Speaking memories at lunch

Lunch today was nothing incredible--rotisserie chicken, alfredo sauce, with macaroni, asparagus, fresh spinach, toasted French loaf with garlic butter, fresh pineapple with blueberries, and a homemade chocolate cookie (for him, I was full). No photo was taken. But we had a lively conversation. I try to tell stories he hasn't heard before (and that I haven't heard either). 

He gets sort of mixed up on the dates. I do remember those. We met in March 1959 and married in September 1960, so it's been 65 years since our first date. We both remembered what we wore because we went to the St. Pat's Ball. He wore his grandfather's sport coat and I wore a friend's lace red dress. 

 I think what started the conversation at lunch today was a photo I had of him in 1975 when he was super skinny. He had propped his painting up against our Ford Pinto in the drive way so I could take a photo.  And he then looked like the guy I met in 1959. In those days some of us didn't know each other very well. I went to summer school in Maine that summer, and he worked in Indianapolis the fall of 1959 while I was at U. of Illinois, so actually, we were practically strangers. We had both been engaged before, and to my knowledge they are also both alive.

I can't seem to find the photo I showed him today in his skinny days, but I remember I bought him this suit in the boys' department at Lazarus. 1974. And that helmet hair I was wearing was all the rage.

Follow the money given to the universities

These demonstrations/riots/insurrections from UCLA to Columbia show what a huge FAIL the DEI departments and cabals at the universities are. They all have 150-200 "administrators" and assistants to assistants sucking from the federal tit of special grants. Then each department from dance to archeology to horse breeding has a faculty member tied up in paperwork to assure equity a fantasy. And this is what has come of it. 1) cheat the Asian students out of their freedom to choose a school, 2) kill the Jews, 3) blame all white people. If you teach children that there are only two kinds of people, oppressors and the oppressed, of course you collect a bunch of fascists looking for a cause. Soros has placed a lot of his lawyers in the halls of "just us" and you can watch that being played out in NYC in a court room right now. The next trick will be all the perps will be back on campus after a short trip to court.

Although a lot of bad ideas begin in government, most by far begin in academe. Many universities would close without the money they receive from foreign governments who have to pay full tuition for their students.

Spend time with adults? Is he crazy?

I think adults who write about children have bad memories.  63 years ago I didn’t have any of these qualities when I entered college.  And based on what I read on Facebook and other blogs, many of my contemporaries have not learned along the way.  Basic math?  Still struggling with that.

“What do [entering college students] need?  Academically, they need to be able to read analytically and write clear literate prose. They need to be able to recognize an argument and formulate one of their own.  They need to be able to analyze and apply ideas from one source to a problem in another, think logically, and do basic mathematics.  These are all valuable, but two other things are actually more important.

The first is that a student must “have the lights on.”  They have to care.  If education is seen as something they “get through” to get a largely meaningless credential – their “entry slip” to enter the corporate rat race rather than as a place to develop needed skills and wisdom – then they cannot and will not get an education.

The second thing a prospective student needs is maturity.  Another way of putting this would be to say, they need to grow up: become dependable adults who take responsibility for themselves and for the common good of the community of which they are members.

How does that happen?  One answer is they need to develop the virtues: wisdom, justice, temperance, and courage.  How can they develop these virtues they so desperately need?

Answer:  Adolescents need to spend time with adults if they are ever going to learn to be adult.  They need the experience of working with and for other people. They need to work within a group in which their well-being depends upon others doing their jobs well and in which the well-being of others depends upon them doing their jobs well.  They need to mature by training in a craft in which excellence is demanded and expected.”

https://www.thecatholicthing.org/2020/01/11/college-when/

Randal Smith is the Scanlan Professor of Theology at the University of St. Thomas in Houston.

College aid

I think I've found the cause of the college cost bubble: the parental financials. Required until student is 26. I heard Patrick Madrid (radio talk show) discussing the work that goes into that and couldn't believe it. He has 11 children, so I figured he would know, but I looked it up anyway. If they can infantilize college students until they are 26 making mom and dad responsible, why not charge anything they want and call the balance "financial aid?" 

 

Very different than "my day." I got married before my senior year in college and when Dad gave me away on that lovely September day, he also said I was someone else's responsibility. Oddly enough, the University of Illinois also decided I was an Indiana resident, because my husband was paying out of state tuition. We got that tuition problem reversed on appeal, but when I decided on graduate school, I had to borrow it from dad and pay it back. I think I even paid interest.

 

 http://www.collegedata.com/cs/content/content_payarticle_tmpl.jhtml?articleId=10202

 

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/2016-01-21/4-tips-for-families-navigating-college-financial-aid-amid-divorce

 

 

 

Carthage College commencement address

This tech CEO gives new graduates good advice about life. I don’t know anything about Reddit, but found this guy charming and honest about curiosity, failure and success.

