I don't think it really matters what OS you use as long as you can find the applications you need, or you can create the applications you need.
Agreed! The way it is now people, er too many people, just say they'll get a Windows PC and maybe MS Office without really knowing what exactly they want to do with it except in the most general terms. What they really need to do is know what apps they need, not specific apps like MS Office, but instead what the function is, do they need a wordprocesser? A graphics editor? Or do they need or want to create movies? Once they know what they want then they can look at the different programs available to decide which one they'll use. From there they need to know what OS it runs on.
Currently I'm using a Windows PC however about 10 months ago I bought a new PC with Linux preinstalled that's a tower. For a laptop in a week or so I'll be ordering a Macbook Pro. When I get it I'll setup the Linux PC as a server but mostly use the MBP. I've already evaluated what my softwares needs, wants, are and there's nothing I want or need that won't run on the MBP. The one program I'm not sure about running on the Linux PC is Photoshop, however PH runs and was originally created for the Mac. Before I get PS though I'll take some FOOS graphics editors for a test drive then decide if they work or if I need to spring for PS. There are two reasons I am switching form Windows. The first is stability, I am sick and tired of Windows crashing. Some say XP and Vista have a lot better stability however the first tyme I used XP the PC froze while booting up. And it was a brand new Dell. The only version of Windows I did not have trouble freezing or crashing was NT 4.0. And Vista? That brings up my second reason for switching, I hate it that MS feels it has to treat me like I was a criminal. MS requires Activation and WPA/WGA which spy on you.
Although to be honest I often find that when interfacing with linux the mac is more like "It Just Works (well almost works, apart from a few fiddly things that you can probably learn to live without)" so I tend to avoid them myself.
What are these fiddly things? Right now I use mostly Windows, however it's old and in a week or so I'd be getting a Macbook Pro to replace it. I also have a PC with Linux which I'll setup up as a server when I get the MBP. What I want to do is be able to vpn into the Linux PC over the net while I'm away.
Yeah, right. If prices are dropping, I'm the Easter Bunny. The AT&T plan I gave up to switch to my iPhone would cost $60 for the most nearly equivalent plan, and I was paying $40 for it from "the old AT&T". On Verizon, the base price of cell service has crept up to $30 per month in the U.S., or, IIRC, $10 more than the base price eight years ago when I first got a cell phone. For that extra $10, you get about the same number of daytime minutes, but nights start up to three hours later in some parts of the country. And so on.
When I had landline phone service my phone bill was $30 a month, not counting long distance. My phone bill with my cellphone is $20 a month and includes long distance, and I spend about as much tyme talking long distance as I do local. So really I save more than the $10 I said earlier. As for iPhone and ATT, it's your own fault your bill is higher. ATT is the only service allowed to service iPhones. Since ATT has a lockin for iPhone services they can charge higher prices.
I believe this is the only FCC radio service under which you are allowed, even encouraged, to build your own.
It used to be to get your amateur license you had to be able to build your own radio, but the FCC got rid of that requirement. You also had to know morse code but that was another requirement they got rid of. The morse code requirement is what kept me from getting my license a long tyme ago. Now that it's been gotten rid of I've been thinking about getting my license now, though I still want to build my own transceiver.
I wouldn't abolish the FCC, but I would considerably reduce their scope
I would abolish the FCC. The FCC was created in an atmosphere of scarcity of airwaves, now with today's technology there is no scarcity of airwaves. If needed, only after being proven having no regulatory agency causes too many problems, would I approve of an airwaves agency.
How are spectra are sold? Does the US government sell "ownership" of bands of a spectrum, or just lease the rights to them?
The FCC sales exclusive licenses to use different frequencies in different areas. Those licenses come up for renewal occassionally, though I don't recall how long they last for.
Yes, and as a cell phone customer it will be extra amusing paying for this bidding war via raised rates.
Yea right. NOT! Cellular service is dropping in price not going up. For many using only a cellphone is cheaper than a landline phone. I'm one of them. I pay about $10 a month less for my phone service than I paid for my landline service when I had it. Thanks to competition for this, competition lowers prices.
