Hi Mike,
That's a pretty good article, but it places the blame directly on the Colleges and Universities, which are actually at the end of a whole education system that has failed. Every few years, the public schools, with the connivance of the people who devise the various tests, dumb down the requirements in order to show that the students are doing fine.
Every year students are being graduated that can barely read, write or do rudimentary math (when was the last time someone actually flunked and had to repeat a grade?).
I've also met Teachers that came out of the same system, that were scarcely better educated than the students they were "instructing", a truly sad state of affairs.
A few years back, American students tied with those of Zambia for last place in math competency. I'm sure that by now American schools have been able to assume that great honor by themselves, having beaten out everyone else.
Best Regards,
Terry
Lots of "misconceptions" here.
Mom/pop take a ride around the block once a month , but if you use the product as in the days of old , it will NEVER last a year.The product line won't last a week in my camp.
#2 - "pretty good name brands" what a load !! All outsourced crap , the ONLY way to get durability and MTBF is to carefully shop the internet and read 500 customer feedbacks. Short of this , may luck or careful use be at your side.
Mom/pop take a ride around the block once a month , but if you use the product as in the days of old , it will NEVER last a year.The product line won't last a week in my camp.
Misconceptions? Are my first hand observations an illusion? The two bikes in my garage were bought at Sam's over ten years ago. Aside from tires and brake pad and seat replacements they've served us well so I will admit that I've not had occasion to shop for bikes at the sister store.
#2 - "pretty good name brands" what a load !! All outsourced crap , the ONLY way to get durability and MTBF is to carefully shop the internet and read 500 customer feedbacks. Short of this , may luck or careful use be at your side.
I have a case of Penzoil in the garage that was best-price at WM. Anco wiper blades. Got a Hunter ceiling fan in the Rec Room from WM. Gliden paint in probably every room. I've replaced a lot of outlets, switches and light fixtures in 4 of the family houses and found them to be no less robust than products from the local ACE hardware or the big-box stores. I think I have a few kitchen things like Oster and Sunbeam from WM that seem to be working well. Oh yeah, Sunbeam heated blankets in three houses . . . again older than I can recall. I've got Black and Decker and Stanly tools purchased at WM. If your assertions are representative of your first hand observations, I'm sorry that you've had so much misfortune.
Also, it is easier for teachers to test assignments: just look at numbers of answers and compare with chart you have. No need to check real knowledge, so nobody can blame on you for improper testing.
In order to avoid being accused in improper teaching they don't teach. They just follow instructions that protect them.
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True. I think the LA times opinion does skip this 'minor' point.
Not to say their point is any less correct though (it is just op-ed), just that maybe colleges and university are in many cases left with a more difficult job of educating the under-prepared through remedial courses. Certainly there are also those that are prepared and will work hard in the population of students...even in a world where the universities were "perfect" - I think the point of the original piece is a good one. That not everyone needs to go to university. AND as you point out Terry, the primary education system should prepare students for life as well as for further education.
instead its just some sad, politically correct daycare system. There seem to be so many things wrong.
Many parents are to blame as well, even if it is a case of "the few who ruin it for the many" (or maybe the many who ruin it and the few who still struggle for quality education?)
The problem has many facets but one that's not been mentioned is education faculties and teachers' colleges.
The quality of school reading textbooks in English has deteriorated over the last hundred years and I suspect also has that of Math books.
Those who have become responsible for writing and vetting these texts are in faculties of education.
The qualifications for a teacher candidate have also deteriorated.
The failure is not an option attitude - you, the student and I the teacher, will make the effort, or die trying - that was still common among a lot of teachers fifty years ago seems to have vanished from public schools.
The quality of school reading textbooks in English has deteriorated over the last hundred years and I suspect also has that of Math books.
Those who have become responsible for writing and vetting these texts are in faculties of education.
The qualifications for a teacher candidate have also deteriorated.
