Obama and free Jr. College

Discussion in 'The Thunderdome' started by Oldvol75, Jan 10, 2015.

  1. Oldvol75

    Oldvol75 Super Bigfoot Guru Mod

  2. hatvol96

    hatvol96 Well-Known Member

  3. zehr27

    zehr27 8th's VIP

    The farm subsidies piss me off more than anything.
     
  4. hatvol96

    hatvol96 Well-Known Member

  5. hatvol96

    hatvol96 Well-Known Member

    Especially when they extend to "farms" that are nothing but fronts for the ConAgras of the world.
     
  6. IP

    IP Super Moderator

    There are free textbooks, fwiw. I started teaching a class today and the text I chose cost 10.99 on amazon. I could have chosen the 120.00 one, but accidentally put 8th edition instead of 9th on the syllabus. Oops.
     
  7. Volst53

    Volst53 Super Moderator

    That's a great start.
     
  8. bigpapavol

    bigpapavol Chieftain

    I like the cuts, but why stop at those. Why on earth would we not start with entitlements. On the military side, it's too expensive, but people are still employed and theoretically working for the money.
     
  9. bigpapavol

    bigpapavol Chieftain

    I have no idea why this isn't the standard. I can augment any text with modern reality and still use it as the core of my course. The monopoly that schools have in driving textbook sales is crazy.
     
  10. IP

    IP Super Moderator

    I don't really know the particulars, but if the book store got wind of me assigning the edition from 3 years ago (and this is an introductory class, nothing has changed in the field) I'd be in trouble. The prices of new textbooks are way out of whack with reality. I also agree with augmenting text with reality, assigning outside reading from the real world is just as important as a textbook.
     
  11. bigpapavol

    bigpapavol Chieftain

    and if the textbook is that important, scrap the teachers.
     
  12. IP

    IP Super Moderator

    The textbook can't be, because they hardly change. In this particular case, they redo some of the graphics with different colors. They're exactly the same, mark by mark. I don't even have to adjust page numbers.

    And collectively, the students are paying more for a brand new textbook for this kind of class at 120 dollars a pop than I'm getting paid to teach the class. So in a way, they are beginning to scrap the teachers.
     
  13. droski

    droski Traffic Criminal

    many a teacher at Cal assigned their own book for the class. that always pissed me off. one dude actually quoted himself in the third person.
     
  14. Dick Huffman

    Dick Huffman Guest

    I suspect that this will create major issues between instructors and colleges. That is, once colleges start asking instructors to give a horrendous amount of A's to continue getting that govt money.
     
  15. IP

    IP Super Moderator

    That's awful. I had one or two do that, but at least one of them the book was only 15 bucks and he told us exactly how much he made off each copy and literally refunded it to us (2 dollars). He passed away a few years ago, he was a character.

    The other was the opposite, and publishes one of the dominant introductory textbooks for her discipline in the country. She doubles her salary that way, but it is really the publishers who are raking it in.
     
  16. IP

    IP Super Moderator

    My first year of teaching at a particular college, I got an email from the dean informing me students had expressed concerns about their grades and losing scholarships. The class average was a C-, with 30 % having an A to that point. I teach on a semester to semester basis with little notice or security, so I felt I either had to curve when I normally wouldn't have or face the possibility of losing a decent chunk of my income and living hand to mouth. I always get good reviews, but anyone who feels you "cost" them something writes the most unabashedly hateful notes.
     
  17. RockyHill

    RockyHill Loves Auburn more than Tennessee.

    30% A's and a C- average says a lot of the kids were just lazy as hell.
     
  18. Volst53

    Volst53 Super Moderator

    Good news is that more money will be going to administration and the students will be getting less value for their education. Plus Huffman is right that grade inflation is going to be a huge issue, and four year universities will start being harsher on their admissions of students from community colleges.
     
  19. warhammer

    warhammer Chieftain

    There's nothing quite like a pompous academic instructor.
     
  20. IP

    IP Super Moderator

    They weren't kids, I mostly teach adults. Some just weren't attending regularly.
     

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