And the investors are not happy with the current situation of Google. "I will not innovate if I can just use the investor's money to buy commoditized stuff and partially-inovating trendy companies like YouTube"
I am an investor and I applaud Google in it's initiatives. If I had the money myself, er if I had as much money as Bill Gates or that Mexican, I'd tell the FCC I'd bid $10 billion if the FCC were to require winners to provide access to others at wholesale prices. Maybe even $50B, of course it'd depend one whether I had the money readily available and not just on paper. It may not be that much to start with but selling access is another possible revenue stream. It could also open up more revenue streams.
What's next, Google buying oil refineries just because "they can"?
Bill Gates did, er his Bill And Mellisa Gates Foundation has. The foundation invested in Italy's oil giant Eni. The thing is is that Eni is responsible for some of the health problems the foundation is supposed to be fighting against.
if you're on disability, you're probably not regularly commuting long distances to work, knock a few thou off your expenses right there (chances are your taxes are lower and deductibles higher too).
Even if I weren't disabled I still wouldn't have a long commute. Several year ago my sister asked me where I'd want to live if I had a choice and I told her within a couple of miles from the college I was attending. I could of ridden my bike to class. I don't really know why but it shocked her, and her husband said I'd be leaving the college within a short tyme. I replied that when I did I'd just move again, if I were to start working I'd move to where I was close to work. I don't believe in long commutes, the longest I had myself was 16 miles to one of the campuses I attended in college, it took me a little over an hour to ride my bike there.
Wait, hold on now, that's wrong. I had a longer commute. The college I attended had two main campuses that were about 20 miles apart and during some semesters I had classes on both campuses on the same day. So I'd ride to one for class then to the other for another class then back home. I easily rode my bike 200 miles a week, which is when I had the accident that caused my disability. I was riding my bike after class when someone driving a moving van, like apartment movers, hit me putting me in a coma.
As for supporting people, sometimes the choice *isn't* yours
Yea, I know. My sister supports me. However there's no money out of her pocket, actually there's money going into her pocket. I live alone in an apartment with 4 other apartments in the building and she owns the building. Instead she's the one that gets my disability then gves me the money. She also does my taxes. Oh this reminds me the part you said above about taxes and deductables. My income is low enough so I pay little in income tax and I don't know what my deductables are, actually I guess I should ask her about it because she hasn't filed my forms yet.
And don't worry about the fact that virtually all students in the U.S. qualify for student loans, so no body has to pay "extra" tuition until well after they graduate. Everyone in America who wants a student loan gets a student loan.
Maybe in your virtual world can all students afford to go to college. After I graduated from high school I went into the military to save money so I could afford to go to college yet when I was in college I could barely afford to go. The only way I could was by working. Unfortunately once I started working I could no longer get financial assistance because my income was too much. It was too much for assistance but it wasn't enough for me to take classes fulltime once I started working. And that was even if I were able to arrange classes around work.
Dead people get student loan money for non-accredited non-existant schools in the U.S...
Prove it!
let alone someone who has the high-school academic background to get into a university science or engineering program.
Though only one year of biology was required when I graduated hs, I took 3 1/2 years of science. I took the year of bio and another half year of Marine Bio. I took 1 1/2 years of chemistry and half a year of ecology. I also took 1/2 year of Business Law, 1/2 year of Data Processing, and 1/2 year of programming. Yet even after joining the military to save money to go I could barely afford to go to college. If I hadn't started going to a community college as well as living for most of that tyme with my mother I never could of afforded college.
And don't worry that even at an extra $50 a credit, they will probably pay less for an education and a lifetime career than they would for an economy automobile.
That $50 makes a well of a lot of difference if you can't afford it. I know I couldn't have afforded it. If my tuition had been $50 a credit higher, I may of been able to afford to take one class a semester, do you know how long it would of taken to finish a degree taking one class a semester? By the tyme a person doing this was about to graduate the graduation requirements would of been changed.