The failure is not an option attitude - you, the student and I the teacher, will make the effort, or die trying - that was still common among a lot of teachers fifty years ago seems to have vanished from public schools.
I took a summer physics class at a local college when I was young. It was really quite well taught and the tests were quite easy. I was in the class with a bunch of elementary ed majors - many grad students (it was a sort of "survey" of physics for their benefit). Many got surprisingly low grades.
In the US, teaching seems to be looked down upon by most people. Is it any wonder that it can be the career of last resort for people with less ability? I think that teachers in the US are overworked and underappreciated. They are scapegoats in a broken system that is failing in part due to attitude and discipline problems on the part of the students. The students learn early on that there are few, if any, consequences for misbehavior.
In europe, austria in my experience, teachers are respected on par with physicians. This by parents and students alike.
One issue in education is cost. As an orphan who made more than $10,000 a year, I did not qualify for financial aid - other than a state grant that paid for about half of my books. I had to work my way through college. If I had done something stupid, like have a kid or a drug problem, I would have qualified for aid. I had a friend whose parents were affluent but divorced, living at home, and he qualified for more aid than me. That system is broken.
In the US, teaching seems to be looked down upon by most people. Is it any wonder that it can be the career of last resort for people with less ability? I think that teachers in the US are overworked and underappreciated. They are scapegoats in a broken system that is failing in part due to attitude and discipline problems on the part of the students. The students learn early on that there are few, if any, consequences for misbehavior.
In europe, austria in my experience, teachers are respected on par with physicians. This by parents and students alike.
One issue in education is cost. As an orphan who made more than $10,000 a year, I did not qualify for financial aid - other than a state grant that paid for about half of my books. I had to work my way through college. If I had done something stupid, like have a kid or a drug problem, I would have qualified for aid. I had a friend whose parents were affluent but divorced, living at home, and he qualified for more aid than me. That system is broken.
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True. I think the LA times opinion does skip this 'minor' point. Not to say their point is any less correct though (it is just op-ed), just that maybe colleges and university are in many cases left with a more difficult job of educating the under-prepared through remedial courses. Certainly there are also those that are prepared and will work hard in the population of students...
Absolutely. For the authors to blame any one segment of the educational community is a demonstration of exceedingly restricted SOSA (sphere of situational awareness).
Each department of very smartly run business has a valid expectation of minimum quality for incoming feedstocks. Every department has a duty to deliver to requirements of the next step up the ladder. It's that ol' TQM thingy again. Failure to meet expectations risks not being paid for a particular 'batch' or worse yet, not receiving future orders for more product. That's the self-regulating nature of honorable free-market trade.
The educational system in our nation is obviously devoid of honorable free-market motivation and practice. There are no hard lines in the sand that cause any student's performance to be rejected. No teacher's production is at risk for being pulled from the 'assembly line'. It's the exceedingly rare school who's operational charter is revoked.
If I had to deal with airplane parts the way our truly capable teachers have to deal with incoming students . . . well . . . I think the analogy is clear and valid.
Makers of educational law are delighted to have some pundit point a finger and say, "It's all his fault." This gives rise to new legislation to offset the effects of the single fault thus identified. That's like me complaining to the FAA about some supplier's shortcomings and getting them to pull the guy's licenses to product the product. Solves the problem tomorrow . . . yeah, right.
It doesn't fix the bad batch. It doesn't recognize that my supplier may be yet another victim of poor performance somewhere further down the chain. Worst yet, when 'managers' all along the chain are themselves products of generations of educational 'slippage', they also are too ignorant to know what they don't know and haven't got a clue as to root cause or potential remedies.
The 'fix' is a generation or more away. It starts with the manner in which our children and grandchildren choose to become involved in the rearing of their own children including free-market style demands they must learn to exercise over the control of their educational expenditures.
Absolutely. For the authors to blame any one segment of the educational community is a demonstration of exceedingly restricted SOSA (sphere of situational awareness).
