The University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point is reportedly discussing a plan to eliminate 13 majors including English, philosophy, history and Spanish.
The campus – one of 11 campuses in the University of Wisconsin system – would instead focus on programs that have “clear career pathways,” The Washington Post reported.
Under the proposal, the school would expand areas such as marketing, management, graphic design and computer information systems — areas that “have demonstrated value and demand in the region,” according to the school.
Continue reading: University of Wisconsin campus proposes elimination of majors such as English, history
Commentary by The Secular Jurist: This story is just another example of the depressing and dehumanizing corporatization of America where everything – including democracy, education, and people – are subordinated to serve profit-driven business. In effect, if not in intent, the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point campus is planning to redirect taxpayer funds to pay for corporations’ employee training costs which otherwise would be spent on providing a well-rounded education curriculum for an informed and engaged citizenry.
An “informed and engaged citizenry” is a threat to the governing corporate elite.
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That is definitely the elites’ perception.
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This is sickening! This is why we’re a country of idiots run by the biggest idiot of all, tRump! Unreal! Heaven forbid we should actual teach people how to THINK and reason! Man, this REALLY pisses me off. Not that I’ve ever made $ from it, but I’m damn glad I got my degree in English Lit.
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You can say ALL OF THAT again Jeff!!!
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Jeff, your degree might not have been financially rewarding, but it obviously benefited you in many other ways which IMO are far more valuable.
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Every time I hear or read about the cutting or the demise of Social Studies, or History, or the Fine Arts in our public curriculums — from primary grades to under-grad — it makes me SCREAM BLOODY MURDER!!!! 🤬 😡 It’s just another lobotomy procedure to increase social ignorance, undermining the skill-sets needed for critical-thinking, and ultimately to increase inequality in many aspects of a digressing civilization.
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Oh! And add up there too… creating historical amnesia, for MORE de-evolution! 😩
“To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child.”
— Marcus Tullius Cicero
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Great quote.
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Well said, Professor. It makes me scream too.
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Same thing seems to be happening in my neck of woods and I have this same feeling. Someone should be shot in the head or at least on the knee cap
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Wow. I really hope this is not going to be a global trend. 😮
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It is. The corporates are winning.
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You know Robert, WHY do I get the feeling that a “V for Vendetta” sort of society is on the horizon???? 😮
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Because you’re very observant, Professor.
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Neptune, NO!!! I work for the NYT’s, and the level of English coming from these supposed wordsmiths is often atrocious. Many don’t even know the correct adjective order. Neptune, Zeus, Odin, Thor… Beef up your English classes. PLEASE.
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Devolution in the making.
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That movie was prophetic.
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“We are not men. We are Devo!”
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We ain’t gonna do dat! We’z smart like we iz. We ‘Mericans gots our pinions an our pinions are wat count! We’z smart! We’z do what we’z wunt! We’z no need no educashun!
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Yurs is purfec. It’s the folk who don’t know if this is correct or not: The beautiful, red, American bicycle. I did a video for Bush’s kid the other day. Fuck me, she couldn’t keep a thought in her head, broken sentences, everything back-to-front. It’s not translation, but interpretation 🙂
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I know. Scary stuff.
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😀 I’m very glad I got it. Also have minor degrees in Earth Science and Theater as I took a shit load of classes during the ten years it took me to gradually complete my degree. Never finished my masters but I wish I had even though that, too, was in English Lit. Friggin’ country values all the wrong crap! UGH!
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Jeff, I’m in a similar boat as you. Was in my 5th semester of my Master’s degree, then my Dad committed suicide which set my sister off into deep addiction, divorces, legal shit, jail, etc, and other dominoe effects in the family. When post-grad tuition is so freakin’ expensive, that expense/debt is hard to justify when you reach your 50’s.
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PICARD: There is no greater challenge than the study of philosophy.
WESLEY: But William James won’t be in my Starfleet exams.
PICARD: The important things never will be. Anyone can be trained in the mechanics of piloting a starship.
WESLEY: But Starfleet Academy …
PICARD: It takes more. Open your mind to the past. Art, history, philosophy. And all this may mean something.
(emphasis mine…)
I wonder what would happen if Wisconsin made “Sophie’s World” required reading instead.
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More pertinent and poignant quotes from Star Trek!
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Leave it to Gene Roddenberry for insight into a world that should be… but isn’t – not in America, anyway.
“Sophie’s World” was a bit hit in Norway and elsewhere. Unfortunately, it could be banned in Wisconsin today.
Thanks for the great contribution, shiarrael! 🙂
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Sophie’s World is interesting reading. Should be recommended for all school children
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I agree that this is sickening. I was fortunate that I utilized the learning I gained from my History degree in the teaching of high school history. The philosophy, English, and religious studies courses broadened my intellectual horizons and taught me to think. I’ll never forget overhearing a guidance counselor in my school advising kids in grade 10 not to sign up for senior History courses and select math and computer courses instead. I tore a few strips off him. Sigh… stupidity reigns supreme!
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I guess I was fortunate. All through my schooling, a broad curriculum was taught including civics. Students could choose electives, but were required to pass the mandatory courses.
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I had a similar educational experience. Not sure when the wheels came off. I detest the utilitarian philosophy that spawned this thinking in education.
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In the U.S., the great public education system we once had began to be systematically assaulted with the rise of Reagan, the Moral Majority, and the corporatization/privatization of neoliberalism. Every year it got worse and worse until now when the system no longer even resembles its former self. What a shame, and what a crime that was perpetrated upon the people!
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I sympathize with the children who will not have an opportunity to study philosophy, English and other art subjects. What will they be marketing?
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The ruling elites want obedient, subservient, unthinking workers and consumers – automatons, if you will. The study of philosophy, language, etc. produces the opposite – informed, engaged, and independent-minded citizens.
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I while back I wrote this on university education and the question of what becomes of a university in a neoliberal world
https://wp.me/p2EbyI-1Ev
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Thanks, I recall reading it. Neoliberalism has ruined education as well as society in general.
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And it can only get worse before it gets better
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That’s true, unfortunately.
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