Slashdot Mirror
2003 MacArthur 'Genius Grant' Winners Announced
ccnull writes "This year's list of 24 MacArthur Fellows has been released. Each winner of the so-called 'Genius Grant' receives $500,000, no strings attached. 2003's winners include a blacksmith, a biomedical engineer, a computation geometer, a biophysicist, a nurse, and a short story writer 'crafting witty, experimental prose.'"
In my area, the teachers are badly overpaid. The union thugs force the district to give them more and more money, and the district has to cut bus service and increase class sizes to make up for the greed.
The big part of the problem is the NEA. The teachers are forced to join, and then are forced to give money to the organization which then fights against education reform and accountability. There are dedicated professionals who put teaching ahead of greed who are forced to join this anti-education group.
It's not a grant if there are no strings attached, it's an entitlement.
This grant sounds to me like some people that have no clue of what to do with their money.
There are probably real researchers studying cancer or some biotech that need the money.
I don't get it.
Sure, and the average painter can throw together a Rothko, Mondrian or a Pollock, the average composer can whip up a piece by Reich or Glass and the average architect can create a building a la Frank Lloyd Wright.
In other words, simply because a work lacks complexity, it does not dismiss the genius in creating such an original work.
"Nothing exists except atoms and empty space; everything else is opinion." - Democritus
Which makes me think of how much subjectivity there is to the notion of "worthwhile pursuits" versus "worthless pursuits."
Sometimes useful things come out of "useless" research.
And sometimes the "crackpots" like Velikovsky serve an important function: to make us reflect on how we've arrived at our current models of the universe, how to make those models more detailed and thorough, and how to articulate them to fellow scientists and laypeople alike.
It always kills me when people with interesting, fun jobs get money and awards. Like this and the Academy Awards. To qualify for these awards you first have to have a great job that you love. In that case do you really need more award.
Where's the award for the programmer who refactored 500K lines of hopeless spaghetti code left over by some idiot who hard no idea about structured programing?!
Private parties should give money to whoever they want w/o idjits like you saying "what about the children......what about Africa......what about the poor"
Give YOUR money to whoever the fuck you want to and stop telling other people how to spend theirs!
I have a better idea, why don't YOU sell all your furniture, all your electronics, all your clothes except those on your back, and send the money to Africa? You don't need those things do you? Think of what your money could in the hands of people who really need it.
No? So shut the F up.
Which brings up the ever-ongoing argument: Is this merely because the Ivy League schools tend to attract those with the most ability or potential ability, or is it a result of an in-built bias towards ivy league schools in the intellectual community.
Personally, I'm a proponent of the second view. The wide-ranging idea that holding a degree from an "ivy league" institution makes an individual or their work innately superior is so all-pervasive it's really quite sickening. It's as if the public relations departments of the top fifteen univesities have convinced the rest of the country that degrees issued there are better than degrees issued by other schools. I'm saying this as a graduate of a top fifteen school, too. It's silly. I've seen and met so many worthy undergraduates at so many smaller or regional schools that have so much potential, and are being lowballed by society because their degrees aren't from a ivy league, high-name-recognition school. It's disgusting. Intellectual elitism and snobbery at its very worst.
Look, you knew what teachers made when you chose the profession. (If you didn't, you have an even bigger problem, but we're going to assume that you did.) You chose to become a teacher and you chose to accept the salary. Why is it that teachers are about the only group in this society who are constantly whining about being underpaid, as though their pay is some sort of moral issue? You don't hear people in any other profession whine about their pay with the same sort of self-righteous indignation that we hear from teachers.
If you don't like the pay as a teacher, get out of the profession. Go find something for which the pay is higher. It's YOUR choice.
And another thing. Teacher unions have led the whining for years that we need lower student/teacher ratios (so the unions can have more jobs for their members). In my state, the current ratio is 15-1. When I was growing up in the '60s and '70s, it was typical to have 25 to 30 kids in each class, yet the quality of instruction continues to go DOWN, in spite of the lower student/teacher ratios. If teachers would do a better job of educating kids in classes of the old size, that WOULD leave more money to pay the decent teachers better.
My mother was a teacher for her entire career and my father started as a teacher, so I have respect for many of the people who choose to do it. But the truth is that the profession is LOADED with many, many incompetent boobs (being administrered by other incompetent boobs) who would rather whine than figure out how to do the job they're being paid to do.
I see your point about the unions. They are a problem BUT without the unions, the teachers would be getting screwed and you'd only attract the least qualified. There's got to be a better middle ground between unions and the administration.
I hate liberals. If you are a liberal, do not reply.
More likely is that the nominators are packed into these schools. If you want to be nominated you now know where to find the nominators.
Government support of the arts is an ancient practice.
Mozart, Schubert, Emily Bronte and John Keats died young and poor - who knows what more they could have done had they been given financial support?
more like:
those who can but hate kids and don't care about the future of the country but only of themselfs, do
those who can and are selfless people who want to help the youth become the leaders of tomorrow teach.
those who have been teachers (and therefore have the same qualities as above) teach teachers
those who can't teach and are morons, administrate
those who are dick head politicos who want to push the educational system into their little ideological corner and could not give a crap about what is best for the kids, are on the school board.
I am the Alpha and the Omega-3
I have the same camera as ansel adams.
Isn't it more like:
Those who can, do.
