What's happening to large cities

[gregj410]

the biggest idiot democrat

Is there another kind ?

[rogruth]

In the several years I have participated on MTJ I have learned many things. One thing I have not learned is how to tell if somebody is lying.
I don't think I'll ever learn how to do that so it makes choices harder for me as I get older. So I will just blunder along as I have in the past.
Since 1955 I have tried to make intelligent choices, well as intelligent as I can, that will not negatively affect my life. So I just stay confused.
I have a grandson who recently got married, both are early 30s, and they attend every protest in their area, upper Hudson Valley, but have
never voted in an election. They go to the protests so they "can be heard". Now that does not make sense to me.
Oh by the way, both are college graduates. I hope I can have FUN for a few more years before our world ends.

[rogruth]

BTW, I don't mean to imply that forum members are lying. Only when someone says something political as individual or as a party member then I don't know whom to believe. And don't think I ever will.

[gregj410]

Oh by the way, both are college graduates

That’s where the indoctrination begins....why else would the Dems want to make it free

[Neil]

"why else would the Dems want to make it free"

Because it's good for individuals to obtain an education and it's good for society to have an educated populace. Not saying you cannot succeed without higher education, because that's obviously not true. But on a societal level, in modern times, we need, in particular, individuals with science, technology and related training, and communication skills, knowledge of history and literature are vital in a democracy.

[rogruth]

Everything becomes more technical all the time. I have two degrees (big deal) and I do not understand how to work my computer and other electronic gadgets very well. But all of my gand kids do. I agree with Neil.

[robert.]

There is a lot of fat that could be trimmed from higher education.

[E7]

I said the Democratic candidates were only slightly better than the Republicans (except in the case of Der Fuhrer-Biden is Christlike compared with this human train wreck).

To compare that self serving idiot Sleepy Joe Biden to Christ, is bar none the most ASININE comment ever posted on this website.

Also the Democratic presidents often had a Republican controlled House or Senate or both which makes getting stuff done difficult. Republicans, as a broad generalization, want to spend money on nothing, or perhaps tax cuts for the very wealthy , the military and such. Not generally on health care, education, scientific research, the arts, the poor, the middle class.

Once again tell me what Slick Willie and Obumma improved in the 16 years.

Perhaps if the Democrats take both the Presidency and the Senate and retain control of the House something will be done about the pressing issues, as was the case in the New Deal. Which was, in general, terrific, addressed the crisis of the Depression, and, unsurprisingly, rabidly opposed by the Republican party and its Supreme Court. But FDR whipped them in line.

I regret to inform you that FDR is DEAD and no longer a factor. I don't see any thing resembling FDR in "They're not bad people" Biden and the scary thing is, I doubt he will survive 4 more years and his VP will be a real train wreck.

And maybe we can get an interview from Mr. Shoulders to tell us about his delightful NYC experience:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/29/nyre ... bronx.html

[chuck]

There is a lot of fat that could be trimmed from higher education.

I'm not so sure about that. A lot of routine maintenance has been deferred and the schools have to go out and grub for research dollars. The former seems to be endemic (roads, bridges, dams, railroads, airports, etc) while the later requires additional investments in areas of technology which is never cheap. Most of the easy/low hanging fruit has been eliminated/trimmed. What's left is very complicated. Even schools with heavy endowments are faced with issues of the endowments have a lot of strings attached that make moving money around difficult (that is the prerogative of the donors).

Most of the "fat" is ironically in the "for profit" schools where waste/fraud/mismanagement seems to run wild. People getting degrees, successfully completing courses of study, and graduating with a decent shot at gainful employment is pretty low on their scales of success. Turning a profit is all they care about, delivering a functional product is way down on the list.

[robert.]

I talking about bs classes. I had to take a gym/physical fitness class. 100 percent waste of money.

[chuck]

I had to take a gym/physical fitness class.

Never heard of that one in a college setting unless you were in ROTC or some kind of PE training for a primary secondary teaching certificate?

[robert.]

Delval college. Required you to take a fitness class. They waived that requirement if you played. A sport for them. I paid $600 to take brisk walking.

[chuck]

We didn't have any PE requirements other than the cases I cited. Neither did Western, or Irvine (schools my kids attended).

NY state required PE in primary and secondary schools right up to 12 grade but the senior classes were split into "health" (aka sex education) and "leisure sports" (aka tennis, golf, archery, square dancing!). Prior to that we we were running around, gymnastics, wrestling, basketball, flag football, really serious running (track and field), and of course calisthenics.

I think the hardest thing for me to "understand" when I was an undergrad was "electives" weren't really electives and that by the time you got all of your degree required classes out of the way you weren't left with much else to do/use. That is unless you understood how to read/understand cross posted classes, aka you could take X if X was really Y but Y was an equivalent to X in a different degree program. The second hardest thing was learning to find the really good instructors for key classes and tailoring your schedule accordingly. It may not be convenient but it is your money you are spending and getting the best bang for the buck is paramount. Last, you have learn how to find the resources you need/want. This is part of college. Learning how to ask the right question of the right people. No one is going to spoon feed you.

The latter is a lesson that I have had to take forward many times in the real world. We live in a world full of rules. You can risk breaking them or figure out how to bend them. The latter requires skill in getting the people that know/enforce the rules to help you understand them. They can never (or at least that shouldn't) tell you explicitly how to bend them but they can be coaxed into providing the information if you know how to ask the correct questions of the right people and most importantly knowing when to stop! I've been on both sides of the counter/table in dealing with this. It takes time and patience to develop the skills but it is usually well worth it in the long run.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

We didn't have any PE requirements other than the cases I cited. Neither did Western, or Irvine (schools my kids attended).

My undergrad had a swimming requirement and a test to pass as a freshman; no one passed except for members of the swim team and the school made money.

I think the hardest thing for me to "understand" when I was an undergrad was "electives" weren't really electives and that by the time you got all of your degree required classes out of the way you weren't left with much else to do/use. That is unless you understood how to read/understand cross posted classes, aka you could take X if X was really Y but Y was an equivalent to X in a different degree program.

With my major and the required courses in that area, I was not able to even look at the required "electives" until I was a junior and even then ended up taking 500 level English required for that major courses as a senior just to graduate.

The second hardest thing was learning to find the really good instructors for key classes and tailoring your schedule accordingly. It may not be convenient but it is your money you are spending and getting the best bang for the buck is paramount.

My undergrad was so small that there were not a lot of instructor choices available vs. time and schedule.

Last, you have learn how to find the resources you need/want. This is part of college. Learning how to ask the right question of the right people. No one is going to spoon feed you.

That certainly used to be true

[robert.]

My brisk walking class was taught by the athletic director's daughter. she was the school's field hockey coach.