If you want to really know what is going to keep low-income kids from a career in science or engineering, that would be the crappy "free" inner-city government schools that we make sure they have no choice but attend.
You're flat wrong. Though my background is low income, my father retired enlisted from the US Airforce, I didn't go to any inner city school. And as stated above even after going into the military to save money to go to college I barely could afford it.
think about how your kids and their coisens are going to get through school when their time comes. By signing up for ROTC (and promising 2 or 3 years to serving Uncle Sam) or by taking out debt? Would you have them trade going to a more easily accessible "State School" or getting (IMHO) a better education at a top "Private School"? These are all tough choices... but with a little help from Congrees, I think it will get better for future generations.
For low income students it's difficult being able to afford college and not end up with a moutain of debt. And if colleges raise tuition for engineering and science, and business, majors it will only shutout low income form those majors. As for congress, er the federal government, I'd rather see the Department of Education and all the federal education programs and laws be eliminated. Then the money collected from the taxpayer to fund them can be kept by the taxpayer. Local and state governments can then set an appropriate property tax to fund education, and offer financial assistance to low income students. And I don't believe any student should have to be employed to pay for college while taking classes, taking classes and studying in and of itself is work. If nothing else a youth corp can be setup where for each year someone works in the corp a year's education will be paid for. A senior could upon graduation join the corp and work a year, then can attend college the following year. Parts, units, of the corp could work in forests, say fighting fires, or taking a census of wild animals. Others may help build roads, schools, and other infrastructure. Basically anything the government does could be done by these corp units. And if they need to they may be able to take remedial classes. Corpmen could live in working camps, dorms, or barracks and will receive a small stipend of spending money monthly, both while working in the corp and while attending college.
I don't have all the answers, I hardly know anything, but the educational system is broken.
Again since I was talking about a possible government public policy aimed towards creating a more enjoyable society I'm looking at the issue from that stand point.
I don't know about you but I enjoyed Shakespeare, and Chaucer, and... And yes, I did read those in high school when I took a British Lit class. That class was one of the most enjoyable classes I took in hs. It's a tossup as to whether it or the Marine Biology class I took was more enjoyable. See, I didn't lock myself into any preconceived idea in what classes I took. Marine Bio was 1/2 year. I also took 1 1/2 years of chemistry one year of bio, and half a year of ecology for a total of 3 1/2 years of science and the hs I went to was from tenth grade to 12th and the only science requirement for graduation was a year of bio. And though there wasn't a requirement for a foreign language I took a year of German.
Then in college though I majored in Computer Engineering I also took a year of German, again, and 1 1/2 years of French. At the same tyme I also took both dance classes, for the stage, and theatre classes. Unlike some narrow minded people I believe an open mind is as useful for living as an open parachute when parachuting.
Besides, the poor need not worry about paying for college, sir. Many talented youth from poor families receive fully compensated educations (at least where I got my degree, some 2-3% students that I knew about were in a program that gave them a free ride because of the low economic standing of their parents).
Maybe you didn't have to worry about paying for college, but many other do. In my family my generation was the first to go to college. My older sister and I went into the military. My sister was under the old GI Bill and she collected money to go to college. Going in later, I had to sign up for the VEAP, Veterans Educational Assistance Program. I had a set amount deducted from my pay every month which went into an educational fund. The military then matched every dollar I put in with 2 dollars. After I got out and was attending college I still struggled to pay for college. My younger sister also went to college but she worked fulltime while in college. If they are willing to work hard enough the poor may be able to go to college, but it's not as easy as you make it out to be.
This is a logical and agreeable surcharge. It should cost more to learn engineering than art. When you graduate, you will get a well-paying ($40k-60k) job with a degree in engineering. Liberal artists, while I can't speak directly for their ilk, get measurably less ($30k-40k).
Yea, the poor should stay poor and not dream of being an engineer. Increasing the cost of getting the education to be one is exactly that, telling them their living in a dream world.