Each department of very smartly run business has a valid expectation of minimum quality for incoming feedstocks. Every department has a duty to deliver to requirements of the next step up the ladder. It's that ol' TQM thingy again. Failure to meet expectations risks not being paid for a particular 'batch' or worse yet, not receiving future orders for more product. That's the self-regulating nature of honorable free-market trade.
The educational system in our nation is obviously devoid of honorable free-market motivation and practice. There are no hard lines in the sand that cause any student's performance to be rejected. No teacher's production is at risk for being pulled from the 'assembly line'. It's the exceedingly rare school who's operational charter is revoked.
If I had to deal with airplane parts the way our truly capable teachers have to deal with incoming students . . . well . . . I think the analogy is clear and valid.
Makers of educational law are delighted to have some pundit point a finger and say, "It's all his fault." This gives rise to new legislation to offset the effects of the single fault thus identified. That's like me complaining to the FAA about some supplier's shortcomings and getting them to pull the guy's licenses to product the product. Solves the problem tomorrow . . . yeah, right.
It doesn't fix the bad batch. It doesn't recognize that my supplier may be yet another victim of poor performance somewhere further down the chain. Worst yet, when 'managers' all along the chain are themselves products of generations of educational 'slippage', they also are too ignorant to know what they don't know and haven't got a clue as to root cause or potential remedies.
The 'fix' is a generation or more away. It starts with the manner in which our children and grandchildren choose to become involved in the rearing of their own children including free-market style demands they must learn to exercise over the control of their educational expenditures.
If the free market is the answer, why is it that the government run schools of other nations are significantly better at educating their children? The answer is rigor, and the students who cannot hack it go to trade school.... Trade school could be partially privately funded. Employers would do so in their own self interest.
If the free market is the answer, why is it that the government run schools of other nations are significantly better at educating their children? The answer is rigor, and the students who cannot hack it go to trade school....
What is "rigor" if not standards for the capability of teachers, the environments in which they work, and the expected performance for students before being allowed to enter an series of class with increasing levels of difficulty? Doesn't matter if it's "government run" or not. Students who perform better on a worldwide sampling have been better consumers of educational services in their dealings with providers of educational services. There are occasional pockets of shining excellence in this country. Exactly who runs the activity or how funds flow from consumer to supplier are irrelevant. It's a sure bet that the exchange of value between those consumers and their suppliers is closer to a free-market exchange.
We know that you cannot legislate, regulate, or otherwise write rules for excellence to wash out the effects of human frailties.
Trade school could be partially privately funded. Employers would do so in their own self interest.
My adult education was acquired in 'trade school' . . . and yes, it 100% was privately funded . . . by me. It is a certainty that if my work product did not meet my employer's expectations, I would have been replaced. I had to make him more money than it cost to have me on the payroll. At the same time, my employer was predisposed to keep me at the same salary doing the same job unless I took it upon myself to learn how to craft things of greater value to the marketplace in which we traded.
In that sense, I'll suggest that all educational endeavors are "trade schools". The goal is to give the willing and able student access to competent and willing teachers for the transfer of knowledge. That knowledge, well assimilated, becomes an ingredient in that student's future recipes for success in trading their time, talents and resources in the creation of wealth.
Humans are limited. They are fitted with a huge variability in ability and willingness to learn. The honorable free-market exchange simply strives to relieve individuals of institutionalized impediments that prevent a rise to what ever level they're both willing and able to achieve.
I think the thread of this discussion was spun on the idea that our nation's system of education has itself become an institutionalized impediment to personal development and future prosperity for far too many individuals. This COULD be corrected by government employees . . . but only if they are better informed than several of generations of their own teachers. They cannot be encumbered by regulation and rules that tend to take value out, not put it in. It comes down to the simple need for putting competent and willing teachers in charge of willing and able students. It's not complicated or even expensive. Watch the movie "Stand and Deliver" for a real-life example of what can happen when this combination is achieved . . . in a government run school. But consider the background of the teacher versus what is produced by what passes for Departments of Education in modern universities. See:
Jaime Escalante - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mr. Escalante's success is the ultimate demonstration the potential that can come from honorable free-market education.
