Efficiency in Education: Eliminate the Humans (I Mean All of Them)

Ongoing revolutionary rhetoric of the techno-educators.  They won't be happy until tenured faculty kiss the feet of doobie-rolling freshmen zoned out on YouTube and ask for their approval.  Because that is what the kids are doing, man!  That's what the digital natives are doing!  Well, yeah, let's face it.  Knowledge isn't knowledge anymore.  It's just some dumb fact you link to and recite.  Really, why even have lungs, a mouth and lips to enunciate it?  Flesh is so old-fashioned.  Just have the screens there, talking to the other screens--now that would be progress in pedogogy.  Eliminate the human altogether. 

Whither, Christendom?

Well, of course this factual article on Muslim immigration in Europe manifests a latent alarmism.  However, it raises legitimate concerns.  I don't know what the demographic trends suggest, but one can't help but wonder--perhaps in a far off futuristic apocalyptic vein--if Israel is not prototype of Europe itself:  the liberal Westerners outnumbered in their own state by the uber-reproducinng Islamic population.  (With the obvious difference that Palestinians originally occupied the land).  Hard choices will need to be made--and enforced--at some point in time.  I don't think it is any crime or diminishment of liberal values for Europe to declare that it wishes to remain Europe.  Leave it to America to deal with the world's immigrants. 

Ah, Short School Days...

More educational sledghammering against our short school year and short school days.  Reform will come, but slowly and slyly. 

Cheers for Jeers

Funny, browsing in the Al-Jazeera I find the clearest statement for the banker schemes that bankrupted America. 

Another Libertarian Dreamer Gone Awry

Imagine that-- a tale of an idealistic libertarian whose business becomes a magnet for criminals.  

Ah, the Trustafarian takes a Tumble

The market giveth and the market taketh away for the trust-fund trendies on the NASDAQ umbilical.

Ah, the Trustafarian takes a Tumble

The market giveth and the market taketh away for the trust-fund trendies on the NASDAQ umbilical.

One more opportunity for doom

Booming DNA nanotech of the future.  Or more likely, the stuff of doom.

Vox Crapuli

Popularity lists-- yes, I've always thought this would be a great gag:  to get everyone to stare at nothing, and have someone then convince them that indeed this was something.

 

That's theater!

 

Paolo Freire

Funny stuff on education. 

Dear Graduate

Alright, this is hoakey, but these are worthy exhortations about living life fully.  Everyday we graduate..

Sign of the Times: Encyclopedia Gone Bust

Encarta always annoyed me--luring you to their website then trying to hustle a subscription out of you. 

 

But anyone in the information profession has to wonder if such changes bode well for actual content creators.  Is advertising truly the only way to make money?

 

 

On Public Intellectuals

Another index on whether we're getting smarter or stupider:  the public intellectual. 

 

Most compelling assertion:  the language of social sciences, namely economics, has replaced literary criticism as the benchmark for any serious 'public intellectual' discussion.

 

Something I'd long suspected but hadn't yet heard spelled out.

A Poet Who Lives in the Same City As Me

M.L. Liebler, Detroit poet.

More Cantankerous Cross-Atlantic Harrumphing in the WSJ

Whither Western Europe?  (Once known as Christendom)....

Take a Sledgehammer to Higher Education?

More thoughts on reforming academia. 

 

So many voices crying in the wilderness.

Motor City Woes' Silver Lining

Bad news for the Motor City auto industry--but an provocation to a revitalized and positive vision of our Michigan economy.

 

 

The Great Sickness of Our Time

Crackberries and Ipods and disconnected humans-- this guy describes the typical scene I observe going home on the bus all-too-often.

Rock Stars, Hoop Dreams and Lit Profs

Ah, grad school in the humanities:  it brings some perversely sweet sigh of relief when I read reality-based assessments of how idealistically crazy it is to go for that vaunted PhD.  Because I came to the same conclusion myself once upon a time, and restrained myself, and occasionally experience pangs of wonder and regret at the road not taken. 

Israel on the Offensive? (No Pun Intended)

Wow--I've suspected that Israel would get an itchy trigger finger, what with Iran's nuclear dick starting to swell.  But I didn't think the calculus could be laid out so clearly...  I guess we'll see.