The supply of colleges is fairly fixed, but population is increasing, and the social pressure to go to college is bigger than ever. The combination of the two means that demand is skyrocketing, leading to prices going up.
In the US the only reason populations is increasing is because of immigration. If there were no immigration into the US the population would be dropping. As for pressure to go to college, some of it's social but some is also economic. Jobs that don't need a college education are being offshore outsourced, OOed, with the exception of building and maintenance, such as garbage collection. However jobs requiring a college degree are also being OOed. What I've heard all too often is why should anyone major in a technical field when they'll be staring at a mountain of dept when they graduate and jobs are either being given to H1B visa holders or are being offshored. Raising the cost of getting such an education only drives another nail in the coffin.
Engineering, accounting, and other fields could also be killed by offshore labor.
My sister's a CPA and with some friends started an accounting business a few years ago. While some accounting jobs are being offshore outsourced it seems she's doing well. She travels across the US to meet with clients and audits as well as has inspections. From what I've heard many of those who need an accountant want one they can meet in person.
I'm not going there now but I wanted to go to UMN for the Inter-College Program B.S. in the Three Area Cross-College Program. I had wanted to do CE or EE as the main area of study with the other two areas being in international business, finance, and or economics.
That is assuming education is a normal good and that demand decreases with price increase; however education is a status symbol and the fact that engineering degrees cost more might suggest to people that they are more desirable and therefore increase demand,
I guess you didn't get my point, which was that if the cost of an engineering or science education goes up, it will mean less of the poor will be able to afford to get said education. I came from the low income strata and even after joining the military and saving money to go to college when I got out I could barely afford to go to college. Majoring in Computer Engineering when I started college, if my costs were higher I never could of afforded to have CE as a major.
Only problem with that approach is that it will discourage people from using the labs. I'm sure if I was billed for every hour I spent in the lab tweaking around with things, I would have spent minimal amounts of time there. With the cost split and amortized among students in the faculty, it puts everyone on equal footing. Some of the labs in the school already have usage policies that border on draconian, and as a result I rarely ever went to any of them.
By making those who neither use labs much, nor can afford to pay more, pay more to get an education you're sentencing them to servitude. By raising prices for some majors less people will be willing to go into those majors, and some won't be able to afford to. With college cost skyrocketing lower income students are doomed to stay lower income. With this and with professional jobs being offshore outsourced, I'm supprised a mass uprising hasn't happened. I guess people are too apathetic.
So flood the market with lesser qualified people to drive wages down?
If a student is choosing a major based on a difference of $50 a credit, you probably don't want them in those needed categories.
Yea, let the lower income students, who can't afford to go to college to be an engineer, scientist, or doctor, remain surfs for those who's parents are wealthy.
What about non-lab classes with expensive professors? This is exactly what is happening here, the fees aren't covering the cost of the class so they are raising the fees. Just in this case the primary cost is the staff, and the fee is the credit hour.
You mean professors actually teaching and not doing research while grad students teach?
Ah, but see, our lab is open 24/7, and to all engineering students. You can work on personal and non-school related projects there as well, providing you have an access card. Anyone in the program can go in to the lab at any time. It's a really great perk and I've learned a lot of things just by experimenting with electronics there after hours.
So require students to pay for lab usage, those who use labs more pay more. Then those who don't use a lab as much don't have to pay as much either. It's really simple to do. When I was in college whenever I used a computer lab, whether one of the labs for programming; or a lab to writeup papers and reports; or some design work for desktop publishing or graphics, I had to sign in. The signin tyme then gets entered into a db along with the signout tyme. It's easy to see how much tyme every student spends in the labs. And I spent a lot of tyme in the labs, for all of the above.
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I don't think it really matters what OS you use as long as you can find the applications you need, or you can create the applications you need.
Agreed! The way it is now people, er too many people, just say they'll get a Windows PC and maybe MS Office without really knowing what exactly they want to do with it except in the most general terms. What they really need to do is know what apps they need, not specific apps like MS Office, but instead what the function is, do they need a wordprocesser? A graphics editor? Or do they need or want to create movies? Once they know what they want then they can look at the different programs available to decide which one they'll use. From there they need to know what OS it runs on.