What is "rigor" if not standards for the capability of teachers, the environments in which they work, and the expected performance for students before being allowed to enter an series of class with increasing levels of difficulty? Doesn't matter if it's "government run" or not. Students who perform better on a worldwide sampling have been better consumers of educational services in their dealings with providers of educational services. There are occasional pockets of shining excellence in this country. Exactly who runs the activity or how funds flow from consumer to supplier are irrelevant. It's a sure bet that the exchange of value between those consumers and their suppliers is closer to a free-market exchange.
We know that you cannot legislate, regulate, or otherwise write rules for excellence to wash out the effects of human frailties.
Trade school could be partially privately funded. Employers would do so in their own self interest.
My adult education was acquired in 'trade school' . . . and yes, it 100% was privately funded . . . by me. It is a certainty that if my work product did not meet my employer's expectations, I would have been replaced. I had to make him more money than it cost to have me on the payroll. At the same time, my employer was predisposed to keep me at the same salary doing the same job unless I took it upon myself to learn how to craft things of greater value to the marketplace in which we traded.
In that sense, I'll suggest that all educational endeavors are "trade schools". The goal is to give the willing and able student access to competent and willing teachers for the transfer of knowledge. That knowledge, well assimilated, becomes an ingredient in that student's future recipes for success in trading their time, talents and resources in the creation of wealth.
Humans are limited. They are fitted with a huge variability in ability and willingness to learn. The honorable free-market exchange simply strives to relieve individuals of institutionalized impediments that prevent a rise to what ever level they're both willing and able to achieve.
I think the thread of this discussion was spun on the idea that our nation's system of education has itself become an institutionalized impediment to personal development and future prosperity for far too many individuals. This COULD be corrected by government employees . . . but only if they are better informed than several of generations of their own teachers. They cannot be encumbered by regulation and rules that tend to take value out, not put it in. It comes down to the simple need for putting competent and willing teachers in charge of willing and able students. It's not complicated or even expensive. Watch the movie "Stand and Deliver" for a real-life example of what can happen when this combination is achieved . . . in a government run school. But consider the background of the teacher versus what is produced by what passes for Departments of Education in modern universities. See:
Jaime Escalante - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mr. Escalante's success is the ultimate demonstration the potential that can come from honorable free-market education.
All the educational systems are broken. Because all are run by the governments.
Same in US as in EU or Australia... There is no check and ballance in place, the "product" is evaluated just by quantity not quality. ALL the teachers are clmplacent with this system because it keeps them employed without fear of evaluation of their performance.
Me and my wife choose to homeschool our child and we are lucky that is an option in US. Still I have to pay taxes for those overgrown inefficient schools around me. They are nothing more that state-run day-care institutions, complete with buses and lunches.
Same in US as in EU or Australia... There is no check and ballance in place, the "product" is evaluated just by quantity not quality. ALL the teachers are clmplacent with this system because it keeps them employed without fear of evaluation of their performance.
Me and my wife choose to homeschool our child and we are lucky that is an option in US. Still I have to pay taxes for those overgrown inefficient schools around me. They are nothing more that state-run day-care institutions, complete with buses and lunches.
If proof was needed about the uselessness of University - now we have celebrity university Richard Dawkins heads line-up at private £18,000-a-year university | Education | The Guardian
When I was in public high school (1967 - 1970) there was an entire wing of the school devoted to "trades". This was all part of the public education system. There was a waiting list, aptitude tests, and 2 one hour classes of 30+ students in the first year to select the 25 students for the final two year program which was 3 hours per day. I was in the electronics program which was geared toward TV, stereo, and commercial electronics repair.
