Disqus - Latest Comments for turdan

Re: Games of Thrones as a Thinly Disguised Academic Drama

turdan — Wed, 16 Aug 2017 16:21:33 -0000

I appreciate the tongue-in-cheek nature of this critique, but I read the stubborn refusal of the maesters to take the white walker threat seriously and Sam's criticism that they would rather catalog shits, to be an actual and rather sharp criticism of academia. Yes Sam is a beleaguered grad student, but his continued besting of his superiors and ultimate rejections of their methods is pointed. Perhaps the maesters will redeem themselves in the 11th hour, but I rather think that universities are bundled together with religion and government as corrupt and broken institutions in the GoT universe.

Re: Where Jeff Selingo Is Wrong About College Costs

turdan — Wed, 31 May 2017 13:20:51 -0000

This response misses the entire point of Jeff's article. He is not talking about prices, or quality. He is talking about COSTS. Colleges have a cost problem. They have a problem MEASURING costs, they have a problem UNDERSTANDING costs (cost accounting) and they have a really big problem CONTROLLING costs. Yes prices are an issue. Yes dropouts are an issue. Yes quality is an issue. But these are different issues. Very few universities and ZERO faculty demonstrate any real grasp of this particular issue (as this post makes abundantly clear). Among the many lessons that traditional institutions will slowly absorb from the for-profit sector, this one may be the most painful. But it is inevitable.

Re: Reports finds rising competition in online education market

turdan — Mon, 22 May 2017 11:13:52 -0000

Online education will ultimately lead to consolidation and brand will be the organizing force in that process. Schools with better brands are growing, those with less attractive brands are contracting and that includes community colleges. This is less about online saturation and more about a slow reorganization of the geographic model for higher education.

Re: 'In Indiana, Hysteria as a Bludgeon'

turdan — Thu, 02 Apr 2015 15:32:18 -0000

The law says you can't discriminate based on sexual orientation. So if someone refuses service on the basis of religion, a test has to be applied. How far removed from the actual gay wedding do you have to be before you have left religious conviction behind and are dealing with bias? Can the guy who pumps gas for the gay couple's limo refuse? Can the waiter serving them on their 5th anniversary refuse? There is a conflict and it has to be adjudicated -- that's what we do in a civil society.

Re: 'In Indiana, Hysteria as a Bludgeon'

turdan — Thu, 02 Apr 2015 15:24:19 -0000

I agree that the easiest answer is to choose another vendor. And I suspect that I would severely dislike the individuals that have sued over this matter. But the "bringing scandal to others" standard is awfully difficult to maintain when you are in the business of helping people celebrate and can easily be used maliciously to support plain old bias. And I cant fault the sensitivity of a group that is accustomed to experiencing bias routinely.

Re: 'In Indiana, Hysteria as a Bludgeon'

turdan — Thu, 02 Apr 2015 14:59:21 -0000

Of course that is the right answer. But it doesn't mean you don't have to deal with the issue legally because the baking a cake for a party that celebrates a gay wedding, could also be serving a table that is celebrating a gay anniversary, or baking a cake for a birthday party for a gay family. The answer is neither easy nor obvious and deserves thoughtful rather than dismissive consideration.

Re: 'In Indiana, Hysteria as a Bludgeon'

turdan — Thu, 02 Apr 2015 14:52:29 -0000

Equal protection means that if you are open to the public that is exactly what you must do unless you are operating a private club. I suppose you are not advocating that businesses can turn away people on the basis of their ethnicity or race, or military status?

Re: 'In Indiana, Hysteria as a Bludgeon'

turdan — Thu, 02 Apr 2015 14:47:56 -0000

RFRA is about navigating competing interests and in this case navigating between two Constitutionally supported protections. It inserts the concept of reasonableness. Like it or not, you have to draw a line here. What about the guy that pumps the gas for the limo? What about the guy that helps make the limo? Produces art that hangs in the hotel hosting the ceremony? Or cleans up in the hotel afterward? What about an engagement celebration or an anniversary celebration? There has to be a line -- that's what we do in a civil society, we compromise, else we would condone Sharia enclaves as well. For me the line is the ceremony. I don't believe you can coerce participation in the ceremony itself. But catering the party? I think equal protection wins -- open to the public means exactly that, not just the public that agrees with you.

