Auditor says several college majors indoctrinate students and should be defunded
Auditor says several college majors indoctrinate students and should be defunded
Mississippi's state auditor says numerous social science and humanities degree programs are “indoctrination factories.”
I don't think we should allow the market to decide how to invest in education.
Agreed. This argument is one of the more dystopian aspects of late stage capitalism. Not content with controlling basically every aspect of our lives, the mega-wealthy want to shape our education, our knowledge as well. Anything that they cannot profit from is considered worthless.
Yeah, and as someone with a degree they value I’m mad as fuck at it. Yeah of course us engineers need education funding, but we need to be taught the humanities too. I went to school with a woman double majoring in biomedical engineering and women’s studies and in addition to her being the sort of badass that wears blue lipstick to stem classes, she was also one of the most well rounded people in our college.
My English prof taught me to recognize propaganda. My lit classes mattered. My fundamentals of stand up comedy class taught me public speaking. My friend’s philosophy classes got me thinking deeper. Intro to archaeology was mind opening. I didn’t take gender studies but I did feel comfortable reading feminist theory and discussing it with my peers. Hell even my classics class made me a more well rounded person by reinforcing that rome wasn’t some glorious bastion of goodness, but a long standing society that’s overglorified but fascinating for what it actually was.
I am not an economic unit. I am a human being. Just as humanities students need math and science I need humanities.
allow the market to decide
Yeah. After all, when "the market" decides something, that usually means the public interest wasn't profitable enough to the people making decisions in it
This guy is a moron. Somebody should audit the auditor.
First off? A lot of these degrees would be useful in the majority of the Econ sectors that are actually growing. But if you notice his junk list of degrees… it’s things like African American studies, gender studies… you know. Things that are “woke”.
So. Whose trying to indoctrinate whom?
In any case this moron is probably a symptom of why Mississippi has a lower than average economic growth; why the state is loosing educated workers; and why it ranks 37th in gdp and is on pace to collapse even further. If you want to stop the brain drain (people leaving…) might want to develop economic opportunities instead of bejng an asshole.
37th is honestly 12 or 13 places higher than you'd suspect from Mississippi, though..
There’s a few other states that are fighting them for the bottom,
One thing I hadn't foreseen was the degree of brain drain at the state-level. Being born in certain states has become an immediate handicap that many will never overcome because they'll never be given the tools.
Great country.
it’s things like African American studies, gender studies
More importantly, those are not things that anyone gets convinced or tricked into studying. People study those things because they are already invested in the subject.
"People who study how society oppresses certain groups, and how those groups adapt and remain resilient in the face of that oppression, are brainwashing your kids!" - Dudes in the Oppressor's Seat
why the state is loosing educated workers
Your are totally right, but this made me chuckle.
Too many college graduates are leaving Mississippi, and aligning degree programs with labor market demand might stem the tide, White said.
It doesn't even take a full brain cell to figure this one out. Tying budgets to the job market in mississippi isn't going to help if they aren't creating reasonable jobs there.
There has been an explosion of growth in the past 30 years or so just south of Memphis, TN; mostly due to the lower Mississippi taxes. It's a decent area. Jackson, MS is about three hours south and it's a straight up shit hole. To be fair, Memphis isn't far behind with their gangs wielding shoulder fired rocket propelled grenades.
Mississippi state auditor? Yeah right! Nobody's ever audited THAT mess!
My engineering program contributed to me becoming a communist, does it need defunded too?
Seriously, being taught to explain to bosses the financial cost of employee suffering and that they won’t listen otherwise was a radicalizing experience.
Edit: read it and holy fuck German literature and anthropology are on the list wow.
Also, Mississippi, idk how to break it to you, you don’t need to fund education less, that’s the exact opposite of what literally every other state thinks you need to do. You’re not the liberal indoctrination in college state, you’re the “barely has an education system” state
I don't think uni shaped my political/economic views that much, at least at the time. However, my school has a bit of a rep for not being big on politics. The real world made me much more leftwing.
During college, I was a free market
advocateapologist. Since graduating, I've been getting more and more leftwing and haven't looked backOn a related note, I have no idea how one could live through the covid era and not become more left as a result
Me too, I don’t think I’d blame college, but maybe an open mindedness that cones from a better education. I was pretty right wing in high school, the beginning of me paying attention to politics. In college, I was friends it’s socialists and even a communist or two, and certainly lived a communal life, but I was still leaning to the right.
