http://www.chronicle.com/article/Jerry-Falwell-Jr-Says-He-Will/239062/
Deplorable. Horrific. We are being sent into a buyer beware theocracy where those not brought up with critical thinking skills will be pigeons.
Nail in the coffin in which the US higher ed will be buried.
Guess I’ll be out of work soon…and my H.
@garland If you work for a “mainstream” college/university, you should be ok, no? It sounds like they want to make Trump University and its ilk legally able to take advantage of people. No more 25 million dollar settlements, just pure profit for them and misery for those ripped off. And Bannon’s touch appears to be behind choosing Falwell to support DeVos.
WHAT?!
I have been seriously reconsidering going on to be a professor after completing my PhD. I still have about 4-5 years to go but I think the damage that will be done in the next few years is going to last at least a generation.
Look on the bright side, instead of HYPSMCC, it will be Liberty, Bob Jones, and schools of their ilk which’ll be the topflight college choices for many CCers to the benefit of Falwell and his fellow travelers.
@Building --there’s talk of gutting the Pell Grant and other FA for low income. That would impact the numbers of students who can afford college. Which will have to lead to massive layoffs. I’m full-time but not tenure-track. Very vulnerable.
Each day I think that I’ve seen the worst, and then tomorrow comes.
@garland – I hadn’t heard about the Pell Grant and other aid. This is heartbreaking. I wish you and your husband the best.
We have to fight back against this coup.
Hey, it could be worse. Falwell says he was offered the post of Secretary of Education, but turned it down.
I don’t think these councils do anything. I’ve been a classroom teacher fro 20+ years and I’ve never had any directive from the department of ed or anywhere else affect in any way shape or form how or what I teach. Maybe for K-12 these councils do something but in higher ed they are a waste of taxpayer’s resources. I’ve heard that in texas some sort of council forced the adoption of a textbook for K-12 but that dog won’t hunt in a college setting because the faculty can and will select the textbook they use.
@musicprnt - Seriously? I think it’s far fetched that they are going to try and make colleges teach creationism…
I think it’s all about weakening accreditation requirements, which will aid for-profit enterprises.
There seems to be quite a conflict in what Falwell seems to believe, just at first glance. Freedom, liberty, less government control, choice to be armed wherever you want, but…to go to his university, you have to take a pledge not to drink or have extramarital relations. So what is it, freedom to make your own choices, or not?
As far as these for profit universities, maybe some are a scam, but are they all really so much worse than many private universities? Come out with a ton of debt and still can’t get a job. I think it’s buyer beware for anything that costs so much money.
I have heard Falwell Jr speak a few times, and he sounded more thoughtful than I had expected. I suspect this appointment is purely because he was an early presidential supporter. People are getting rewarded for their support continuously, and this seems to follow along the same line.
Sometimes I feel we are living in a Margaret Atwood novel…
Perhaps not so much accreditation requirements*, but the requirements with respect to graduation rates, student loan default rates, gainful employment, etc. that many for-profit (and some other) colleges fail to meet in order for their students to get federal financial aid.
*Some of the best known for-profit colleges do have regional accreditation.
Thank God that I am retirement eligible, but I really need to teach 5-6 more years. This is terrifying. My state has a governor who is thumbing his nose at SACS and it looks like we could now have a federal government doing the same. Every day a new nightmare. We need a little reaction emoticon that looks like Munch’s The Scream here, on FB, on Twitter, etc. We have been moving to quantity measures over quality measures for years, but this could accelerate that trend.
“We need a little reaction emoticon that looks like Munch’s The Scream here, on FB, on Twitter, etc.”
Yes, please. That and an eyeball reaction button. Those two would be heavily used by me.
Yes. I was asked to teach at one of the more respected ones and I am not qualified to teach at even an elementary school level. I saw what they were passing off as “electrical engineering” and it was disgraceful. The instructor had a BSET but had never worked as an engineer, and his classes were so full they were looking for a second.