Fall '07 Day 3

On the second day of my latest attempt to obtain a shiny piece of paper Tammy Erickson wonders about the future worth of said document (h/t Instapundit).  The old musings about the same thing pop up again in my own mind today, the third day of this current college try.  Especially this thought from Erickson:

And finally, although I hate to say it: a perception that at least parts of today’s college education are actually not particularly relevant may pervade more and more young people’s (and older employers’) consciousness.

Not particularly relevant or flat out wrong.  Something along the lines my political science professor comparing Nixon and Reagan - as opposed to contrasting - in terms of the philosophies of each regarding the size of government.  With Nixon we have wage and price controls, an indexing of Social Security for inflation, the creation of Supplemental Security Income, implementation of the Philadelphia Plan (a federal affirmative action program), and the creation both the EPA and OSHA.  Not exactly Reagan.

There was also the imposition of the national speed limit - 55 mph - in 1974.  He brought this up, but failed to mention a date or a President - merely put it into the context of the energy crisis.  I wonder what the answer would be to a question like:  Who was President during the energy crisis?  More importantly, what was the actual effect of the federal speed limit?  Somewhere around a 1% reduction in gasoline consumption.  Blessed are the regulators.

I also found out John Edwards is more of a Republican than I am because the more education you have, the more money you make, and the more Republican you are.  Also, the more in debt you are, but only if the financial aid office can motivate itself to do something.  Funny that.

Now is between class time.  Next up is an English class. 

English teacher by day, rent-a-cop by night - drive-thru operator on the weekend.  He's a busy guy - not that there's anything wrong with that.  He does give off strong Trekkie vibes though, and of the four books we're scheduled to read I've already read three.  He's also really into issues.  Great.  The Jungle, Catcher in the Rye, and Death of Sales Man are chock full of issues.  A hotdog vendor kills himself by becoming his own product. 

Would it be a terribly bad idea for an English class to read something like Moby Dick or, maybe, something by Shakespeare?  Maybe A Modest Proposal to introduce us to satire so we don't fall into this sort of stupid (the Lewis excuse, not the Captain's Wookiee-like take down of Lewis).  Or is this all about the number of books you read (or buy) in a year as opposed to the type of books you read?  Quality or quantity - aspects of this education thing being wholly irrelevant.

Nuance.

Posted by: Jason at 01:32 PM in Edukated | No Comments | Add Comment
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