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JZer
Joined: 16 Jan 2005
Posts: 3898
Location: Pittsburgh
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 Posted: Sun Mar 10, 2013 5:00 am Post subject: |
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fred13331,
I agree. I personally could have gone to Duquesne Law School or the University of Pittsburgh Law School. I also graduate in the top 10% of my college class. However my heart was in traveling rather than law school. |
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Javelin of Radiance
Joined: 01 Jul 2009
Posts: 1187
Location: The West
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| Posted: Sun Mar 10, 2013 6:34 am Post subject: |
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| fred13331 wrote: |
| Not aiming this reply in any one direction, rather, making observations on recent comments on this thread. One thing I don't like about these forums is the tendency towards sweeping generalizations. Such as 'most foreigners in China have Mickey Mouse degrees''. |
As you pointed out some generalizations are ridiculous, others aren't. All schools are evil, all teachers useless, these are bad and unfair generalizations. Saying that many or most teachers here have relatively useless liberal arts degrees is a pretty accurate generalization. Consider this - Take away the sweeping generalizations and anecdotal personal experiences and forums like this cease to exist.
| LarssonCrew wrote: |
| If it wasn't for blatent nationalism, everyone, including yourself, who is Chinese, would want their house built by a foreign builder, their meals cooked by a world class michelin starred chef, buy their [non tainted] food imported and their kids taught, in Mandarin if needed, by a foreigner. There's no two ways about that. |
I have to ask what the point of this comment is. Unless I've read that wrong you're suggesting that because someone (me) is critical of anything western they must be Chinese. That's about as stupid as the comments on here that if you recommend a particular job or school as being good, you must be a devious recruiter trying to trick someone into signing a contract.
Here's a few more generalizations for your consumption.
1. Most teachers on this forum are not scientists and they're not lawyers, those of you who are, are in a small minority. Most of us have liberal arts degrees that, unless you're lucky or know someone, won't net you much more back home than a retail or service sector job. These degrees can be useful as a springboard to something better, teaching qualifications for example, but on their own don't amount to much.
2. Universities these days are in a shambolic state, especially in regards to undergraduate education.
3. Professors don't care about teaching. They're interested in research and publishing books and articles, because that's how they get promoted and recognized and their tenure depends on it. They'd rather shuffle off the unimportant teaching duties to sessional lecturers or their PhD students, who are likely less knowledgeable and less qualified.
4. Universities have lowered their entrance standards for many programs, not to lure foreign students and their money, but to "widen access" and to create a "more diverse student population." This is code for letting in the poorest and dumbest local students regardless of their grades. The thinking now is that university should be made available to everyone, because to exclude anyone would be unfair. Governments have under-written these policies by favoring schools, through additional funding, who admit more students with little regard to the quality of the teaching, and now we have classes stuffed to the gills with students, and the resulting graduating classes, who shouldn't have been there to begin with.
These are generalizations, and there are exceptions of course but I suspect not many on here have graduated from the so-called elite schools. And that doesn't mean that everyone with a liberal arts degree from some state university is an idiot, it simply means that the quality of that education isn't recognized in nearly the same way it used to be. The social engineers started a race to the bottom and we're well on our way there, and I for one am not happy about it. But in order to fix a problem you first have to recognize it exists. |
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NoBillyNO
Joined: 11 Jun 2012
Posts: 1762
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| Posted: Sun Mar 10, 2013 12:00 pm Post subject: |
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| This is code for letting in the poorest and dumbest local students regardless of their grades. |
A favorite tactic of western uni's is a high great point requirement for acceptance in the beginning to attract out of state out of country student who pay a higher tuition, then gradual reducing the GP requirement til it is low enough for the locals to qualify. |
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