The few of us who already understood the basics were given the freedom to build projects ranging from audio amps (tube and solid state) to a Tesla coil taller than me. We shared our experiences (and smoking parts) with the rest of the class. Both teachers were retired military and much of our course material was Army manuals. We did have books from Philco and DeVry.
There were multi year vocational programs in auto mechanics, woodworking, metal working (welding and such), machine shop, commercial art, and cosmetology. Sadly these programs were killed off due to cost. None remain in the school where I attended (Miami) and now very few remain anywhere in Florida. We have had to cater our primary education systems to the lowest common denominator which is pretty low now. My daughter dated a football player when she was in high school. I didn't realize thay people could be that DUMB until I tried to teach him how to count money and make change! Forget algebra, he couldn't add!
The variability between the colleges in the Florida public university system is unbelievable. Part of my job 20 years ago was to teach "fresh-outs" what a real engineering job was all about. None of the recent graduates could solder, much less deal with tiny SMD stuff, but that is expected. A graduate from UF had a good chance of making it as an engineer. When we had 1000 engineers in the building, probably 40 to 50% of them came from UF, another 10% from UM (expensive private school). The fresh-outs from FAU (public school near the beach in Boca Raton) could solve equations, and talk a fair story, but couldn't find the basic circuit blocks on a radio schematic. Only a few made as an engineer more than a year. Now a good percentage of engineers come from India, China and the middle east, especially in the software groups. It just seems that they are better educated, or we are only seeing the good ones.
As I stated previously, I attended a vocational high school that got me at least an interview at the Motorola plant, which led to a 38+ year career there. I started college at 37 years old, and collected a BS degree from a small private school, and then a MS degree from FAU. I was already an engineer when I started school, and I had been training fresh-outs, so I had an idea what the big employers wanted from engineering graduates. The dean of engineering in the small private school was genuinely interested in what I had to say and tried to affect changes, but sadly the engineering program was killed when they merged with a bigger private school. Most of the teachers worked full time in industry and taught one or two classes on the side. This gives you teachers with real world knowledge.
No one at FAU could care, and many of their masters level classes were totally usless from a real world perspective. After an argument in the classroom with one of the professors, I wound up teaching a few of the classes. Some of the material being taught was technially correct, just about 20 years (or more) behind the state of the art. This happened several times at FAU. I banged heads with the admin several times before giving up and just taking my degree and leaving.
WHY? Let me use a dirty word that I haven't heard spoken yet..... TENURE.....
For those who don't know, this means that once you have achieved tenure, short of a felony conviction (and even with a DUI or 2) you CAN'T be fired. There is no incentive to remain current. There is no incentive to give a S&#@ about students.
Well, there is a twist to the story. When the economy went south enrolment at FAU went down and they were the first public school in the country to lay off tenured professors, including some that sorely needed it. Of course the lawsuits are still clogging up the court system......
As another thought, I was often tasked with interviewing potential job candidates among dozens of freshouts. I found the best interviewing technique was to ask them to explain their senior project. Most engineering schools require that the student build SOMETHING in order to graduate. The level of complexity varies from school to school, and the opportunity for cheating is present even in good schools, but if a student can't tell you what he built and explain how it works, he probably isn't going to design a radio or cell phone circuit and explain it to management either.
The few of us who already understood the basics were given the freedom to build projects ranging from audio amps (tube and solid state) to a Tesla coil taller than me. We shared our experiences (and smoking parts) with the rest of the class. Both teachers were retired military and much of our course material was Army manuals. We did have books from Philco and DeVry.
There were multi year vocational programs in auto mechanics, woodworking, metal working (welding and such), machine shop, commercial art, and cosmetology. Sadly these programs were killed off due to cost. None remain in the school where I attended (Miami) and now very few remain anywhere in Florida. We have had to cater our primary education systems to the lowest common denominator which is pretty low now. My daughter dated a football player when she was in high school. I didn't realize thay people could be that DUMB until I tried to teach him how to count money and make change! Forget algebra, he couldn't add!
