Senate College: Free Exchange of Ideas or Liberals Cancelling Chicken Sandwiches?

At my old college, the dorm I stayed in was a previously Men's Only dorm turned co-ed, with men and women living on different floors, so the women's bathrooms did indeed have urinals. It was also not uncommon to get up in the middle of the night and find a woman in the men's floor's bathroom who had been sleeping over at another dorm room. As a guy, I'd just ignore it (usually too tired and needy for a leak to care in the first place) on my way on my way to the urinal. I thought it was simply the polite thing to do.

It's not like this "women in the men's bathroom" thing is something that suddenly came up with the bathroom law issues. It's been happening for a long, long time.

 

I've shared a port a John every now and again.

As for the whole gender isn't defined issue. I think my penis and hairy back pretty squarely put me in the male category

 

I just took a look at that article:

Two WTF bits are:

The hell?

Still, it's a good enough reason to deploy this Bill Hicks classic once again:

The only error articles like this make is that they tend to gravitate towards there being "right" books to read in order to qualify as being "substantial". Which is where they lose me because I probably acquired more cosmology info from Stephen Baxter's SF books than was ever taught in my school Science classes. Those books would more than likely qualify for the "wrong" category.

 

The other bit that stood out to me was the notion of people operating on the basis "I am excellent because I say so and no one can tell me I'm not". A colleague at work is currently dealing with a lazy arse who is a fervant believer in this thus is rendered immune to all rational arguments because they believe they are perfect no matter what anyone says, including their boss.

Still, I do have a great response to anyone who says: Well, why aren't you more confident? I can go: You know that arrogant guy on floor whatever? So I don't end up becoming him!

 

It has already begun here in Germany. I can't say anything about the other European countries, but the more educated students here are also harassed and blamed as "Nerds". For example, I found out that many of the youths don't know where to find India on the world map. When I said that this is general knowledge, they responded "Who's to say that this is general knowledge? I don't know where India is and I also don't NEED to know where it is".

 

We are so stuffed.

 

The men's toilets at my gym only have urinals so there's a bit of negotiation on competition days for the use of the stalls in the women's toilet.

In other news, I read somewhere that the pre-competition-poop isn't just about adrenaline, it's also some kind of pre-emptive (lol) defence mechanism. In a hunt or battle where you risk getting gored/stabbed in the belly it reduces the risk of the wound getting infected if the intestines are perforated, so the body tells you to poop right before anything that feels like it might be a 'battle'.

 

My boss keeps Dad's Army-ing us at work with "We're all doomed"...

 

The saddest news of all for capitalist-based schooling - ITT Tech is shutting down its doors for good. Where are students supposed to go to pay 5 times more than they would in a real college for a degree that isn't worth the paper it is printed on?

 

I don't have a problem with vocational or ATC schools, overpriced or not. The problem I have are those types of occupations overwhelming university campuses at the expense of the liberal arts and sciences.

Professionalism and careerism compartmentalized and killed college.

 

The problem was that ITT Tech wasn't a vocational school, it was a nothing school - they were unaccredited and most employers looked at anything earned at that school as a joke... because it was a joke. There was little actual teaching going on.

Near work is an actual vocational school, where certification and limited degrees are earned, plus adult education for those who didn't finish grade school.

 

We don't need artists and scientists. We need sociopaths businesspeople and whatever it is you do with a communications major.

 

Based on my knowledge, play in the NFL.

 

i like how being educated and exposed to knowledge and a variety of ideas, and therefore more of a critical thinker is somehow a subversive leftist tactic to what....make people........smarter? is making people smarter a bad thing? is making people smarter a threat to right-wing ideology? this inference of the premise (thread title,etc.) says so. sorry about the thread title reference...give it a month of elementary school education and you might get it.

edit: also the right-wing idea that recognition of this phenomenon is left-wing arrogance.

 

I have a co-worker who once got into a lengthy argument with me about this subject. Or more precisely, he was advocating for Trump and for the merits of Fox News. I disagreed with him and he stood by his claims with the defense that I'm college educated (he isn't), so my understanding of the issues is distorted by my education since I'm unable to see what it's like for "working people."

I believe there's a NPR piece about how the Republicans popularized anti-intellectualism. Given that Fox News is little more than a GOP mouth piece (and this co-worker's exclusive source of information), it's no wonder why people are associating education with elitism. It's a dumb conclusion: "you're educated so you can't understand the plight of regular people!"

 

Go into politics…so yeah, major in sociopathy.

 

if anti-intellectualism continues to be a thing it will embrace willful ignorance and will ultimately be responsible for the destruction of society. you can't invent anything that stupid.

 

Without critical thinking and fact-checking, it's too easy for people to be swayed and indoctrinated into religions, political camps, etc. College and even K-12 can help teach that, but more often than not institutions are more focused on "respecting authority."

 

hey J-Rod here's a story about a liberal campus indoctrinating a conservative student out of his belief system. you can add it to your proof pile

 

It will be a thing so long as any Americans consider it a virtue and not a vice.

 

My last ever day of Uni today.

I suppose my experience has taught me that there has been a free exchange of ideas but in a Fordist mode of thinking. You know, you can have it in any colour you want as long as it's black. There have been very clear parameters established about how we think and apply what we have learned to the outside world. But is that really so different to what is expected of us in the outside world? No idea, i'm about to find out. if everything i've experienced has been the illusion of choice, then I have absolutely no regrets. It's been invaluable as a person who does enjoy learning and research along with the networking opportunities that are bundled with that experience.

Not a minute of it feels wasted. Thanks, Monash.