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I might agree with this if it was only private universities rising in costs, but most public university systems have also risen dramatically. The $25,000/year is the average for public universities, not private ones which are even pricier. From what I've picked up on from intermittently researching the subject, much of the costs are associated with expansion of amenities, services, administration, and staff salaries for the stated reason of attracting more/better/smarter students. With the expansion of federal loan programs, more students have been able to pay their way through college with debt. However, this also encourages universities to continue raising prices because 1) the demand is high enough to allow for it, and 2) people are willing/able to take out enough loans to pay. So, if you were the president of a university, why not keep raising the price? If you raise the price by $1,000 every year and you're still able to completely fill enrollment, then might as well raise it and spend the money on something you deem worthy, like attracting higher profile professors, or setting up a career center for students, or expanding research capabilities, etc. You have no incentive to decrease the price unless your university is struggling to fill classes, which has not been a problem for most. Indeed, many universities reject so many competent applicants that I really don't think they're going to run out of paying customers anytime soon.
One solution is to reduce the quantity or value of federal loans, but the United States has a vested interest in educating its workforce, especially since so many blue collar jobs have been outsourced. This might reduce the second factor in rising prices (people are willing/able to take out enough loans to pay), which could put more of downward pressure. But at what cost? Less lower income / middle class families will be able to send their children to college, which is bad for both social mobility and the productivity of the US as a nation.
Another is to subsidize more, but this isn't reducing the cost of university, just shifting the cost onto taxpayers as Forensic reality noted.
Other options you already mentioned: online learning, volunteer work program, etc. I might add expanding/establishing affordable postsecondary education institutions, although these exist to a certain degree already. It's just that they're not very prestigious and everyone wants to go to more highly ranked school systems.
Aside from all that, I would want to research this topic in much greater depth before I form any opinions on the best way to go about reducing costs.
I'm not quite sure if you're relating the 40th/190 ranking to postsecondary education or not. If not, then you can ignore the following.
I think this is more true for K-12 than it is for the US university system. The US has some of the best post-secondary institutions in the world. Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Yale, etc. have an excellent standard of education where highly accomplished individuals - world experts in their field - teach classes and conduct research of global importance. These universities additionally often have robust/established programs that ensure that their students succeed in getting the best opportunities possible after graduation, whether that be in finance, medicine, tech, government, research, etc. Search up the top 50 universities in the world, and a disproportionate number will come from the United States. The US public postsecondary education system isn't anything to ignore either. Several public universities make it into the top worldwide universities as well, and the lower ranked ones still manage to churn out quite an impressive number of skilled graduates in the case of STEM. In the case of K-12, I absolutely agree that we have a quality problem that cannot be solved with more money, and I truly wish we could figure out a way to make K-12 education better. It's something I've personally been very interested in and would love the opportunity to research it further when I have the time. For postsecondary education though, I'm less willing to agree that we rank near the same 40/190 spot, if that's what you're implying, for I believe the United States does a fairly good job compared to other countries, particularly in STEM. At the very least, we're certainly not lagging behind in skilled workers to the point where 39 countries are more accomplished than us. The problem here, as you stated, is whether we are getting our money's worth with the increasing prices. In regards to country productivity, I do not know if increasing postsecondary education spending has resulted in a more capable/prepared workforce over time. In regards to personal finance, we both agree that we absolutely have a problem since wages have not kept up with the cost, resulting in lower overall lifetime disposable income.
And South London is where the party is at.
Dont let someone talk you into a pub crawl, though.
It is a dirty unintellectual job, but someone has to draw out the poison, and perhaps apply some anecdote, I mean antidote.
Okay, maybe both work.
Anchillas and The Babes Without Borders
Post self-deleted by Kalatchevia.
Justice is a balanced equation, but unlike God, we cannot do the math, which is why He reserves judgement for Himself.
Humans are left primarily with two options for handling slights.
First is vengeance, which would have us applying the "eye for an eye" standard of justice until we are all blind.
Truly ignorant people will be claiming victim status in perpetuity for pains suffered by long dead ancestors at the hands of long dead criminals.
Yet descendants who have done no wrong must suffer continuously.
Or as Balian put it best in Kingdom of Heaven;
"We fight over an offence we did not give, against those who were not alive to be offended.".
Then there is forgiveness.
Which some misunderstand as negating punishment. Not so.
You just do not punish so definitively, or perpetually that you rob someone of their chance to redeem themselves.
None of us has the right to take that from someone else, because we are all sinners, and must all have a chance to atone here in this life.
It has been Black History month here in the states, but this is an international forum, and I have not wanted to bore you with such an American centric event, considering how much Americana I blather about already.
