Home

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.

37 thoughts on “University of Wisconsin campus proposes elimination of majors such as English, history”

  2. 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.

    Liked by 6 people

  3. 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.

    Liked by 5 people

  5. 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.

    Liked by 5 people

  6. 😀 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!

    Liked by 3 people

    • 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.

      Liked by 2 people

  7. 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.

    Liked by 2 people

  8. 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!

    Liked by 1 person

      • I had a similar educational experience. Not sure when the wheels came off. I detest the utilitarian philosophy that spawned this thinking in education.

        Liked by 1 person

        • 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!

          Like

    • 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.

      Like

Comments are closed.