Re: 'In Indiana, Hysteria as a Bludgeon'

turdan — Thu, 02 Apr 2015 14:16:55 -0000

You are right that very few people take their religion that seriously or adhere to such a strict definition that intently. If the florist is screening her clients' celebrations that strictly I would venture it would be hard for her to stay in business at all -- how many bouquets has she provided to adulterers for example? So the expressions we have seen to date appear to be more political in nature. Rather than the law being used as a shield for true religious expression, it is being used as a defense of political speech -- I don't like what you are doing so I will refuse service. And seems to have been crafted in Indiana specifically for that purpose. So while it is easy to mock the vitriol, there is equally legitimate substance to both sides of the debate. That said, in the context of ACTUAL persecution of both Christians and gays elsewhere, it verges on the obscene -- on both sides.

Re: 'In Indiana, Hysteria as a Bludgeon'

turdan — Thu, 02 Apr 2015 13:54:15 -0000

But Rich, the obfuscation, strawmen and disingenuous arguments abound on both sides of this debate. Every conservative characterization of the debate purposely ignores the real and legitimate dispute and that is where in the inherent conflict between equal protection and religious freedom do you draw the line? Proponents of the law believe it should be drawn broadly to include wedding florists and photographers (and perhaps pizza makers,) whereas opponents disagree that those activities properly constitute religious expression. NPR's "Morning Edition" did the matter justice this morning by interviewing an Indiana minister who testified in favor of the law: http://www.npr.org/2015/04/.... I disagree that catering a wedding constitutes religious expression. Can we please talk about that? Because at the root that's what the left is saying and what right-leaning media (and Governor Pence) want to ignore.

Re: Meet the Beautiful, Tough Young Democrat Whos Turning Heads by Challenging Obamas Foreign Policy

turdan — Thu, 02 Apr 2015 13:37:19 -0000

I was glad to have this leader's activities brought to my attention, but leading with her "beauty" is just sexist. I'm sorry it just is. Just play the reverse the gender game and realize how ridiculous the first paragraph reads. Or better yet, substitute beautiful for plain and see how irrelevant the descriptor is to anything NRO readers should care about.

Re: DeVry is learning a tough lesson - In Other News - Crain's Chicago Business

turdan — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 10:56:08 -0000

The fourth and fifth paragraphs, in which you contend that the number of high school graduates is in decline is factually incorrect. The rate of growth is slowing, but at no point is the U.S, projected to see fewer high school graduates than the previous year. This is due primarily to a projected 63% increase in the number of Hispanic students graduating high school by 2021.

Re: The Corner

turdan — Wed, 04 Mar 2015 12:06:49 -0000

So the follow-up to Paul calling out NRO for being "gossipy" is... to be gossipy? In addition to pace of clapping, we might add smile curvature, percent of minutes arms cross in front of body and then index against similar metrics of other speech reactions. Come. on.

Re: Where in the world is…Nicolas Cage

turdan — Thu, 25 Sep 2014 19:38:14 -0000

You Herald H8ers don't understand. When you’re endowed with an original way of thinking, or with a highly active imagination, you can become quickly ostracized. You can feel isolated and misunderstood. You have to live in the Cage to understand the Cage.

Re: Admissions Group to Flesh out Position on Commissioned Agents

turdan — Thu, 28 Aug 2014 09:57:23 -0000

Threadbare covering of self-serving hypocrisy from a group that offers routine sanctimonious criticism of for-profit college recruiting practices and heartily endorsed the administration's 2011 program integrity changes severely restricting compensation practices for recruiters. Now, when its principles are tested in an area affecting real revenue for its primary constituency, completely folds. Why is it appropriate to pay a commission for an international student and the height of moral terpitude to do so for a U.S. citizen? Because international students pay list.