Currently I'm using a Windows PC however about 10 months ago I bought a new PC with Linux preinstalled that's a tower. For a laptop in a week or so I'll be ordering a Macbook Pro. When I get it I'll setup the Linux PC as a server but mostly use the MBP. I've already evaluated what my softwares needs, wants, are and there's nothing I want or need that won't run on the MBP. The one program I'm not sure about running on the Linux PC is Photoshop, however PH runs and was originally created for the Mac. Before I get PS though I'll take some FOOS graphics editors for a test drive then decide if they work or if I need to spring for PS. There are two reasons I am switching form Windows. The first is stability, I am sick and tired of Windows crashing. Some say XP and Vista have a lot better stability however the first tyme I used XP the PC froze while booting up. And it was a brand new Dell. The only version of Windows I did not have trouble freezing or crashing was NT 4.0. And Vista? That brings up my second reason for switching, I hate it that MS feels it has to treat me like I was a criminal. MS requires Activation and WPA/WGA which spy on you.
FalconAlthough to be honest I often find that when interfacing with linux the mac is more like "It Just Works (well almost works, apart from a few fiddly things that you can probably learn to live without)" so I tend to avoid them myself.
What are these fiddly things? Right now I use mostly Windows, however it's old and in a week or so I'd be getting a Macbook Pro to replace it. I also have a PC with Linux which I'll setup up as a server when I get the MBP. What I want to do is be able to vpn into the Linux PC over the net while I'm away.
FalconYeah, right. If prices are dropping, I'm the Easter Bunny. The AT&T plan I gave up to switch to my iPhone would cost $60 for the most nearly equivalent plan, and I was paying $40 for it from "the old AT&T". On Verizon, the base price of cell service has crept up to $30 per month in the U.S., or, IIRC, $10 more than the base price eight years ago when I first got a cell phone. For that extra $10, you get about the same number of daytime minutes, but nights start up to three hours later in some parts of the country. And so on.
When I had landline phone service my phone bill was $30 a month, not counting long distance. My phone bill with my cellphone is $20 a month and includes long distance, and I spend about as much tyme talking long distance as I do local. So really I save more than the $10 I said earlier. As for iPhone and ATT, it's your own fault your bill is higher. ATT is the only service allowed to service iPhones. Since ATT has a lockin for iPhone services they can charge higher prices.
FalconI believe this is the only FCC radio service under which you are allowed, even encouraged, to build your own.
It used to be to get your amateur license you had to be able to build your own radio, but the FCC got rid of that requirement. You also had to know morse code but that was another requirement they got rid of. The morse code requirement is what kept me from getting my license a long tyme ago. Now that it's been gotten rid of I've been thinking about getting my license now, though I still want to build my own transceiver.
FalconI wouldn't abolish the FCC, but I would considerably reduce their scope
I would abolish the FCC. The FCC was created in an atmosphere of scarcity of airwaves, now with today's technology there is no scarcity of airwaves. If needed, only after being proven having no regulatory agency causes too many problems, would I approve of an airwaves agency.
FalconHow are spectra are sold? Does the US government sell "ownership" of bands of a spectrum, or just lease the rights to them?
The FCC sales exclusive licenses to use different frequencies in different areas. Those licenses come up for renewal occassionally, though I don't recall how long they last for.
FalconThe first hardline phones not made by AT&T didn't work well in comparison to the phones AT&T was making at the time.
Hell those ATT phones were nearly indistructable. That plastic could of been used to shield or armor tanks.
FalconYes, and as a cell phone customer it will be extra amusing paying for this bidding war via raised rates.
Yea right. NOT! Cellular service is dropping in price not going up. For many using only a cellphone is cheaper than a landline phone. I'm one of them. I pay about $10 a month less for my phone service than I paid for my landline service when I had it. Thanks to competition for this, competition lowers prices.