Why college costs keep going up

I didn’t have any college loans to pay off (except to my parents) when I graduated from college in 1961.  And I had that paid off within a year since I was only expected to pay back what I borrowed after I was a “grown up,” married woman, or one semester. For graduate school I had an assistantship.

Federal financial aid is a major source of revenue for colleges and universities, and aid packages are generally based on the gap between what a family can afford to pay to send a student to a given college, and the tuition and fees charged by that college. That gives schools every incentive to keep their tuition unaffordable. Why would they reduce their sticker price to a level more families could afford, when doing so would mean kissing millions of government dollars goodbye?

http://www.jeffjacoby.com/11618/the-government-college-money-pit

 

And yes, I went to college 50 years ago, but look at the cost increases in the last 20 years. Or go to any campus and look at the plush, lush buildings.

RPAC at Ohio State, Recreation and Physical Activity Center. When I was in college it was called "walk to classes."

Putting a stop to my student loan calls

Lately, we've been getting robo calls about student loans. We don't have any, of course. Neither one of us ever borrowed money from the federal government to attend college. In fact, the Department of Education didn't exist when we were in college--it's a boondoggle of a more recent era--Carter, I believe.

So I looked them up, but didn't find a way to send an e-mail without providing all sorts of personal information. These days you don't even know if a website is for real and might be stealing your information. So I phoned instead, and the first thing when I got through press one for English, and thank you for waiting all lines are busy now, was a request for my social security number and zip code, which I provided. Then the nice young lady told me I wasn't in her database. So I told her that was why I was calling. When I gave her my husband's name, she said it was him and not me they were trying to reach. I told her he was 73 and also had never had a college loan (have you noticed how college costs have increased with the availability of loans?)

So she assured me the calls would stop. I think there's an angry, stood up first wife trying to find this same guy who's delinquent on his student loan.

The ubiquitous plastic water bottle

Today I was browsing through some events at CUNY and came across a very boring (only watched a few minutes) panel discussing. . . well, something. . . "Malcolm Gladwell, Jerilyn Perine and Robert Hammond join Graduate Center's John Mollenkopf to discuss NYC's High Line and its impact on urban innovation." What was really odd, besides the chairs and low table which appeared to be uncomfortable no matter the size and weight of the speakers, was that there were 7 bottles of water for 4 speakers. Environmentally insensitive, don't you think?

What I was really looking for was the tax funding for CUNY (couldn't find it). How much of the $4,000+ tuition and fees comes from the tax payers of NY and how much from the rest of us (through federal grants, loans, etc. both for students and buildings). How many tax dollars go to support that Left Forum (a gathering of Communists and Socialists formerly titled Socialist Scholars Conference) being sponsored by the Department of Sociology, CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue,New York, NY 10016.

The topics of Left Forum this year include federal green jobs programs and communist goals; lots of anti-capitalism panels; united left front against the right (that will include tea party groups); links with humanist groups; using art and theater for protest projects; U.S. leftists in Africa; using anarchy to move the cause along; state terrorism in Gaza (I assume they mean Israel); building a left movement in higher education (apparently they haven't checked recently--this has been achieved); lots of topics on race (and being anti-white), islamophobia, etc. Nothing on the oppression of women or homophobia under Sharia law that I noticed.

I also learned by reading this panel promotion that using the word "gimpy" or "gimp" is perfectly OK when referring to the physically disabled--although not if you are able-bodied. I suppose it falls into that "nappy headed" hole whereby black rap groups can use it, but not white talking heads.

Stain solutions

Here's a handy, dandy website from my alma mater, the University of Illinois. Or rather the Extension. Stain Solutions which is set to "grease" since "cat snot" didn't work. I'll have to browse a bit and see if it lists my favorite carpet spot remover, glass cleaner. Works like a charm (Windex or a knock-off from Meier's).

Speaking of colleges, I was going through a box of memorabilia the other day and found a clipping of my college graduation announcement from my hometown paper. Turns out I'd taken a class at Butler University and I didn't even remember! But last night I think everyone west and north of North Carolina was from Butler. Wasn't that a game! They had nothing to be ashamed of.

The peacemakers

This is Shane. I don't know him--just came across an item about him. He's going to talk to youth. Notice the ear stud, head bandana/scarf holding back the long hair, and scruffy but endearing face. The outfit hasn't changed in 40-50 years, much. He's a professional peacemaker going here and there. Willowcreek, Iraq, Calcutta. The usual. We need a few peacemakers in a suit and tie, or at least a button down oxford, khaki slacks/dress jeans and loafers. Someone who doesn't dress the part. They are needed first in families, church councils, schools, board rooms, cafeteria lines, muffler shops, prisons, factories, twitter, Facebook and Blogger, and the halls of congress. Then when they are sufficiently battle scarred and wise, send them into other war zones. The exciting thing about peace seminars and radical faith workshops is, you get to hang with people who think just like you do.

