Law Humor

Lloyd Biggle, Jr. Looks Down Tonight From Desolation Row

By Pseudoanonymous

There’s a very good blog entry from University Diaries at Inside Higher Ed:

The problem with deciding that such people ? people who?ve read very few books, who can?t write a basic essay, who are probably functionally illiterate ? shouldn?t waste their time, money, and dignity at a university, is that a college degree makes an enormous difference in terms of your employability, and in terms of the type of job and level of salary you can expect. We all seem to agree that, in most cases, you?ll lead a much better work life if you?ve graduated from college.

One solution to this problem has been the establishment of bogus colleges and universities which, after four years of nothingness, hand you a diploma. One hears stories of professors dismissed from their positions at places like these because they tried to give low grades to students. Live the pretense.

And what does Lloyd Biggle, Jr. have to do with this? He wrote the wonderful story “And Madly Teach” which has stuck in my mind since I was a teenager.

?I couldn?t stay focused,? she said, as she looked at cartoons on her laptop in the student union last week, taking advantage of the free Internet.

One of the most cynical things universities are doing lately, in response to their awareness that their worst students are ? like Bellomy, who can?t carry on an interview without watching cartoons ? internet-addicted, is introduce with all sorts of bullshit rhetoric the wonderful new world of online education. As if putting your courses online is this terrific pedagogical innovation rather than a desperate bit of scheming…

But that?s another post.

I’m ready to read it when UD is ready to write it.

Full post as published by Arkansawyer on May 30, 2008 (boomark / email).