FalconAnd the investors are not happy with the current situation of Google. "I will not innovate if I can just use the investor's money to buy commoditized stuff and partially-inovating trendy companies like YouTube"
I am an investor and I applaud Google in it's initiatives. If I had the money myself, er if I had as much money as Bill Gates or that Mexican, I'd tell the FCC I'd bid $10 billion if the FCC were to require winners to provide access to others at wholesale prices. Maybe even $50B, of course it'd depend one whether I had the money readily available and not just on paper. It may not be that much to start with but selling access is another possible revenue stream. It could also open up more revenue streams.
What's next, Google buying oil refineries just because "they can"?
Bill Gates did, er his Bill And Mellisa Gates Foundation has. The foundation invested in Italy's oil giant Eni. The thing is is that Eni is responsible for some of the health problems the foundation is supposed to be fighting against.
Report: Gates Foundation Causing Harm With the Same Money It Uses To Do Good.
Falconif you're on disability, you're probably not regularly commuting long distances to work, knock a few thou off your expenses right there (chances are your taxes are lower and deductibles higher too).
Even if I weren't disabled I still wouldn't have a long commute. Several year ago my sister asked me where I'd want to live if I had a choice and I told her within a couple of miles from the college I was attending. I could of ridden my bike to class. I don't really know why but it shocked her, and her husband said I'd be leaving the college within a short tyme. I replied that when I did I'd just move again, if I were to start working I'd move to where I was close to work. I don't believe in long commutes, the longest I had myself was 16 miles to one of the campuses I attended in college, it took me a little over an hour to ride my bike there.
Wait, hold on now, that's wrong. I had a longer commute. The college I attended had two main campuses that were about 20 miles apart and during some semesters I had classes on both campuses on the same day. So I'd ride to one for class then to the other for another class then back home. I easily rode my bike 200 miles a week, which is when I had the accident that caused my disability. I was riding my bike after class when someone driving a moving van, like apartment movers, hit me putting me in a coma.
As for supporting people, sometimes the choice *isn't* yours
Yea, I know. My sister supports me. However there's no money out of her pocket, actually there's money going into her pocket. I live alone in an apartment with 4 other apartments in the building and she owns the building. Instead she's the one that gets my disability then gves me the money. She also does my taxes. Oh this reminds me the part you said above about taxes and deductables. My income is low enough so I pay little in income tax and I don't know what my deductables are, actually I guess I should ask her about it because she hasn't filed my forms yet.
FalconAnd don't worry about the fact that virtually all students in the U.S. qualify for student loans, so no body has to pay "extra" tuition until well after they graduate. Everyone in America who wants a student loan gets a student loan.
Maybe in your virtual world can all students afford to go to college. After I graduated from high school I went into the military to save money so I could afford to go to college yet when I was in college I could barely afford to go. The only way I could was by working. Unfortunately once I started working I could no longer get financial assistance because my income was too much. It was too much for assistance but it wasn't enough for me to take classes fulltime once I started working. And that was even if I were able to arrange classes around work.
Dead people get student loan money for non-accredited non-existant schools in the U.S...
Prove it!
let alone someone who has the high-school academic background to get into a university science or engineering program.
Though only one year of biology was required when I graduated hs, I took 3 1/2 years of science. I took the year of bio and another half year of Marine Bio. I took 1 1/2 years of chemistry and half a year of ecology. I also took 1/2 year of Business Law, 1/2 year of Data Processing, and 1/2 year of programming. Yet even after joining the military to save money to go I could barely afford to go to college. If I hadn't started going to a community college as well as living for most of that tyme with my mother I never could of afforded college.
And don't worry that even at an extra $50 a credit, they will probably pay less for an education and a lifetime career than they would for an economy automobile.
That $50 makes a well of a lot of difference if you can't afford it. I know I couldn't have afforded it. If my tuition had been $50 a credit higher, I may of been able to afford to take one class a semester, do you know how long it would of taken to finish a degree taking one class a semester? By the tyme a person doing this was about to graduate the graduation requirements would of been changed.