The variability between the colleges in the Florida public university system is unbelievable. Part of my job 20 years ago was to teach "fresh-outs" what a real engineering job was all about. None of the recent graduates could solder, much less deal with tiny SMD stuff, but that is expected. A graduate from UF had a good chance of making it as an engineer. When we had 1000 engineers in the building, probably 40 to 50% of them came from UF, another 10% from UM (expensive private school). The fresh-outs from FAU (public school near the beach in Boca Raton) could solve equations, and talk a fair story, but couldn't find the basic circuit blocks on a radio schematic. Only a few made as an engineer more than a year. Now a good percentage of engineers come from India, China and the middle east, especially in the software groups. It just seems that they are better educated, or we are only seeing the good ones.
As I stated previously, I attended a vocational high school that got me at least an interview at the Motorola plant, which led to a 38+ year career there. I started college at 37 years old, and collected a BS degree from a small private school, and then a MS degree from FAU. I was already an engineer when I started school, and I had been training fresh-outs, so I had an idea what the big employers wanted from engineering graduates. The dean of engineering in the small private school was genuinely interested in what I had to say and tried to affect changes, but sadly the engineering program was killed when they merged with a bigger private school. Most of the teachers worked full time in industry and taught one or two classes on the side. This gives you teachers with real world knowledge.
No one at FAU could care, and many of their masters level classes were totally usless from a real world perspective. After an argument in the classroom with one of the professors, I wound up teaching a few of the classes. Some of the material being taught was technially correct, just about 20 years (or more) behind the state of the art. This happened several times at FAU. I banged heads with the admin several times before giving up and just taking my degree and leaving.
WHY? Let me use a dirty word that I haven't heard spoken yet..... TENURE.....
For those who don't know, this means that once you have achieved tenure, short of a felony conviction (and even with a DUI or 2) you CAN'T be fired. There is no incentive to remain current. There is no incentive to give a S&#@ about students.
Well, there is a twist to the story. When the economy went south enrolment at FAU went down and they were the first public school in the country to lay off tenured professors, including some that sorely needed it. Of course the lawsuits are still clogging up the court system......
As another thought, I was often tasked with interviewing potential job candidates among dozens of freshouts. I found the best interviewing technique was to ask them to explain their senior project. Most engineering schools require that the student build SOMETHING in order to graduate. The level of complexity varies from school to school, and the opportunity for cheating is present even in good schools, but if a student can't tell you what he built and explain how it works, he probably isn't going to design a radio or cell phone circuit and explain it to management either.
My last three children were/are homeschooled, for many of the reasons you've stated. I've never been sorry and it's the best thing we ever did. Talk about small class sizes and individual attention!
Best Regards,
TerryO
Mediocre grades, am I a lousy student? Change of school...all F's. Am I that dumb? Another change of school...all A+'s. This is getting confusing... how did I start being a genius? I'll tell you how: the moment I set foot on American soil. I even got a letter congratulating me at the end of the course - signed by R. Reagan. LMAO. Fact is, I have always been the same lazy bastard. Different walls and different teachers made the difference - the same person underneath.
Well... no need to worry about these trifles anymore. The arrival of Doomsday is due in 2012 so who cares about educational levels. The big equalizer is coming!
Well... no need to worry about these trifles anymore. The arrival of Doomsday is due in 2012 so who cares about educational levels. The big equalizer is coming!
Well... no need to worry about these trifles anymore. The arrival of Doomsday is due in 2012 so who cares about educational levels. The big equalizer is coming!
Your confusion may well be a manifestation of comparing yourself with moving targets . . . none of which are laudable or good role models. You can be your own best critic. If you purchased a textbook for $100+ dollars and was expected to read it, how well do YOU think you understand what it has to offer? Did you have questions to ask which were clarifications of what you read . . . or were you more intent upon gleaning "this will be on the test" brain-nuggets in class?