However in my musings on the subject, I have found a few things appropriate for a capitalist region to see, and clear up some possible historical misunderstandings about the black/white dynamic in the US.
I want to preface the following with the statement that we did not need the Great Society.
Just equal political and economic legal standing.
Since blacks during Jim Crow days could not bank with white institutions, they built their own.
Men like Jesse Benga, and William Washington Browne built banking institutions that not only funded black entrepreneurs, but educated them with their own wisdom and business models to maximize financial success in their communities.
And not just for men.
Madame CJ Walker was the first self-made female millionaire in the US.
Mass manufacturing and distributing hair and beauty products that were at first just home made attempts at solving her own unfortunate cosmetic issues, but would later discover that she was far from the only black woman to have them.
This black business activity making a mockery of Jim Crow with its success from 1900 to 1930 was called the "golden years of black entrepreneurship".
It is an interesting period of history to study if you want to look it up.
It did come at a cost though.
In 1921, white Tulsa, Oklahoma residents violently reacted to the financial success of the predominately black Greenwood District, and burned it down.
This was just the worst example of what was by no means an isolated incident, but survivors simply picked up what they could and rebuilt elsewhere, establishing, or adding strength to communities in more tolerant cities that would endure till the Great Depression.
Not that it permanently knocked black capitalism down for the count.
Like the white folk, black fortunes rekindled throughout WWII and Korea, and by the 1960s burned as bright if not brighter.
Before the Great Society, black middle class metrics were superior in many respects.
Despite lagging behind in formal education, labor and business participation rates were equal to, and sometimes higher than whites.
Median incomes, and savings were higher.
Divorce, and out of wedlock childbirths were lower.
Truth be told, the black middle class nuclear family of the 1950 and 60s was the strongest family and financial unit in the country, despite its legal disadvantages.
We did not hold ourselves to a different standard, but labored under the very principles of the standing we were fighting to achieve politically.
Then Democrats got their revenge.
The Great Society destroyed the black family.
Black home ownership has been stagnant despite programs initiated since to specifically grow it.
Labor participation rates fell from peak rates of 15% over white labor to averages of 30% below.
Education availability has been greatly improved, but somehow does not translate into significant black financial success.
I know why, but will not get into it here, and you may guess on your own by your observations of secondary education in general.
Still, blacks are in at least 80% for voting Democrat despite decades of getting little for their trouble.
And as you can see, I am one of those conservative outliers, traitor to my race, because what I have stated above is considered all manner of heretical depending on how socialist you are, and I refuse to hold my people by a different standard than the rest of humanity because of some false sense of political entitlement.
Which brings me to close with a rediscovered bit of economic trivia.
I do not know how well it would apply globally, but if Americans want to destroy poverty in the US once and for all, all of us need only do three simple things.
1) Graduate high-school.
2) Get married. Two heads are better than one.
3) Do not have your first child until both of you are at least 25.
The logic being that gives you your window for education, and starting careers or businesses, putting you on firm family starting footing.
Stats historically show that this lifestyle brings almost all couples starting in poverty out of it by their 30s.
Those fortunate enough to start on higher footing will at least maintain it, if not advance it.
And that is why Progressives will never solve poverty in America, even if they wanted to.
What I just proposed is entirely antithetical to their ideology.
Anchillas and Kalatchevia
It was recently discovered that your Finance Minister owns several properties in Marche Noire and your Defense Minister has stocks in a Maxtopian arms manufacturing company. Concern has been raised that this information was not disclosed before the previous election, and now represents a conflict of interest for both ministers.
Another one of those kind of NS accidents of relevance as the US Congress has been quibbling over how and if our senators and representatives can trade freely on the stock market given the fortunes they can advantageously amass with their influence and information gathering abilities.
Anchillas, Kalatchevia, and The Babes Without Borders
We have to admit that the American taxation structure baffles us. The poor American girls working outside the USA still have to pay income taxes to the American government! That is as deranged as awarding citizenship based upon the location of birth rather than the nationality of the parents. Other nations do not tax earnings when working at a foreign location. Poor American girls!
As we recall from school, The Communist Manifesto says that a progressive or graduated taxation system will be established in advanced nations as they move towards Communism. Clearly, the American left has embraced this, but the confusing thing to us is that we were told that the American Constitution guaranteed equal protection to all citizens. How can all citizens be treated equally under a graduated taxation scheme? Perhaps Americans aren’t taught that all must be treated equally?
The Left despises personal wealth, so the confiscation of funds is not surprising. What is surprising is that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms lists both the freedom of peaceful assembly, and freedom of association as Fundamental Canadian Freedoms. It appears that Lord Action was correct: “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
Sweetie, we hope the recent storms in the Southern USA did not harm your farm!