Re: John G. Sperling, Founder of the U. of Phoenix, Dies

turdan — Mon, 25 Aug 2014 08:59:12 -0000

I'm sorry but the latest OIG investigation demand which does not even contain an evaluation or final report is out of context with the legacy creation of the institution. The inclusion of that paragraph is disproportionate and petulant. If it were a real news story it would make better mention of how UOP has changed the way traditional education is delivered and evaluated as a result of UOP's success. It's a pissy, narrow, petulant account that panders to the sneering readership of CHE. This is the one moment to give the man his due and acknowledge his impact and the editors blew it.

Re: John G. Sperling, Founder of the U. of Phoenix, Dies

turdan — Mon, 25 Aug 2014 08:15:10 -0000

Inclusion of middle graph is nothing short of spiteful. Truly tacky.

Re: Corinthian Learner

turdan — Wed, 20 Aug 2014 09:38:31 -0000

There is more even-handedness here than in most accounts, but the point about taxpayers being better off by increasing subsidies to public institutions is plainly false. Default rates are measured in bodies not dollars. When grad rates, dollar defaults and taxes paid are factored into the equation, taxpayers get a much better deal on a per employed graduate basis with for-profits. For-profit institutions are plainly motivated to encourage persistence and employment in a manner that publics -- particularly community colleges -- are not. But if you do expect states to increase subsidies then you have to become accountable on the same basis as for-profit institutions. Reduce subsidies for institutions with high drop-out rates, and low employment success. Community Colleges only skate past Gainful Employment rules because their Associate degrees are not measured at all and because taxpayer subsidies keep debt levels low. If they were measured not on debt but on the level of program expense they would fail miserably. As for bailouts and legal fees, one need only witness the disparate example of unionized City College of San Francisco, allowed to remain open in the face of gross financial mismanagement and administrative incompetence to see that the legal fees and bailout costs are politically driven.

Re: Corinthian's failure (and U.S. role in it) fuels for-profit critics

turdan — Thu, 26 Jun 2014 09:21:06 -0000

City College had its accreditation withdrawn after extensive review and failed due process. Corinthian has had no due process. They have been vilified in the press by critics who represent only one side of the equation. Schools like Everst are responsible for training 40% of the medical assistants in this country and community colleges cannot afford to absorb this capacity. On a risk-adjusted basis, outcomes are equivalent or superior for Corinthian's certificate programs (which receive the bulk of the criticism.) On a per graduate basis they are a far better bargain for taxpayers, defaults included. And truth is if the subsidy taxpayers provide to community colleges were added back to the cost, and students were obliged to pay the full cost of their education as they are in for-profit schools, defaults would be every bit as high or higher. This action is about ideology and politics. Corinthian has many faults and bears responsibility for 99% of its current woes, but the Education Department gave it a deliberate shove off the cliff.

Re: SXSW PanelPicker

turdan — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 09:55:29 -0000

Some commentary on EdTech: http://blogs.kqed.org/minds...

Re: Ohio college presidents gather for annual meeting -- in Washington

turdan — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 16:55:26 -0000

Brown's ignoring of for-profit colleges demonstrates snobbish, old-school parochialism. Don't those institutions' students count? Meanwhile the description of little-old Ashland College suggests it is valuable for its president to visit Washington several times per year whereas the for-profit schools are derided for stepping us their lobbying efforts. The bias and hypocrisy evident in Brown's little event are astounding.

Re: Israel's Moral Peril

turdan — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 09:28:10 -0000

Israeli author and blogger Judith Levy posts an effective rebuttal here: http://ricochet.com/main-fe...

Re: Obama Ally Won't Release Alinsky Tape

turdan — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 09:25:26 -0000

The point is to witness the post-production panel discussion in which the president participated.

Re: American Studies Association, U. of California Faculty Back Occupy Wall Street

turdan — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 10:59:53 -0000

There's only one problem with socialism. It doesn't work.

Re: Zakaria Discusses His Meetings With Obama

turdan — Tue, 17 May 2011 17:44:48 -0000

It's to the president's credit that he consults with Zakaria. Zakaria is thoughtful and insightful and these are challenging times. The president should be able to consult with whatever learned person he chooses, regardless of that person's employment. And furthermore, particularly with respect to foreign policy, I think it is every patriotic American's duty to heed that call should he or she receive it and to treat it seriously.