tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2807403883562053852.post645396660383096219..comments2024-03-18T21:32:04.061-06:00Comments on Clayton Cramer.: Stories Like This Just Make Me See RedClayton Cramerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03258083387204776812noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2807403883562053852.post-52451348790086591172014-03-28T23:39:54.716-06:002014-03-28T23:39:54.716-06:00I'm just not as mad as I should be about this ...I'm just not as mad as I should be about this situation. I don't see a "tangle of perverse incentives" but a realistic view of what these students are capable of. <br /><br />It's unrealistic to expect everybody to go to college. You have students who are not college material, will never be college material, yet they have one skill they've developed, sports, which is of value to the real world. How does a college balance these issues? Kick the student out? That's stupid. <br /><br />Lots of schools already hire private tutors to help teach them 4th and 5th grade level stuff. What is the student supposed to do with the rest of his hours? There is nothing he can take at a college level. mollohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02899024514499000340noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2807403883562053852.post-57666725540547896582014-03-28T20:16:30.330-06:002014-03-28T20:16:30.330-06:00Not all is bad. I am currently enrolled in a junio...Not all is bad. I am currently enrolled in a junior college nursing program. 30 years ago I took many of the same classes as pre-reqs for my BS degree. I find the science classes now, anatomy, microbiology, chemistry and the like to be more rigorous and better taught, from mostly better textbooks, than in the classes I had a a decent 4-year university way back when.<br />I have no idea what the freshmen are being taught, or how much they know, but the young adults I am in class with are all pretty sharp. Of course, the dummies have all been weeded out by this point.Tom Bridgelandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13098048586042365606noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2807403883562053852.post-19197946534238949972014-03-28T11:18:32.886-06:002014-03-28T11:18:32.886-06:00To add to my previous thought: my experience was w...To add to my previous thought: my experience was with students who were under-prepared for the field they were studying in. The school I worked at did not have any inter-mural sports teams. <br /><br />(I still saw High School graduates who hadn't mastered Algebra. Which might have been laziness on their part. Or educational malpractice on the part of the school they attended.)<br /><br />About big-name athletes, and special courses to allow them to remain as "students" at the University level: can we arrange a modern form of shaming, equivalent to the medieval stocks and pillory? <br /><br />I'm imagining using it to shame the Sports Directors, Admissions Officers, and certification boards from the NCAA. And College Presidents.<br /><br />More realistically: I understand the tangle of perverse incentives that led to this situation. And I'm told that some Universities hold their athletes to much higher standards than this example.<br /><br />Is there some way to convince the NCAA to require a minimum number of classroom hours for student athletes? A minimum of classes in which athletes are the minority, and more typical students are the majority?<br /><br />Or some way to have the teams separate from the University and become a minor-league team? Even if the team keeps the same name, has some sort of arms-length relationship with the University, and provides athletes with scholarships+stipends?SJhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12043843405366080460noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2807403883562053852.post-68366181359474687682014-03-28T07:40:40.237-06:002014-03-28T07:40:40.237-06:00I did a short stint as an adjunct at a private Uni...I did a short stint as an adjunct at a private University.<br /><br />Even that school did not offer a living wage. Most of the other adjuncts who worked there were splitting time between two or three Universities and Colleges.<br /><br />I'm somewhat happy that I've found employment elsewhere. <br /><br />I was teaching in mathematics, not history. And I was surprised at the things students didn't know, coming in.SJhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12043843405366080460noreply@blogger.com