tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31670799.post116740984927397407..comments2023-11-02T09:44:15.693-04:00Comments on The Center for College Affordability and Productivity: Evaluating Research in the Humanities: MLA and StanfordCenter for College Affordability and Productivityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18041956958538598371noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31670799.post-1168479789755152002007-01-10T20:43:00.000-05:002007-01-10T20:43:00.000-05:00Back in town.I find it very difficult to believe t...Back in town.<BR/><BR/>I find it very difficult to believe that anyone would suggest that Eddington, Einstein, Newton, and any other physicist researched "the humanities" to develop calculus, theories, universal laws of physics, etc.<BR/><BR/>Rob Smith is correct in his assertion that "our gracious host - Yates" skipped over every legitimate point made by Doc Vedder.<BR/><BR/>And Smith made an unprincipled retreat from a good vetting of the Yates (our gracious host) analysis.<BR/><BR/>The problem with the Yates (our gracious host) analysis is that the conclusions seem to be where s/he got tired of thinking.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31670799.post-1167927788666569292007-01-04T11:23:00.000-05:002007-01-04T11:23:00.000-05:00Mr. Yates, Your reply somehow managed to skip over...Mr. Yates, <BR/><BR/>Your reply somehow managed to skip over every legitimate point that Dr.Vedder made.<BR/><BR/>Your statement: "Notice the implication in the following that research must have practical applications" makes absolutely no sense. Of course research must have practical applications. Why should my tax AND tuition dollars be funding something that means absolutely nothing and that does not benefit society in any way, shape, or form? <BR/><BR/>Your reply "It sure is nice to know that in the university imagined by our gracious host there is no place for basic research" to Dr. Vedders comment: "Universities have a legitimate, even important, role to play in strengthening Western civilization and improve the quality of our lives by research that finds new ways to do things, methods to prolong lives, etc." <BR/>Once again, makes no sense. He was explicitly stating that there is a place for basic research. He is questioning whether or not there is a place for radical research in the humanities. There is no need for society to be paying a bunch of "scholars" to do research on things that pertain to nothing, add no value to society, and quite frankly are a waste of time with extremely high opportunity costs (the professors should be teaching as opposed to researching things that no one cares about). <BR/>If you are wondering how universities are strengthening western civilization, let me give you a couple of hints:<BR/><BR/>First: They educate youth -- These youth then go onto lead the country, solve social problems, start companies, cure illnesses, and quite frankly are the future leaders of the world and need to be educated properly. <BR/><BR/>Second: The professors are supposed to be doing research on issues such as monetary policy, fiscal policy, management techniques, cures for cancer, other medical issues, and other things that could possibly influence our policy makers and make the world a lot better place. I think that these two things fall under the umbrella of helping to strengthen western civilization. <BR/><BR/>My question to you is: Why in the world do you think my tax dollars AND tuition dollars need to be used to finance research that has no bearing on society? Why do college professors (I am also attacking business schools and economics departments here) teach only a couple of quarters a year and do "research" the rest of the time and then take the summers off (or only teach one or two courses over this same time)? Why are professors promoted primarily on their research and not on their teaching ability? Is not the primary purpose of an educational institute to educate? <BR/><BR/>The bottom line is that the financial costs of educating our society are becoming extremely high and are showing no signs of slowing down. Therefore, like any good institution, universities must "cut out the fat," make things more efficient and figure out ways to do more with less. This should start with making teachers actually teach and not do research on things that mean absolutely nothing to nobody.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com