I very much enjoyed the sports programs at the undergraduate schools I attended…then was very happy to go to a small graduate school with no sports teams besides intramural teams. I just think the focus on sports is becoming too important in the lives of students and alumni. Perhaps because I am not very smart any distractions were not so good for me during my university years. I am just trying to imagine 50% of universities simply focusing on teaching and researching.
Even at the high school level in Texas there are huge, very nice stadiums built with bonds issued by cities…while teachers have trouble getting school supplies or salary increases. Everyone likes to talk about the money that sports generate for cities and universities…well, just seems like the side gig for making money has become much more than that.
By the way, I forgot to mention my other suggestion for universities…more integration with future employers. Yes, some schools do have ways to do internships and courses linked to employers but I think could do much more. At my grad school one course (which I did not take) had students working in teams to come out with an international marketing plan for a company’s product. One team per product…like a competition. Companies provided some expense money. Students really learned and really enjoyed…with a semester ending presentation in front of company executives (and any student wishing to watch).
And at a local vocational school employers were very closely aligned with the school and students in specific fields with a waiting list for the students to graduate…with companies waiting for 2 years for students to graduate. Very high demand for some fields.
I don’t disagree, many of these schools have far better facilities and stadiums than professional teams across the world. All of this adds to the cost of tuition.
Smaller schools are much better at doing this. When I was visiting schools, some of the smaller schools I’ve visited had programs where they get school credit working for businesses.
I do think more and more people are starting to realize they need to make more rational decisions on higher education, whether it’s skipping it and going into trade or picking a school or programs with a higher ROI.
Yeah, the objections are not about people participating in sports, but the boosterism from the administration and alumni, mostly about football and basketball.
Jason Stanley speaks to the CBC about his upcoming move to Canada and his analysis of the current conjuncture (that is, simply put, the US’s current path to fascism).
This is a twenty minute radio interview, conducted calmly, not a quick link. So if these issues interest you and if you have the time, get a cup of tea and settle in.
Well, U. of Colorado signed their coach to a $10 million per year deal. This is the same school which has implemented an athletic department fee for all students per semester to support the sports activities like football…since the school was running a deficit. What was sad is I saw a reporter interviewing some students who were not upset at all to pay more for tuition to help the sports program…saying their were very excited about the football team. Gotta think some parents out there are thinking what the hell…I am paying for what?
Not sure if true but read the fee is going to be raised to $90 per semester and later maybe to $130.
Had a teacher in junior college who was discussing the schools in my home town…a junior college, a vocational school and a major private university. His words still ring true today. He talked about the expense, but prestige, of the private school. He talked about some of us using junior college to save some money before transferring to a university. He then talked about the two year programs at the junior college which often led to a decent job. He then talked about the vocational school with a national reputation and how easy was for graduates to get high paying jobs if willing to work with their hands. The school used to be famous for underwater welding program…dangerous but high paying…with employers waiting for years for graduates. I often wish I had some sort of mentor when I was young and foolish to help guide me a little. My father did not go to college and was not one to make suggestions about something he did not about.
Athletic programs at Colorado universities spend more than they make, according to state auditor report “I think people like [CU Boulder Chancellor] Phil DiStefano and others have to be cautious because this could blow up in their face,” Ridpath said. “If they only won two or three games, what do you do from there? It still is an institution of higher learning, and until we reconcile that what’s going on in Boulder, Fort Collins and other places is essentially a professional sports franchise that is attached to a university, then maybe it could actually be used as an auxiliary that could be maybe even more so used as an enrollment and marketing tool.”
Ridpath expressed concern about where the money to fund these programs are coming from, and if that’s money well spent during a period where student debt nationwide has ballooned to over $1.7 trillion, and tuition continues to rise across the state and country.
Joseph Stiglitz at Columbia University speaks on the role of universities in functioning democracies, including the importance of critique: “If we lose our academic freedom, we have lost everything.”
This wide ranging interview from a grounded and ethical thinker speaking truth to power is well worth watching.
Reminds me of Spanish civil war Commies that fled to the Soviet Union. You know, left fascists such as Santiago Carillo or Pasionaria These modern day emigres would rather ingratiate themselves to WEF/Carney networks. Canada has always received US shartimus leftovers from Revolutionary War to Vietnam to now.
I think the universities shot themselves in the foot bending over for the far left. I don’t disagree with his main point, just saying that when the shoe was on the other foot the university administration kept silent or even joined the choir.
It is rather hypocritical of them, isn’t it? Far left academics have been some of the most stifling enemies of free speech in recent decades, at least on their own campuses. However, two wrongs don’t make a right, and stifling leftist ideas in an effort to push universities towards the center is perhaps not the best approach. It’s the Chainsaw Method.
Well OK that is one part for sure addressed by Stiglitz. But in that interview he also talks about who constitutes the university and its broader social function. To say they are “bending over for the far left” is, to put it politely, in some tension with how Stiglitz is talking about why universities are important in a functional democracy, even when you claim you don’t disagree with his main point.
They certainly have an important social function, but they have abdicated part of the traditional responsibilities of that function by favoring a particular set of political views, that is, a left-wing progressive one. Now the pendulum of power is swinging the other way. We can certainly note the hypocrisy and the problems arising from a lack of a neutral stance along with the problems of the counter-reaction. In fact we must if there is to be any hope of setting the ship on a straight course and stopping this wild swaying.
These modern day emigres would rather ingratiate themselves to WEF/Carney networks. Canada has always received US shartimus leftovers from Revolutionary War to Vietnam to now.