The Freshmen of 2008

When I saw that I had a message from Mabel Freeman, I almost deleted it. Could have been anything--like a guy shoveling snow in the buff from a Floridian, or a Nigerian princess offering me a loan or ink cartridges. However, I'm glad I looked--at her message, not the guy. It was about the OSU class that entered in September 2007 (not sure why that is called the class of 2008 instead of 2007). It really is impressive. I thought they were fudging a bit on the stats for "students of color" since that includes Asians, and I think there needs to be a better term for students whose ancestors didn't come from Europe like SWANE, although eventually, I suppose if colonial emigres to Britain study in the U.S., even that one won't work. I thought this was impressive: "75% enrolled having earned college credit from AP performance, post-secondary enrollment, or international baccalaureate participation." It looks like the College of Engineering snagged most of this talented group, with business coming in second. I don't know what "exploration" means, but probably "still thinking," or "present." When I was at Ohio State, there was a lot of concern and effort about retention of minority students, because they were heavily recruited, but so many failed or transferred. Therefore, I was thrilled to see this: "African American and Hispanic retention reached a new high of 91%." Also foreign student enrollment is way up again, after falling off after 9/11 when security measures got stricter.

Good job, Ohio State University!

Mandatory Fees aggravate conservative students

The fees that are tacked on to your child's college tuition may be going to support causes and policies you'd prefer not to underwrite--like women's studies programs, or bisexual social events. Here's a story in a Campus Magazine Online by CJ Ciaramella, Blog Editor for CAMPUS Magazine Online.

"The publication I write for at the University of Oregon, the Oregon Commentator, has been fighting the mandatory fee (known at UO as the Incidental Fee) for the better part of 20 years. In 1995, before Southworth and viewpoint neutrality, one of the members of the Oregon Commentator sued the State Board of Higher Education on the "freedom of conscience" grounds.His main objection was the previously mentioned OSPIRG, a political group that sends student money off campus for lobbying purposes. He lost, and OSPIRG still filches thousands of dollars from students. Coincidentally, the case was cited in Southworth.

Furthermore, the mandatory fee creates bad incentives in student government. For years now at the UO (and I'm sure other universities) student unions have maintained a stranglehold on the student government. With low voter turnout, student unions are able to swing elections to candidates that promise to keep the gravy train running. I won't even get into the instances of student government using I-fee money to send themselves to fancy conferences, throw parties (excuse me, "retreats"), etc."

Time to ask the university/college to explain the fees, don't you think? It's your money. Think ACORN with training wheels.

You know who you are

Someone I love is trying to quit smoking. I suggested he take one day at a time, and he assured me an hour might be a bit much. Then I saw this quote at Dancing Boys Mom. Is this great, or what?

I try to take one day at a time, but sometimes several days attack me at once--Ashleigh Brilliant

I smoked a few cigs in college--had gained some weight. My roommate, daughter of a doctor, thought it might work. Stupid 60s. Fortunately, they tasted so bad, stung my nose, burned my eyes and made my breath stink, so I didn't continue. Can't imagine the attraction for those just starting. That's a lot of hurdles to try to look cool.

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What happened to drowning worms?

Health and sex education for young people in the 1950s ended with high school--and about all I can remember is a matronly woman dropping a worm in a bottle of Coca Cola so we could see that it would die. Or did she force it to smoke a cigarette? We certainly didn't have any required sex or health courses in college.

In today's WSJ Christian C. Sahner, who must have had the dream job of the summer as an intern of sorts at the paper before he is launched as a Rhodes Scholar, writes about sex ed at Princeton:

"At Princeton, the freshman class must attend "Sex on a Saturday Night" (SoSN) during its first week. It's a university-organized, student-performed play designed to warn about sexual assault and alcohol abuse. Many schools have similar programs. Its noble intentions are overshadowed, however, by a deleterious message: College is time to get busy (and not just in the library)!"

The play includes 10 characters, telling raunchy, crude jokes with one hokey abstainer who uses a copy of Playboy. The message isn't neutral at all, Sahner reports. It presents "consent" as the only moral principle in "hooking up," whether gay or straight, male or female. All other considerations like pregnancy, STDs, or depression stemming from treating sexual relationships like a college sport, are all irrelevant.

It would be nice, given the statistics on moral students from in tact families that he suggests, if the students just laughed this off the way we did the worms in the bottle. But why is Princeton force feeding such a degrading view of sex with this compulsory, repulsive requirement?

Parents: you're paying the bills. Is this what you want for an education?

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What you do when young and eager on a field trip

Kathryn has a great story about a botany trip she made in college when she dreamed of being a botanist. She goes on to tell about a find of an extinct animal reported in the news, but I thought the first part, where she promises us some stories about how her views have changed is interesting. It's also a good example of how college students can get a bit manipulated by their professors.