Currently I’m much farther left but it’s hard to say why or when. Part of it is taking conservatives literally. You want family values, ok, I value my kids, their education, and investing toward a better society for their future. You worship the putative self-made man, the successful businessman - clearly we need that solid base of children’s health, childcare, and education, so all those potential millionaires per have a chance to succeed. You like the risk takers and innovators? Sure, I like that, but it means we need a solid safety net so people can feel freer to take those risks knowing that while they may lose, they’ll still land safely and may one day try again.you say you need skilled workers, I say amen, and free college for all. You say the free market dips the most efficient way forward, I say for sure, for sure, and the government shapes the market for the benefit of society.
Maybe the biggest single event for me becoming solid left wing was my kid getting sick. He’s fine now, but it was very serious. I had a well paying tech job, with excellent insurance, and we live in one of the top medical areas. Despite all the benefits, it was tough, it was expensive, and our jobs made it difficult. How do people handle it without that income, without that insurance, without all that first class medical care, without an understanding employer? That’s just wrong
Reality is woke. Defund reality.
-- some GOP chode, probably
This reads like an Onion article.
I mean, they want to fix "brain drain" in America's second-least educated state by restricting educational programs?
Fucking yikes, man.
Who-hoo! I guessed right! Republican and Mindless Bean Counter. Exactly the type of people who should not advise about things University
Well, time to replace that auditor.
Is this the same Shadrack Tucker White that studied practical, non-indoctrinary, apoliticial fields such as.... checks notes... "Economics" and "Politicial Science" from a public university?
Being educated indoctrinates people to not be conservative. It's not college's fault directly, they're at fault for educating students, and making them smarter to realize how dumb as shit conservatism is.
indoctrinate from the Latin docēre, "to teach"
(Other offspring of docēre include doctor, document, and, of course, doctrine)
I am ever amazed that these people believe they can gut education (or even just the parts of it they want to keep people ignorant about) and still live in a first-world country
eh.... Mississippi is the bottom of the barrel, I'd call it a third world backwater at best.
Why is he Andy Bernard from the Office?
Is it even possible to fund a university major-by-major? Kind of a weird idea. The same class might be used for multiple majors, or minors, people switch majors, the administrative staff would presumably need to be fully paid for regardless of whether there's a gender studies major, etc.
If they were thinking of providing more government funding for scholarships for the majors they think they need more of as a state, it would be both easy to manage and morally absolutely fine. But spoilers, Mississippi is not considering providing additional money towards education.
"Person we hired to say things says the thing" more at 11.
Really irresponsible reporting, to be honest.
Problem: the state has a brain drain.
Purposed solution: make it harder for educated people to stay in the state.
Yeah I fully believe this guy studied economics. This is exactly the kinda ass-backwards logic they would come up with. It not only fails the smell test it does not match up with real world data at all. If you want more of something you dedicate more resources to that thing. The only reason why someone would suggest doing the exact opposite of what should be done is if there is a big incentive to lie. In this case for political advancement. Like I said, he is an economist. A paid shill.
By making programs not available it means that young people leave the state even earlier. It means that they don't have a career back home when they finish. Which means they have even less resources. A vicious cycle. They suck at subject X, so it gets less funding, which means they suck more, so they get even less funding, and it continues until the subject is gone and with it all the jobs. Instead of a diverse intellectual workforce you are doubling down on the few narrow subjects that show profit in a short period of time. Totally unprepared for any market shifts. And in the meantime you can't accommodate anyone who doesn't excel at the thing you doubled down on.
There might be some excuse for this if it were working but it isn't working. You could imagine San Jose pushing their schools to teach engineering or NYC schools pushing fashion but Mississippi is pushing for degrees in fields that have no hope in competing in.
Every single fucking thing is wrong about this plan and no one gives a shit. This guy is going to get some consulting fees bullshit for telling politicians what they want to hear because fuck truth.
Can't do research if you can't read. I swear a bunch of goths will successfully invade Mississippi at some point because nobody can read the orders they're sent.
Is it time to move to Mississippi? I wanna meet goths...
Shad...Shad White