Project Wonderful Banner

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Those damned degrees

What's Mallard raving about today?

Higher Education

Mallard, whose hostility toward Higher Education does not preclude complaining about how expensive it is, unsurprisingly cannot discuss the topic in anything beyond the caricature level.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ok, so in other words college education is worthless and teaches people that western civilization is awful? Alright that's....interesting. Considering the fact that good education causes people to question to ponder to study and analyze if it tends to make more people vote the liberal path then that would imply that a better understanding of the world is more likely to make you liberal.

As for being anti-American, I've never seen it on any campus I've visited or taken classes at. I've listened to various guest lecturers some of whom were Republican Authoritarians, others Black Militants, some Socialists. I've seen debates between strict and loose constructionists on the constitution and I've heard some rather fascinating arguments about how education reforms are to be implemented and if the issue is a series of problems or if it's symptomatic of the type of educational system we use.

In short I've seen rational discourse on a multitude of issues, met with people from many different economic and ethnic backgrounds, as well as being able to hear multiple opinions and broaden my mental horizons as well as make several changes to my old political views when I found them either untenable or was shown logical issues that they had. Frankly I can't think of anything more American than that.

exanonymous said...

Again, this imaginary real world that is only populated by neocons...

For university degrees being so worthless, a large number of businesses private or otherwise seem to want them.

Could it be there's actually something of value taught at a university?

Lagomorph Man said...

Tinsley's just angry that he got rejected from every journalist school ever.

dlauthor said...

From Wikipedia:

"Tinsley was born in Louisville, Kentucky. He is a graduate of Bellarmine University with a degree in political science, and attended the Harvard University Summer Program as an undergraduate."

I'm pretty sure he got the fourth-grade reading thing from personal experience, but the rest of it, I'm not sure. I'm betting he was required to read something written by a brown person at some point, or possibly a dirty, dirty Jew. And the Harvard thing just makes me giggle. The thought of him slouching drunkenly around Harvard Square, grumbling about how crappy a university education is ... well, it makes my day a little brighter.

CW in LA said...

Has Tinsley ever even been to college? His view of universities seems to suggest he's never actually seen one, so he has to fall back on the Manual of Default Talking-Points and Stereotypes.

Rootbeer said...

This is the pot calling the kettle a kitchen implement for heating things in.

Mallard Fillmore is nothing if not anti-cultural invective written at a grade school level.

Drogon Saurischian said...

I would note that the graduate in this case actually has a degree in "reading at the 4th grade level." While it's obvious that Tinkley wants us to believe that the graduate, in fact, reads at a fourth grade level, that the topic is his major suggests that the graduate has in fact studied such reading at some length. Thinking about the standard fare for a college degree, I can only conclude that this graduate has done some fairly substantive work in the areas of linguistics, human cognition, psychology, and educational theory. While he may, in fact, hate Western Civ, we can at least know he does so with a firm understanding of a 4th grader's brain (and hence the motivations behind the Republican half of said Civ).

Michael Foley said...

No, Squid, "Western Civilization Stinks" is the study of international odor analysis. So when a 4th grader in Maine asks, "Who cut one?" he'll be able to answer with authority, "Whoever smelt it, dealt it."

Drogon Saurischian said...

Oh shit, Michael at 10:02, you're right! I forgot about the rise of inter-disciplinary studies on college campuses these days.

dlauthor said...

Squid:
While he may, in fact, hate Western Civ, we can at least know he does so with a firm understanding of a 4th grader's brain (and hence the motivations behind the Republican half of said Civ).You do a disservice to fourth-graders, my good cephalopod. By my experience, fourth-graders know how to share, not to hurt others, and that they should get along with people who are different from them.

Jazzbumpa said...

Lovely. A straw graduate and a straw curriculum. This is how Tinkley makes hay.

Suddenly, I need a drink.

Drogon Saurischian said...

I hereby apologize to all fourth-graders everywhere. I did not in any way intend to demean your intellectual, social, and educational accomplishments by comparing you to Republicans.

WV: schir - Tinkley's pavlovian response anytime he hear's "Would you like another?"

rewinn said...

Tinkley has an undergraduate degree in Political Science.

He makes his living drawing high-school cartoons.

This fully explains his belief that a college education has no value.

Unknown said...

Strawledictorian looks like a young Guy Smiley.