But there is nothing that will aid falling asleep any better than the drone of BBC News.
As a child, we read a book about the American President Lincoln. As we recall, he educated himself by firelight in a log cabin after splitting rails all day. His Vice President Johnson learned to read as an adult after being tutored by his wife. Obviously, expensive facilities and highly paid teachers are not necessary to receive an education. All that is necessary is a desire to learn. Perhaps modern teachers no longer kindle that desire in students?
Americans are the most ignorant concerning geography. Perhaps it is no longer taught in their schools? Many are even ignorant of their own country’s geography…
At the end of the day, the teachers are there for the money. That's why home schooling is a far better alternative if you want your child to succeed academically, since the parent will know what is truly best for their child and the child will be taught the essentials in a method that they align with the most.
If the parents do not have time to educate their child (for obvious reasons), a private tutor is ideal.
It's truly disappointing to see citizens not know the political and physical geography of the country they live in.
The Babes Without Borders and Forensic reality
There are actually stages. People in the know (like my big boss) talk separately about second and third generation vaccines. The most immediate and urgent goal is a pan-coronavirus vaccines that works against all existing and future types of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19). It's not very far-fetched, given that mRNA vaccines originally developed against the wild type (the type that emerged in Wuhan) have retained (at least with boosters) significant effectiveness against all subsequent mutations. But ideally we'd want 95% rather than 75% efficacy. Then there's a universal (up to a point) vaccine providing cross-protection against other similar viruses (i.e. betacoronaviruses) as well. Again, it's not as crazy as it seems, since they've already noticed some antibodies working against both SARC-CoV-1 (the virus that caused SARS outbreak in China in 2002 and has lethality about 10%) and SARS-CoV-2 (the spikes on both viruses are similar). The Holy Grail is the truly universal coronavirus vaccine that works against alpha-, beta-, gamma- and deltacoronaviruses (meaning that it will also prevent some common colds - I'm really looking forward to that if it works). Yes, it's very hard. But now we have this new proven fantastic mRNA technology. You can actually design vaccine on a computer in a couple days without ever even having a sample of the virus (provided that somebody else sequences it and shares the genome), and the vaccine will then make the body produce the protein(s) that you want targeted with antibodies. Presumably, that greatly speeds up experiments on monkeys allowing the scientists to test different kinds of antibodies much faster than with older technologies, and so much of development will happen by trial and error. Also, unlike dead/attenuated virus vaccines (starting with the original 200-year old vaccine against smallpox), mRNA technology allows precise targeting of specific proteins in the viruses, and well, all coronaviruses share some similar proteins. That's the general idea.
Acario, Anchillas, Kalatchevia, Alta Si, and 1 otherForensic reality
Lawrence of Arabia, I absolutely adore this movie. Strangely enough, it's one of those movies that I thought was quite uneventful/boring while watching it at first. I came out of it thinking, meh, it was good but not great. But as time passed, I grew to love it more and more. Now, I can honestly count it as one of my top movies. It really was an epic. I'm very glad to read this quote you've shared.
Anchillas, The Babes Without Borders, and Forensic reality
I know this was meant as a joke, but from my own personal experience, American schools absolutely do teach you tons of geography. Perhaps I as lucky, but in my school and all the surrounding ones, they literally have a class on this, World Geography, which is mandatory. You basically learn where every country in the world is, major mountain ranges/rivers/bodies of water/geography of every continent, the most popular religions in every region of the world, etc. For example, I remember quite clearly being given a blank political map of Africa and had to fill in the names of every country as a test. The same thing was done with Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the states/capitals of the United States. They also have a class, World History, which is also mandatory, in which you learn the history of essentially every single region in the world. You go so in depth regarding the economics, society, religion, culture, politics, trade, and revolutions of essentially every major time period with every world region, from 3000BC to modern day. Just pulling random things off the top of my head, Manchurian victories in founding the Qing dynasty, rise and fall of Umayyads/Abbasids, Mughal's expansion into India and strained Muslim/Hindu relations, "flying cash" under the Tang dynasty, 100 Years War, 30 Years War, 7 Years War, the reforms of Suleiman I of the Ottomans, art styles of feudal Japan, Prussian military dominance and German unification, Russian serfdom under various emperors, caesaropapism in the Byzantines, Portugal's dominance in Indian Ocean spice trade, etc. After so many textbook notes, quizzes, tests, essays, etc, I am astonished how much I knew coming out of that class. Admittedly, I was incredibly interested in the material and so I probably remember more than the average person. However, the stereotype of Americans not knowing geography/history is less of an education failure and more of a disinterest in the information taught to them. The people that don't know any world geography/history either didn't care enough to learn the material, forgot the material after many years of not using it, or were in the unfortunate situation of attending an underfunded/below average school system.
