by Jack Lee
He is a man of letters, a brilliant educator, a great leaders of our youth and because of that he can connect the dots where lesser people have failed.
UC Berkeley Chancellor Says Arizonas Immigration Law to Blame For Giffords Shooting
His conclusion: “I believe that it is not a coincidence that this calamity has occurred in a state which has legislated discrimination (enforced the law of the land) against undocumented persons (illegal aliens who sneaked in). This same mean-spirited xenophobia (patriotic citizens who believe in the rule of law) played a major role in the defeat of the Dream Act by legislators in Washington, leaving many exceptionally talented and deserving young people, including our own undocumented (illegal aliens) students, painfully in limbo (forced to pay their own way) with regard to their futures in this country (what about future in Mexico – is that any better?). On our own campus, and throughout all the campuses of the University of California, we must continue to work. . . blah, blah, blah.” Robert J. Birgeneau, Chancellor, UC Berkeley
Yes sir, Blah blah blah, In academia land they brain wash minds through the guise of education and call it “Thinking”,and turn out activists. In the real world people learn life’s lessons through the process of “Reasoning” and become successful as capitalist’s to pay for todays professors, it is a vicious circle, and never shall the two fundamentals called “Thinking and Reasoning” meet in the classroom!
So if Robert J. Birgeneau, Chancellor, UC Berkeley can rant, So can I! yada yada yada
And we wonder why other countries are wiping the floor with us.
I was reading once again about Bill Ayers this morning. His goal in education was to teach political activism rather than academics. He has written guidlines to instruct future teachers in America…his work has been fullfilled in our schools and it shows.
Brilliant? No.
Tina, no thats not brilliant – its disgusting!
Now consider that this man of higher learning had all week to digest the news and formulate an intelligent opinion or position and this… this crock of pure ivory tower BS, this was the best he could come up with???
You’re so right, people like him are why America is falling behind.
I heard the other day how much UC Berkeley has changed from the 50’s and early 60’s when an engineer studied egineering, today he has to be well studied in comparative cultures, african-american studies, women’s studies, gay studies or some other non degree related course taht we never heard of 30 years ago. And given that he or she only has 4 years to get a degree to be the best engineer they possibly can be, everything else beyond that specialization that is forced on them to learn comes at the cost of their engineering skills. Todays courses get really out there and are of highly questionable value.
Well there you go Jack. As I mentioned on another article it’s the William Ayers method for education..teach activism rather than academics. These boomers were supposed to be for equality and peace and what they have wrought is division and contention…wahoo!
Well, you know … the political climate in Arizona is what it is … extreme.
That an extreme fellow would go extremes in such an envrironment is not to be wondered at ….
Is it?
Just goes to show … you don’t want to cultivate extreme environments.
No, you don’t.
*sigh* In this case, Mr. Chancellor–as hard as it may seem to believe–it WAS a coincidence. I probably agree with a lot of this guy’s views, but…facts are facts.
Jack,
I was curious about your assertion that a Berkley engineering student “has to be well studied in comparative cultures, african-american studies, women’s studies, gay studies or some other non degree related course taht we never heard of 30 years ago,” because it sounded very unlikely that any of these courses were required. So I went to the Berkley course catalog and found out that while all of those subjects are offered under the university’s mandatory “American Cultures” program, the program also includes classes dealing with European history, music, art, archeology, anthropology, city planning, and a wide variety of other subjects.
http://osoc.berkeley.edu/OSOC/osoc?y=0&p_term=SP&p_deptname=–+Choose+a+Department+Name+–&p_classif=–+Choose+a+Course+Classification+–&p_info=AMERICAN+CULTURES&p_presuf=–+Choose+a+Course+Prefix%2fSuffix+–&x=0
And based on this FAQ sheet, it seems that only one course from the American Cultures program is required in order to graduate.
http://americancultures.berkeley.edu/faq.html
It looks like it’s not true that an engineering student, or any other student, “has to be well studied” in any of the subjects you mentioned in order to graduate; classes on those subjects are offered, and there are, admittedly, quite a lot of them. But there are also plenty of alternatives for those students who aren’t interested, or who happen to think that these subjects are a bunch of liberal horse hooey. Personally, I think such studies could be valuable to anyone in today’s modern world, but Berkley doesn’t seem to be forcing that viewpoint on anyone.
Higher education costs a lot of money these days. One thing I’ve heard students complain about is being able to complete required courses within four years because they can’t get into the classes they need. This means they have to spend even more money for another year or so to get their degree. If we didn’t have so many of these alternative studies maybe we could afford a few more engineering and science courses and profs.
Chris I am glad you checked the catalog, that’s good research. My point was actually a friend of mine’s opinion. He’s a UCB grad and so is his son. So they have a good perspective on what kind of classes they are pushing that takes away from their major. But, good job on the research – that was very commendable of you!
Thanks, Jack. Now I’m off to my mandatory George Soros appreciation class, funded by YOUR tax dollars. DEAL WITH IT.
😉
Tell George I said hi and we missed him at coffee the other day.
I knew it! You’re part of the Marxist conspiracy!
Do you know the secret handshake?
(The author who has 35 years consulting experience, has taught at University of California Berkeley, where he was able to observe the culture and the way senior management work.)
Recently: Chancellor Birgeneau pays ex Michigan governor $300,000 for lectures; NCAA places Chancellor Birgeneaus Cal. mens basketball program on probation
Chancellor Robert J Birgeneaus ($500,000 salary) eight-year fiscal track record is dismal indeed. He would like to blame the politicians, since they stopped giving him every dollar he has asked for, and the state legislators do share some responsibility for the financial crisis. But not in the sense he means.
A competent chancellor would have been on top of identifying inefficiencies and then crafting a plan to fix them. Competent oversight by the UC Board of Regents and the legislature would have required him to provide data on inefficiencies and on what steps he was taking to solve them. Instead, every year Birgeneau would request a budget increase, the regents would agree to it, and the legislature would provide. The hard questions were avoided by all concerned, and the problems just piled up to $150 million of inefficiencies.until there was no money left.
Its not that Birgeneau was unaware that there were, in fact, waste and inefficiencies. Faculty and staff raised issues with Birgeneau and Provost Breslauer, but when they failed to see relevant action taken, they stopped. Finally, Birgeneau engaged some expensive ($3,000,000) consultants to tell him what he should have known as a leader or been able to find out from the bright, engaged Cal. people. (A prominent East Coast university was accomplishing the same thing without expensive consultants)
Cal has a problem and we need to address it now. Merely cutting out inefficiencies will not have the effect desired.
But you never want a serious crisis to go to waste. Increasing the budget is not enough; take dead aim at the real source of Cals crisis by transforming University of California Berkeley senior management, Birgeneau, Breslauer
We heartily agree!