Going to school is but a beginning, not a means to an end. Any day you go to bed knowing something you did not know that morning is a good day. Any day you go to bed having applied your collective time, talents and resources to add value for somebody (even if only yourself) is a great day.
Irrespective of what some institutionalized educator hands down in the form of a grade, only YOU know how well you really command the subject matter . . . 'cause you're right. A "C" in some schools is worth more than an "A" in others.
Your confusion may well be a manifestation of comparing yourself with moving targets . . . none of which are laudable or good role models. You can be your own best critic. If you purchased a textbook for $100+ dollars and was expected to read it, how well do YOU think you understand what it has to offer? Did you have questions to ask which were clarifications of what you read . . . or were you more intent upon gleaning "this will be on the test" brain-nuggets in class?
Going to school is but a beginning, not a means to an end. Any day you go to bed knowing something you did not know that morning is a good day. Any day you go to bed having applied your collective time, talents and resources to add value for somebody (even if only yourself) is a great day.
Irrespective of what some institutionalized educator hands down in the form of a grade, only YOU know how well you really command the subject matter . . . 'cause you're right. A "C" in some schools is worth more than an "A" in others.
That is a very good way of saying what I have been living for 58 years. When you stop learning, you start dying. I have been going to work at the Motorola plant every day for 38 years. It is a rare day that I don't learn something.
Tomorrow I'll go stand in the hot sun next to two cell phone towers to test out the interference rejection performance of some receiver front ends. I WILL learn SOMETHING that I don't know today. I might have some pre conceived ideas, but tomorrow it will become knowledge.
Some days I just go to meetings and listen to the Powerpoint jockeys try to explain something that they have no clue about. I will learn something, even if it is from a funny Youtube video on my phone! I laughed so hard one time that we stopped the whole meeting so that we could all watch some kids microwave an automobile airbag. It exploded violently destroying the microwave and nearly destroying the host!
YouTube - Is It A Good Idea To Microwave AN AIRBAG!?!
That was pretty much my experience. After being told by my chemistry and math teachers that I was incapable of absorbing an education, college was a revelation- the profs were extremely smart, they didn't handhold or dumb down the material, and they encouraged the brighter students to excel rather than tell them to shut up and do what everyone else is doing. The bar was set high and you either made it over or you left. No resetting the bar because too many tender feelings might get hurt by failure.
I loved college.
Good teachers are like that. I've had a few. I also had a teacher who lamented all the time the time taken away from teaching the subject that was required to reteach the class what it didn't know. we were all dumb and he spent half the class every day telling us so. He could have taught us all of the stuff he was complaining about and another half of the book if he had just shut up and taught. Then he would turn around and say that he had friends in the industry and if we ever needed a job get in touch....
I liked college, I just had a very hard time paying for it. Working full time and taking three classes at a time I still made decent grades, but I burnt out hard and had to take a break several times.
The stuff I said before about trade school was not meant to be derogatory. people who know books and can't do anything are useless. Some people learn better in a hands on environment. Some people do not want to learn calculus. I think there should be a path to employment laid out for everyone.
For profit universities are very much in the news lately for taking handouts from the government and churning out students who don't have the skills students need and can't pay back the loans - the default rate is sky high. So far that does not appear to be a good solution.
I think the problem with education in the US is more cultural rather than simply being related to who is running the show.
Tenure can be a big issue.
I know that feeling! I played in two bands and did a lot of tutoring for premeds with wealthy parents.
I'm afraid that when I taught, my attitude was, "You're here to learn math/physics/chemistry. If you don't have the required skills in basic algebra and reading/writing, I am not going to waste class time remediating you. We have too much to cover. You need to go back to high school and return when you're prepared." I had disproportionate numbers of failing students and A students, very few in the middle. I still hear from many of my A students.
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