textbook anti-intellectualism part 1

“Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.”

~ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

It appears to me that Dr. King was ahead of his time in explaining the latest war on education with Steve Nass at the front line. Nass’s own Charlie McCarthy, Mike Mikalsen , laid out their plan of attack on the UW system. Lets take a look at the agenda.

* Perhaps most notably, Mikalsen says Nass plans to push for a measure which would cap — likely at 4 percent — the amount tuition and most fees could be raised at UW System schools.

On paper this looks good, except as

Paul Soglin points out Nass makes himself out to be a populist looking out for the average family here in Wisconsin. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Nass boasts about his proposal to limit tuition for UW students as though he is sensitive to their pocketbooks. What he does not say is that every budget year he leads the charge to limit state spending for our UW System. He does not mention that Wisconsin now ranks next to last in maintaining public support for its state university system. Only Michigan is worse over the past five years.

* Mikalsen says he is hopeful Nass — who has developed a famous reputation as the UW System’s biggest critic — and university leaders can develop a professional working relationship.

- “The people running the UW System really ought to consider taking some of this material and piloting a television sitcom.”

– “We know where they’re hiding the money. We’re able to go after line items.”

-”Part of the issue is we have foreign-born professors. Those professors say things.”

A professional working relationship would be more of a possibility if Rep. Nass was actually a professional.

* Other concerns Nass has about the UW System, according to Mikalsen, relate to a “touchy-feely admissions process that is more worried about diversity than academic quality”

- It is not hard to trace racial attacks such as this and this, when our politicians are throwing fuel on the fire. I know that having a black man as president drives them crazy, but with black male unemployment at 53%, maybe helping minorities get an education is not a bad thing. However I understand you have to play to your base.

* finally this one: the idea that some universities are more concerned about “indoctrination than education.” is so ridiculous it deserves its own post.