Random Politics & Religion #00

Today's million dollar question: Could humanity survive without ballet?

I would have to disagree with economics = location thought.

Mainly because globalization and technology has erased any location benefits a society may have, but the location itself can still have a strong influence over society.

I will agree with you on religion and war/conflict. I will also partly agree with historical context and education (mainly because history is part of education, not education as a whole, and history is very forgettable).

*** yes.

Fair enough. I'll have to reconsider that now.

Are we human? Or are we hippo dancers?

You disagree that the benefits of some professions can't be measured in simple dollars or you just took an obviously fringe example to disagree with? I'm not saying that avant garde scimitar music is an area of study I think is useful, I'm saying that you can't apply a simple return on investment approach to higher education.

That's a myth and a huge part of the problem.

There are plenty of qualified candidates within the country. They only lack experience. Providing them with that experience while getting paid is cheaper to import (legal immigrants) than to do domestically.

IMO, the most insane part of how the job market works is that new graduates that now have piles of debt who need to start paying back that money immediately are expected to work 40+ hours a week for free while also holding down another job for 40+ hours a week. Even if they move back home, they still need money to start paying back the loans.

I never said it would be simple. It would probably be stupidly complex because, well, government. I just don't think it would have to be all or nothing. "If you fund STEM you have to fund (insert stupidest degree ever) too or nothing at all!" Yeah, that's the kind of thinking that ruins good ideas.

STEM fields are a good chunk of the current and future job growth, to be sure, but what happens when you essentially push large amounts of people into competitive fields? More underemployment, lower wages, etc. That's a good way to narrow employment rather than diversify it.

Again, depends on the degree in question.

There are never any unpaid internships in accounting or finance.

Well it would help if we'd stop importing people for STEM fields.

Would also help if domestic STEM graduates have something to offer that foreign STEM graduates don't have.

When all other things considered equal, it's always smarter to pick the cheaper alternative.

Then you shift your incentives to fields where there is greater demand. I never said any one thing had to be permanent. Nevertheless, these are the cans of worms that you open when you start talking socialism, so get used to it if that's what you want to support. Utopian socialistic ideals are great until reality hits and you have to be smart and selective about how you spend such vast amounts of money.

In other news:

Whataburger worker gone after refusing police service


Question is, will Obama publicly applaud him and invite him to the White House?

How many people did you go to college with that really didn't belong there? There were many I went with that spend as much time possible getting a 100k degree in partying and ripping hits from bongs. Theu should be free to waste their own money doing that, not the tax payers.

State college doesn't cost 100k. Community college doesn't cost 100k. Taxpayers aren't paying 100k for your tuition and most people who go to 'elite' schools are already pretty rich my American metrics. So, they're already spending someone elses money (parents?) or shoveling themselves into massive debt.

Their choice.

The stereotypical college experience isn't one of massive amounts of partying while producing no academic results so cut the crap. Your financial aid from 'the taxpayers' gets cut the minute you *** up and fail. This discussion is about state/local/community, not private colleges that already have track records for being bloated, expensive and probably not worth a house in bills.

It's no surprise local/state/city colleges have seen a rise in transfer students leaving the palaces of private institutions to finish at cheaper universities.

So, are well overlooking the pragmatic use of college release programs that are offered to Juniors and Seniors in high school to knock out transferable core curriculum requirements?

Just checking.

For what? Doing exactly what the officers did to the kid?

Judgment based on a broad profile.

Works both ways. Turns out it's more readily accepted in one direction rather than the other though. Go-go gadget illusion of safety.

When I was in school they got cut due to lack of interest.

AP English had 4 people signed up for it. -.-;

I would have thought that Obama was applauding the discredit of police officers and school staff for doing what they needed to do in the case of that kid bringing a questionable item to school, and the adults acted the way that was actually in the best interest of the safety of the school.

Since that ex-worker did exactly the same thing (discredit police officers), Obama would have been thrilled.

It depends who they owe money to if they owe anything at all.

If they owe U.S. colleges/universities money then no.

If they don't owe money to any U.S. college/university or government/private lending institution then yes.

That's when the facts of actually having qualified candidates within the country come into the equation.

Also it's not a matter of deporting them if they remain in the U.S. legally.

If they're here legally, it's up to the company on who to hire. This would be where incentives to hire Americans over foreigners via laws/regulations/tax break/etc. become a factor.

IMO, it's highly unethical to hire an illegal immigrant when there is an abundance of qualified people desperate for work, drowning in debt.

I don't support socialism, I support solutions to problems. In this case, the topic at hand is socialized funding for higher education. We're already paying a lot of local taxes to subsidize local colleges, we're spending a lot to subsidize student loans and grants, we're spending a lot to fund lenders. Why is it good capitalism for the government to hand out money to every link in the chain individually and dirty socialism for them to just foot the expense? Not only would you remove the overhead of pesky profits, but you'd pool resources. And don't think that government involvement would make higher education much less efficient, because private education is just as bloated as any public school.

As far as shifting the focus around, do you understand how that would effect demographics? Part of the struggle with current employment is the disproportionate number of qualified people in different age ranges. Pushing half a generation into STEM, then half a generation into something else is effectively building an economic Jenga tower. What happens when a field becomes outmoded by a new technology? I think the Detroit Steelworkers have an idea.

Oh right.

Texas.

Defending racial profiling because it "works."

I forgot.

I should have gotten a 3rd degree in this field. I had all the requirements, lol.

To be fair, many of the European countries many of us laud keep this kind of policy. Hiring foreign workers isn't necessarily banned, but you've got to prove they'd be able to do something better than a native with the same basic background.

That's a generality, it varies from country to country, of course.

Can't really not acknowledge that aspect though.~

I never said it was perfect, I just said it wasn't permanent. Doesn't China already do (or used to do) something to that effect, though? I have a Chinese coworker that has a degree in chemical engineering, and he makes it sound like he didn't have a huge say in the matter.

I saw both these stories and from what I read, they never said why in each case the employee refused to serve the officer(s). Was it simply because they were police officers, or did they have a more detailed reason that I missed somewhere?

It's my understanding that they have a pretty authoritarian caste system. It sounds like you would rather be more like China than more like Sweden.