Anchillas and The Babes Without Borders
A pan-coronavirus vaccine would be a game-changer, it will save millions of lives for the years to come. I just hope such a powerful vaccine will be accessible to all people.
There is actually a somewhat similar Covid-19 vaccine being developed today, and it's called the Self-Amplifying mRNA (SAM) vaccine. Gritstone Bio is creating the SAM vaccine and will be entering phase 1 of trials in the UK. The CEO of Gritstone Bio stated that the SAM vaccine is designed to drive stronger CD8+ T cell responses, and has neutralising antibodies that will create stronger and longer-lasting immunity for all people. The SAM vaccine is also using highly conserved viral proteins that will be far less susceptible to antigenic drift and viral mutations.
This is all great news, but it simply isn't enough. Third-world countries have trouble storing vaccines, with them not having enough cold storage to keep them in. This was also a major complication with every country, but was more sever with poorer nations. This will not a problem in the future, for Swedish biotech company Ziccum AB and Johson & Johnson Subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals are developing an air-dry vaccine that will convert them into powder form and will remove the need to store them at cold temperatures. This doesn't stop at Covid vaccines. Both companies are working on creating powered Ebola and RSV vaccines as well.
Ziccum's and Janssen's technology applied to a pan-coronavirus vaccine would be monumental, and will make it the most accessible and effective vaccine yet. I would like to hear your thoughts on this.
Post self-deleted by Anchillas.
ForReal Quote Today
"Give me four years to teach the children and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted."
- Vladimir Lenin
ForReal Track Today
Another Brick in the Wall, Pink Floyd
Anchillas, The Babes Without Borders, and Alta Si
Because of the time it was made, many of its plot points are very subtly presented.
The genius of the film's direction is not unlike a clever novelist that generalizes their themes so as not to choke the narrative, and bog the reader down in explicit details that are not relevant to the story as a whole, but presented in a way that allows your imagination to easily fill in the blanks for itself if you want.
Also, like a good book, the entertainment value is enhanced with the need of multiple viewings to process all of the nuance laid into character and story development.
If you have not seen John Milius's The Wind and the Lion, I highly recommend it.
It has more of a high adventure feel about it, which is common to Milius movies, most notably "Conan the Barbarian", but despite some heavy fudging of historical characters, is still based on an actual historic event that lends an interesting, as well as entertaining view of the geopolitical landscape of the day.
Sean Connery plays the main antagonist, and Muslim audiences of the day responded strongly, and positively to his characterization of an archetype that is no longer present in their world, and have since romanticized.
Not unlike the deep reverence that Japanese still show for the 47 Ronin.
John Milius is very enamored of Theodore Roosevelt, and wanted to make three movies depicting three stages of that president's life.
The Wind and the Lion portrays an elder Roosevelt on his way off the stage of history.
Milius later produced a movie for TNT about the Rough Riders, which again portrays a high adventure themed look at the Spanish-American War, and portrays a young Theodore at the beginning of events that would mold his bold occupation of the world stage.
Unfortunately, he never made his third movie about Roosevelt, but I think the two that he did portrays TR pretty definitively.
Anchillas and Alta Si
Post self-deleted by Forensic reality.
I love how this region's RMB has been getting some really detailed posts lately! Keep it up!
Post self-deleted by Anchillas.
I am going to continue the daily questions. I will do three questions a day for a few weeks, to make up for all that time I didn't do it.
Daily Question #83
Which year would you live in forever?
2018, one the best years in the 2010's
Daily Question #84
When do you think Humanity will officially discover other forms of intelligent life?
In the mid to late 21st century.
Daily Question #85
What will happen once Russia invades Ukraine?
NATO and the United States retaliate with the soldiers stationed in Ukraine. Ukrainian guerrilla forces will hide amongst the shadows and attack Russian forces with stealth and secrecy. China will take the golden opportunity and invade Taiwan.
I believe it has begun...
Reports seem to indicate that the invasion is not only imminent but is occurring at this very moment. Putin has issued a decree recognizing the independence of the Donetsk People's Republic and the Luhansk People's Republic.
https://www.foxnews.com/world/russia-sanctioned-after-putin-recognizes-separatists-independence-says-ukraine-is-historically-part-of-russia
Yep, it has begun...
https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/21/europe/russia-ukraine-tensions-monday-intl/index.html
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