Those who can't, talk as if they can on Slashdot.
What Teachers Make, or
You can always go to law school if things don't work out
By Taylor Mali
www.taylormali.com
He says the problem with teachers is, "What's a kid going to learn
from someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?"
He reminds the other dinner guests that it's true what they say about teachers:
Those who can, do; those who can't, teach.
I decide to bite my tongue instead of his
and resist the temptation to remind the dinner guests
that it's also true what they say about lawyers.
Because we're eating, after all, and this is polite company.
"I mean, youre a teacher, Taylor," he says.
"Be honest. What do you make?"
And I wish he hadn't done that
(asked me to be honest)
because, you see, I have a policy
about honesty and ass-kicking:
if you ask for it, I have to let you have it.
You want to know what I make?
I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could.
I can make a C+ feel like a Congressional medal of honor
and an A- feel like a slap in the face.
How dare you waste my time with anything less than your very best.
I make kids sit through 40 minutes of study hall
in absolute silence. No, you may not work in groups.
No, you may not ask a question.
Why won't I let you get a drink of water?
Because you're not thirsty, you're bored, that's why.
I make parents tremble in fear when I call home:
I hope I haven't called at a bad time,
I just wanted to talk to you about something Billy said today.
Billy said, "Leave the kid alone. I still cry sometimes, don't you?"
And it was the noblest act of courage I have ever seen.
I make parents see their children for who they are
and what they can be.
You want to know what I make?
I make kids wonder,
I make them question.
I make them criticize.
I make them apologize and mean it.
I make them write.
I make them read, read, read.
I make them spell definitely beautiful, definitely beautiful, definitely beautiful
over and over and over again until they will never misspell
either one of those words again.
I make them show all their work in math.
And hide it on their final drafts in English.
I make them understand that if you got this (brains)
then you follow this (heart) and if someone ever tries to judge you
by what you make, you give them this (the finger).
Let me break it down for you, so you know what I say is true:
I make a goddamn difference! What about you?
Um, Lydia Davis is fantastically good writer. Sienfeld is a sitcom. He got paid more, but that's because he works in a high-paying profession. Apart from a handful, writers have never ever been paid much, and hardly ever according to their worth. I am happy for her, and can think of few writers as deserving. She has created something far more substantial than a few good gags (and I am a big Sienfeld fan).
First you say: If you don't like the pay as a teacher, get out of the profession. Go find something for which the pay is higher.
Then you complain about teacher quality. Well if you pay people poorly, it is no wonder good people leave.
You don't hear people in any other profession whine about their pay with the same sort of self-righteous indignation that we hear from teachers.
Actually, you also hear it from military people and other government workers. In countries with socialized medicine you hear it alot from nurses The reason is simple: people who work for the government do not have salaries that are set by the market. Rather they are set through negotiations with their "bosses", the public at large. Their whining is more or less the same as you asking your boss for a raise (just that the process is very indirect). If the public comes to believe that teachers are underpaid, they will vote for politicians who promise to pay them more.
Unlike, say, janitors, teachers can also make a plausible argument that poor pay leads to poor education which will lead to a poor economy down the road.
Los Alamos, New Mexico has the highest concetration of Ph.D's of any city in the world. The east coast hosts over half the U.S. population.
Besides, this isn't about finding the top brains around, just enough that qualify to receive however many awards they're giving out that year.
"44k average nationwide isn't bad at all."
For the level of education/training/certification required, it kind of sucks if you ask me. Anyone who could be a good teacher ought to be able to do better elsewhere. Which of course, most of them do.
"It's more than I made in tech support or programming."
How long were you a programmer? 44K average; as in for teachers at all points in their careers. If making an average of 44K over the course of a life long career as a programmer sounds good to you, you must be a lousy programmer. I passed that mark in year 2. Teachers should expect to in year what? 15, 20? That's pretty lame.
I don't know what you were getting paid as an entry level programmer, but whatever it was, I'll bet you that much that it's more than an entry-level teacher gets in your school district.
Perhaps if good teachers couldn't make more money doing tech support, we'd have better teachers, and then you'd know how to spell "persistent". Not to mention knowing whether it makes sense to compare your entry level salary to the average for an entire profession.
... I have to say that this kind of prize is what sets the two worlds appart. It is truly a remarkable thing that some people will just sponsor promising individuals so that they can develop their skills without having to worry about the rent.
I wish we had something like this here. Or that I would become rich enough to sponsor this kind of thing myself.
35 to 40 years ago the United States suffered from a couple little idiosyncrasies called we liked to call Sexism and Racism. The two "Isms" made it difficult for talented intelligent women and minorities to achieve much in most walks of life. What was an acceptable outlet for these highly educated motivated individuals?
TEACHING!!
These teachers are retiring. It we want to replace them with similar talent, we must either regress socially to "The Good Old Days", or pay our new teachers the wages they deserve!
Well, not to be an ass or anything....But don't the teachers kinda' know the pay grade BEFORE they decide to dedicate their career to it? It's not like there is some form of "bait and switch" being pulled where they think they will make 'X' dollars and are being paid far less than expected. A friend of mine is a cop and hell....he even admits that he knew the pay sucked when he decided on that career path, but he does like his job far more than I like mine....which coincidentally pays more than his.
"The strong will do what they want, the weak will do what they must."
-Thucydides