(no subject)

[akashiver]

Public Health Emergency Declared over Swine Flu

Op Ed Piece - End the University as We Know it

Basically this article focuses on (surprise!) graduate school. I agree with the economic assessment, but think that some of his suggestions for solving the problem are a bit whack.

Comments

[birdgirl78.livejournal.com]

*twitching*
*crying*
Now I'll never finish my prospectus. I give up. I quit.
*looks for razor blade*

[petrovnik.livejournal.com]

I started writing a comment and then realized it had ballooned to a length no one would care about. So I decided to go with a quip instead:

The neuvo-department on Water makes me wonder if the university is restructuring based on a Captain Planet episode.

[akashiver.livejournal.com]

I go with "yes."

[schenker28.livejournal.com]

Yikes. "Abolish permanent departments, even for undergraduate education, and create problem-focused programs." Hence the "water-program". Weird stuff. This guy apparently has never heard of basic science research. Quick, let's open a temporary "eliminate disease" focused-program, so we can solve the general health problem of diseases, instead of wasting our time with useless basic research on things like biology, genetics, etc. DNA -- what a silly waste of time, when you could be studying "abolishing disease" instead of these silly tiny invisible strands? And basic research in physics, on stuff like "atoms" or even smaller stuff? Forget about it -- just run a 6-month program on "alternative awesome energy source development" instead of wasting time with a "Department of physics".

Also, mandatory retirement sounds sucky. I just had a great meeting with my advisor where he passed along a tiny bit of his many years of knowledge to me. This author would rather that we kick out professors once they get mature enough to have really profound thoughts -- just keep around the young kids long enough to "abolish disease" and then force them out so we can have fresh minds working on the "eternal youth" problem for another 6 months (thus eventually eliminating the annoying "old professor" nuisance).

Maybe the university system has some issues, but abolishing the university and turning it into a myopic little company with investors and stock options and mid-20s business students instead of scientists or philoposhers isn't gonna improve things.

I think he should be advocating opening "maths" (as in Neal Stephenson's latest book, Anathem) instead!! Sort of the opposite.