If you want to really know what is going to keep low-income kids from a career in science or engineering, that would be the crappy "free" inner-city government schools that we make sure they have no choice but attend.
You're flat wrong. Though my background is low income, my father retired enlisted from the US Airforce, I didn't go to any inner city school. And as stated above even after going into the military to save money to go to college I barely could afford it.
Falconthink about how your kids and their coisens are going to get through school when their time comes. By signing up for ROTC (and promising 2 or 3 years to serving Uncle Sam) or by taking out debt? Would you have them trade going to a more easily accessible "State School" or getting (IMHO) a better education at a top "Private School"? These are all tough choices... but with a little help from Congrees, I think it will get better for future generations.
For low income students it's difficult being able to afford college and not end up with a moutain of debt. And if colleges raise tuition for engineering and science, and business, majors it will only shutout low income form those majors. As for congress, er the federal government, I'd rather see the Department of Education and all the federal education programs and laws be eliminated. Then the money collected from the taxpayer to fund them can be kept by the taxpayer. Local and state governments can then set an appropriate property tax to fund education, and offer financial assistance to low income students. And I don't believe any student should have to be employed to pay for college while taking classes, taking classes and studying in and of itself is work. If nothing else a youth corp can be setup where for each year someone works in the corp a year's education will be paid for. A senior could upon graduation join the corp and work a year, then can attend college the following year. Parts, units, of the corp could work in forests, say fighting fires, or taking a census of wild animals. Others may help build roads, schools, and other infrastructure. Basically anything the government does could be done by these corp units. And if they need to they may be able to take remedial classes. Corpmen could live in working camps, dorms, or barracks and will receive a small stipend of spending money monthly, both while working in the corp and while attending college.
I don't have all the answers, I hardly know anything, but the educational system is broken.
FalconAgain since I was talking about a possible government public policy aimed towards creating a more enjoyable society I'm looking at the issue from that stand point.
I don't know about you but I enjoyed Shakespeare, and Chaucer, and... And yes, I did read those in high school when I took a British Lit class. That class was one of the most enjoyable classes I took in hs. It's a tossup as to whether it or the Marine Biology class I took was more enjoyable. See, I didn't lock myself into any preconceived idea in what classes I took. Marine Bio was 1/2 year. I also took 1 1/2 years of chemistry one year of bio, and half a year of ecology for a total of 3 1/2 years of science and the hs I went to was from tenth grade to 12th and the only science requirement for graduation was a year of bio. And though there wasn't a requirement for a foreign language I took a year of German.
Then in college though I majored in Computer Engineering I also took a year of German, again, and 1 1/2 years of French. At the same tyme I also took both dance classes, for the stage, and theatre classes. Unlike some narrow minded people I believe an open mind is as useful for living as an open parachute when parachuting.
FalconBesides, the poor need not worry about paying for college, sir. Many talented youth from poor families receive fully compensated educations (at least where I got my degree, some 2-3% students that I knew about were in a program that gave them a free ride because of the low economic standing of their parents).
Maybe you didn't have to worry about paying for college, but many other do. In my family my generation was the first to go to college. My older sister and I went into the military. My sister was under the old GI Bill and she collected money to go to college. Going in later, I had to sign up for the VEAP, Veterans Educational Assistance Program. I had a set amount deducted from my pay every month which went into an educational fund. The military then matched every dollar I put in with 2 dollars. After I got out and was attending college I still struggled to pay for college. My younger sister also went to college but she worked fulltime while in college. If they are willing to work hard enough the poor may be able to go to college, but it's not as easy as you make it out to be.
FalconWhy do you look down on people choosing their major
Turn that around, why do you look down on people who choose English as their major?
FalconThis is a logical and agreeable surcharge. It should cost more to learn engineering than art. When you graduate, you will get a well-paying ($40k-60k) job with a degree in engineering. Liberal artists, while I can't speak directly for their ilk, get measurably less ($30k-40k).
Yea, the poor should stay poor and not dream of being an engineer. Increasing the cost of getting the education to be one is exactly that, telling them their living in a dream world.
