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2019-11-05 -Short Attention Span Theater-

2019 grads who majored in STEM now boast the best starting salaries

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Posted by Besoeker 2019-11-05 03:58|| || Front Page|| [5 views ] Top

#1 Science, Technology, Engineering and Math.

Is there any other pursuits besides Medicine and Agriculture that a state university system needs to offer that can not be done by private colleges?

Farm teams for professional sports and departments created for students who 'earn' a worthless degree in studies sold by said universities do not come to mind.

Posted by Procopius2k 2019-11-05 08:10|| 2019-11-05 08:10|| Front Page Top

#2 Higher salaries are obviously racist and sexist.

Posted by AlmostAnonymous5839 2019-11-05 10:03|| 2019-11-05 10:03|| Front Page Top

#3 Sorry but this is wrong-headed. If you can't write clearly--I'm not referring to handwriting but to the expression of ideas in clear and compelling prose--then you will be hard-pressed to think clearly. STEM is not enough. Logic is expressed in language.

A society that is badly trained in the humanities would be like the early 19c Union Army and its STEM-lopsided leadership in the era preceding those great writers and clear thinkers, Lincoln and Grant: numerate, scientifically literate, and incompetent.

Posted by Lex 2019-11-05 10:18|| 2019-11-05 10:18|| Front Page Top

#4 Much of the blame for our society's current confusion and shitty political class can be attributed to the demise of the humanities over the last 40 years. Sloppy thinking, shitty values: these are precisely those flaws which a proper humanities education will correct.

Posted by Lex 2019-11-05 10:22|| 2019-11-05 10:22|| Front Page Top

#5 And here I thought it would be Gender Studies....

Posted by Warthog 2019-11-05 10:43|| 2019-11-05 10:43|| Front Page Top

#6 I'm with Lex. There is also an underlying connexion between legible, appealing script or even typed communication, and the confidence which comes from a well adjusted psyche. I don't mean grandiose loops and swirls of royal blue on scented paper, or tiny dots on the 'i's and perfectly oval 'O's. Just an understandable script, with clear words that convey clear ideas.

My two cents.

I believe a conscious attempt to not improve illegible handwriting is simply the sign of an illegible conscience. Warped, confused and liable to be swayed by assertive people. A schmuck. While I can't blame an 11 year old kid for an easy out like that, an adolescent who fails to develop a legible hand in the modern world would be somewhat of a schmuck. And so would be a parent or teacher for not correcting that.

And STEM is also not for schmucks.

When we learn to write, we also learn to control the flow of our thoughts, the ink on paper a veritable parallel for the actual conversation occurring within. Graphologists and neurobiologists have proved that consciously altering one's handwriting can actually improve the neuronal connectivity for certain intellectual activity. Also proved is the retardation of neuronal connectivity with increased reliance on 'assists' like grammar-check and auto-correct. Our current generation of cut-paste, newspeak adept journalists is a product of just that. There is no music to their thoughts, no conviction. Just a cacophony of impatient urges and exultation of foolish pride.

Posted by Dron66046 2019-11-05 11:00|| 2019-11-05 11:00|| Front Page Top

#7 I blame post modernism for at least part of the chaos. STEM is valued because it put emphasis on finding the RIGHT answer, not just your answer.

Posted by SR-71 2019-11-05 12:39|| 2019-11-05 12:39|| Front Page Top

#8 I expect the next generation will be using voice recognition software. Funny thing, I recall H. Beam Piper's Null-ABC(1953)(free ePub link) where being literate was subversive...

Posted by magpie 2019-11-05 13:31|| 2019-11-05 13:31|| Front Page Top

#9 It's been a long road from glyph to letter.

Posted by Procopius2k 2019-11-05 15:23|| 2019-11-05 15:23|| Front Page Top

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