Humans
Higher Ed
…though the people who have performed these studies come at the question from different directions with differing social and political attitudes and with differing methodologies, there is very little difference in their conclusions. They all find that recent graduates seem to have been very poorly educated. One study after another has found that they write badly, can’t reason, can’t read any reasonably complex material, have alarming gaps in their knowledge of the history and institutions of the society in which they live, and are in general poorly prepared for the workplace.
The most interesting—and devastating—of these studies is that by Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa, whose book documenting their study, Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses, appeared in 2011. Arum and Roksa found that higher education in America today “is characterized by limited or no learning for a large proportion of students.” More specifically, “An astounding proportion of students are progressing through higher education today without measurable gains in general skills as assessed by the CLA [Collegiate Learning Assessment].” The authors also find “at least some evidence that college students improved their critical thinking skills much more in the past than they do today.”
Looking at a sample of more than 2,300 students, Arum and Roksa observed “no statistically significant gains in critical thinking, complex reasoning, and writing skills for at least 45 percent of the students” tracked in their study. What is interesting here is that the two researchers seem somewhat puzzled by these results. Nonetheless, they see clearly enough that the blame must rest with the faculty—that students didn’t just get dumber for no reason. Arum and Roksa think the problem must be that professors don’t demand enough of students. In one sense they are right (though not in the way they probably intend), but they seem unwilling to ask why this change has happened. It can’t be that faculty suddenly became lazy.
Like the public-education system, this is a self-imposed and costly national disaster. Most of these people aren’t educated; they’re merely credentialed, and the credentials are in many cases worthless.
[Late-morning update]
Here’s an example of the problem.
[Update a couple minutes later]
No, U of California, you cannot ban the phrase “Chinese Virus.”
The California Herd
Virus thoughts from VDH. I don’t buy the 1-2% number. I think it will ultimately be shown to be much lower than that.
[Update a few minutes later]
More from VDH: Viral Prerequisites and Nationalist Lessons in Time of Plague.
[Update late morning]
Why herd immunity is not a solution, at least not without a vaccine.
I agree on principle, but I continue to believe that the ratio of infections to deaths is much less than one percent.
[Update a few minutes later]
Time for a second opinion.
Woke Stupidity
…is spreading as fast as the virus.
[Update a couple minutes later]
The danger of the Orange Man Bad disease. And an epidemic of media partisanship.
Regulatory Relief
…can save lives.
A lot of regulations are merely special-interest rent seeking.
[Late-morning update]
Trump is rolling back fuel-efficiency standards.
He should eliminate them, if possible, but that would probably require legislation. They are an idiotic relic of the energy crisis, almost half a century ago. In my opinion, they’re unconstitutional, or should be. Same with toilet specifications.
The New Chinese Crew Module
…looks like it meets the International Docking Standard. It’s a sensible thing to do, even if they don’t currently have permission to dock with ISS.
Springtime For Introverts
I feel Andrew Ferguson’s pleasure. Life has changed very little for me, other than having Patricia home every day, instead of just weekends (which was going to happen anyway, with her retirement).
Unlike him, though, I do have to confess to enjoying hugs from attractive women.
FISA Applications
Every single one that Horowitz examined was flawed.
Shut the whole thing down, and prosecute some people.
The CCP
The CCP has been lying from the beginning, and continues to, yet their media organs the NYT, WaPo, CNN et al continue to carry their water, because Orange Man Bad.
Mark Levin said on his show last night that the Soviet Union never damaged our country (and the world) the way that the CCP has. I’m not sure that’s true, if you look at the decades-long damage it did, but it certainly never killed people and destroyed wealth this quickly.
[Tuesday-morning update]
The Chinese Communist Party versus America.
[Bumped]
[Update a few minutes later]
Why China must be held accountable.
I’d start by recognizing Taiwan.
[Update a while later]
How China’s lies brought the world to its knees.