FalconThe supply of colleges is fairly fixed, but population is increasing, and the social pressure to go to college is bigger than ever. The combination of the two means that demand is skyrocketing, leading to prices going up.
In the US the only reason populations is increasing is because of immigration. If there were no immigration into the US the population would be dropping. As for pressure to go to college, some of it's social but some is also economic. Jobs that don't need a college education are being offshore outsourced, OOed, with the exception of building and maintenance, such as garbage collection. However jobs requiring a college degree are also being OOed. What I've heard all too often is why should anyone major in a technical field when they'll be staring at a mountain of dept when they graduate and jobs are either being given to H1B visa holders or are being offshored. Raising the cost of getting such an education only drives another nail in the coffin.
FalconWhy? If they are going to require laptops, let the students decided which one they'd like and have them buy it themselves.
I don't know why. I agree with you though, students should be able to pick what laptop, along with the software, they want.
FalconEngineering, accounting, and other fields could also be killed by offshore labor.
My sister's a CPA and with some friends started an accounting business a few years ago. While some accounting jobs are being offshore outsourced it seems she's doing well. She travels across the US to meet with clients and audits as well as has inspections. From what I've heard many of those who need an accountant want one they can meet in person.
Falconthe university I attend
I'm not going there now but I wanted to go to UMN for the Inter-College Program B.S. in the Three Area Cross-College Program. I had wanted to do CE or EE as the main area of study with the other two areas being in international business, finance, and or economics.
FalconThat is assuming education is a normal good and that demand decreases with price increase; however education is a status symbol and the fact that engineering degrees cost more might suggest to people that they are more desirable and therefore increase demand,
I guess you didn't get my point, which was that if the cost of an engineering or science education goes up, it will mean less of the poor will be able to afford to get said education. I came from the low income strata and even after joining the military and saving money to go to college when I got out I could barely afford to go to college. Majoring in Computer Engineering when I started college, if my costs were higher I never could of afforded to have CE as a major.
FalconOnly problem with that approach is that it will discourage people from using the labs. I'm sure if I was billed for every hour I spent in the lab tweaking around with things, I would have spent minimal amounts of time there. With the cost split and amortized among students in the faculty, it puts everyone on equal footing. Some of the labs in the school already have usage policies that border on draconian, and as a result I rarely ever went to any of them.
By making those who neither use labs much, nor can afford to pay more, pay more to get an education you're sentencing them to servitude. By raising prices for some majors less people will be willing to go into those majors, and some won't be able to afford to. With college cost skyrocketing lower income students are doomed to stay lower income. With this and with professional jobs being offshore outsourced, I'm supprised a mass uprising hasn't happened. I guess people are too apathetic.
FalconSo flood the market with lesser qualified people to drive wages down?
If a student is choosing a major based on a difference of $50 a credit, you probably don't want them in those needed categories.
Yea, let the lower income students, who can't afford to go to college to be an engineer, scientist, or doctor, remain surfs for those who's parents are wealthy.
FalconWhat about non-lab classes with expensive professors? This is exactly what is happening here, the fees aren't covering the cost of the class so they are raising the fees. Just in this case the primary cost is the staff, and the fee is the credit hour.
You mean professors actually teaching and not doing research while grad students teach?
FalconAh, but see, our lab is open 24/7, and to all engineering students. You can work on personal and non-school related projects there as well, providing you have an access card. Anyone in the program can go in to the lab at any time. It's a really great perk and I've learned a lot of things just by experimenting with electronics there after hours.
So require students to pay for lab usage, those who use labs more pay more. Then those who don't use a lab as much don't have to pay as much either. It's really simple to do. When I was in college whenever I used a computer lab, whether one of the labs for programming; or a lab to writeup papers and reports; or some design work for desktop publishing or graphics, I had to sign in. The signin tyme then gets entered into a db along with the signout tyme. It's easy to see how much tyme every student spends in the labs. And I spent a lot of tyme in the labs, for all of the above.
Falcon