time students. No overall relationship exists between literacy and the length of time it takes to earn a degree, or between literacy and an academic major.
- Literacy level is significantly higher among students who say their coursework places a strong emphasis on applying theories or concepts to practical problems, in comparison to students who say their coursework rarely touch on these skills.
Yeah, I’ve kinda wondered about this for awhile…? I mean, most college students (in my opinion) don’t think they really learn anything useful, or things that pertain to their career (for example, taking a class like LAS Calculus or Writing as Critical Thinking).? Personally, most of those “worthless” classes for me were silly because I had the same thing or better in high school, so I didn’t see why I needed to take the same thing again.? On the other hand, I consider Hickman High to be amongst the top high schools in the state, which is a far cry from some high schools with fewer resources to draw from in more rural areas.
I guess I’m not sure what I think about these results. I think it’s pretty dumb that you can graduate from college without knowing how to tell how many more miles you can drive when your car gets 30 mi/gal and you have 4 gallons of gas left (this study pointed out that there are college graduates who can’t figure that out…and it’s an unbelievably high percentage…). I guess that classes should try and incorporate more “real life” examples into their classes, or perhaps even have a required freshman-year course titled “Life: How to not be an idiot.”
On the other hand, I guess the best way to learn about life is just to live. There are some things you simply can’t learn from coursework…but seriously…if you don’t know how to figure out how much further you can drive on a half tank of gas, you’re an idiot and don’t deserve that degree…
College doesn’t teach you things
So, today I heard on Rover’s Morning Glory (replaced Howard Stern here in the midwest…) that this group called the American Institutes for Research published a study about college students and how they aren’t prepared for life after graduation; the full results of the study are published online. Here are a few highlights:
- Students in 2- and 4-year colleges have the greatest difficulty with quantitative literacy: approximately 30 percent of students in 2-year institutions and nearly 20 percent of students in 4-year institutions have only Basic quantitative literacy. Basic skills are those necessary to compare ticket prices or calculate the cost of a sandwich and a salad from a menu.
- There are no significant differences in the literacy of students graduating from public and private institutions. Additionally, in assessing literacy levels, there are no differences between part-time and full-time students. No overall relationship exists between literacy and the length of time it takes to earn a degree, or between literacy and an academic major.
- Literacy level is significantly higher among students who say their coursework places a strong emphasis on applying theories or concepts to practical problems, in comparison to students who say their coursework rarely touch on these skills.
Yeah, I’ve kinda wondered about this for awhile…? I mean, most college students (in my opinion) don’t think they really learn anything useful, or things that pertain to their career (for example, taking a class like LAS Calculus or Writing as Critical Thinking).? Personally, most of those “worthless” classes for me were silly because I had the same thing or better in high school, so I didn’t see why I needed to take the same thing again.? On the other hand, I consider Hickman High to be amongst the top high schools in the state, which is a far cry from some high schools with fewer resources to draw from in more rural areas.
I guess I’m not sure what I think about these results. I think it’s pretty dumb that you can graduate from college without knowing how to tell how many more miles you can drive when your car gets 30 mi/gal and you have 4 gallons of gas left (this study pointed out that there are college graduates who can’t figure that out…and it’s an unbelievably high percentage…). I guess that classes should try and incorporate more “real life” examples into their classes, or perhaps even have a required freshman-year course titled “Life: How to not be an idiot.”
On the other hand, I guess the best way to learn about life is just to live. There are some things you simply can’t learn from coursework…but seriously…if you don’t know how to figure out how much further you can drive on a half tank of gas, you’re an idiot and don’t deserve that degree…
Faith in Government
My faith in the US Judicial System has been restored…somewhat… According to CNN, the judge overseeing the Intelligent Design case in Dover, PA has ruled the teaching of ID in public school as unconstitutional. To quote the judge:
“It is ironic that several of these individuals, who so staunchly and proudly touted their religious convictions in public, would time and again lie to cover their tracks and disguise the real purpose behind the ID Policy.”
He apparently left a 139-page opinion on the subject. Needless to say, I’m glad it turned out this way. At least our classrooms and children are safe from the religious right yet again…
…for the time being…
Score one for the Catholics…
So, Tony sent me this link from FOX News…ironically… Apparently, an astronomer from the Vatican has said that Intelligent Design has no place alongside evolution in the science classroom. He’s the highest-ranking Catholic to make such a statement.
a). FOX News finally put out some useful information that isn’t conservative in nature.
b). The Catholics apparently aren’t completely incompetent in leadership as previously believed…
c). Now, we just need to get the Catholics to admit that open communion and women in the clergy are alright and we’ll be making some progress…
Hey, it’s a step in the right direction, right?