The Penn State Riots Make me Recall

[MineralMan]

my own college years. One of the classes I took as a freshman electronics engineering major was class in the Philosophy Department - an Ethics class. It was not a required class at that University, but I thought it sounded interesting. Indeed, it was very interesting, and was very well presented. It wasn't a popular class, and there were many empty seats in the small lecture hall where it was taught.

Since then, back in 1964, I've often wondered why an Ethics class was not one of the requirements for all Freshmen. Yesterday's student "demonstration" over the firing of Joe Paterno brought that class to mind again. It seems to me that the students involved in that "demonstration" could have benefited from it. Looking at the current political realities, it seems to me that many might have benefited from such a class.

[Cirque du So-What]

1. Ethics schmethics!

The concept of a 'liberal education' is passé. Unless a class is directly related to preparation for pumping out another corporate unit, it's just so much useless fluff & filler - of no value other than preparing pointy-headed intellectuals to teach a new generation of pointy-headed intellectuals. Critical thinking? Moral dilemmas? Ethical reflection? Meh. All that codswollop contributes nothing to the bottom line, and in most cases actually interferes with cold-blooded moneymaking!

[MineralMan]

2. LOL!

Well, that was the feeling at the engineering school I attended, for sure. I dropped out in my Sophomore year, and then returned five years later as an English major, of all things, after a four-year stint in the USAF. Somehow, engineering no longer appealed to me. It turned out that the University had a good English department. Who knew...

As a liberal arts major, I can relate to your post.

[Cirque du So-What]

3. Well, I wasn't a liberal-arts major

but I took lots of classes unrelated to my major in order to gain new perspectives. That, plus I went to a liberal-arts school where it was required. Kidding aside, I wouldn't trade those experiences for anything in the world.

[MineralMan]

4. Yes. Once I returned to college, I saw it in a completely

different light. I wasn't there to learn a trade. I was there to learn, period. My classes were all over the map.

[adigal]

5. My son just spent 4 years in a Ivy League college learning history

I don't know if he will get a job, but I know, for a fact, he has learned to think critically and be able to balance different ideas and even propaganda, and see through all the BS. That, to me, is worth every penny of the 200K it costs.

[MineralMan]

6. Well-educated generalists generally do pretty well in the end.

Someone has to run things, after all, and put all the work of the specialists to use. It can be a slow process, but in the end it can work out very well.

[adigal]

9. I hope so, but most importantly to me is that he got

one of the best educations available. He doesn't see it yet, but I sure do.

:)

[Kurmudgeon]

7. Now you know what will get right wing elite students into the street, and it wasn't to "Occupy".

[Patiod]

10. Elite? Penn State?

Yeah, no. You do realize that this Penn State - the state school -- not Penn, the snotty Ivy League brats (who wear t-shirts that say "I go to Penn - not Penn State).

These kids are anything but elite, Kurmudgeon - they are solid middle class state-school kids.

(To illustrate: after graduating from there, I was out on a date with another Penn Stater, who lived in Bridgeport. We went to dinner in New Haven. On the way to our car, we passed two drunk Yale boys who were wearing white tie and tails, drinking champagne, and talking about Sartre. I said to my date "yeah, it's just like Penn State, except they'd be wearing hoodies and feed caps, drinking Rolling Rock, and talking about JoePa")

[MineralMan]

11. I have no idea what you are talking about.

Elite students? Not at most state colleges.

[Kurmudgeon]

13. Yeah, that's some cheap schooling all right.

http://tuition.psu.edu/tuitiondynamic/rates.aspx?location=up

[MineralMan]

16. I did not say they were cheap. They're less expensive than the

elite private ones, though. You think I don't know what it costs to go to college? Think again. Besides, your link returns an error, not information on tuition at PSU.

This link works:

http://tuition.psu.edu/tuitiondynamic/history/FallUP2010.htm

[Patiod]

8. This Penn State alum is mortified

I used to listen to Penn State games on the radio as a kid, grew up knowing it was where I was going to school, and I got a solid business education there at a very reasonable tuition.

I was always so proud of the students at Penn State, and The Penn State Dance Marathon, which raised $9.5 million for families dealing with childhood cancer last year, making it the world's largest student-run charity.

But this whole situation has cast such a black mark on the institution. And the kids' behavior in rioting just makes me want to cry. No ethics. None at all.

At least Paterno had the grace to admit he screwed up, and take his (deserved) firing without whimpering. Those idiot boys tearing down lampposts should be deeply ashamed. Better they had protested 10 years of their school administration's silence or Paterno's lack of follow-up.

[MineralMan]

12. I have no brief whatsoever against Penn State students or

faculty in general. I imagine they're much like students and faculty at most state Universities. Most are there to get their degree or to earn a living at their profession, and that's about it. My problem is with the football department, which is probably like the football department at most state Universities: Entitled and Overawed with themselves. At PSU, they were caught out and are paying the price. That's a good thing. I wish it had happened much sooner, though, and reduced the number of victims.

[Patiod]

14. Oddly enough, I watched a documentary about Rene Portland this weekend

She spent decades ruining her Penn State basketball players' lives by persecuting gay players. If she thought you might be a lesbian, she took your scholarship away.

And who stepped in and defended her? Joe Paterno. Even after girls started speaking up, the Penn State sports machine had her back.

The whole sports culture up there just seems so corrupt.

[MineralMan]

15. Athletic culture is the bane of many colleges and universities.

Most students, however, ignore it pretty much completely. The smart ones do, anyhow. I attended three colleges and never saw a single athletic competition. They might as well not have existed.

[bigwillq]

17. Holy Cow, I forgot about Rene Portland.

Thanks for reminding me about that mess.

[Patiod]

18. If you haven't seen the documentary, it's available on Hulu

Really well done.

I'm a straight woman who HATES basketball (years of being dragged to games with my dad and brother when I was a kid), and I found it really compelling. Really made me want to throttle that woman for all the damage she did to those poor girls.

[bigwillq]

19. Thanks.

I'll try to find it and watch.

[frylock]

20. sounds as if the entire AD needs to be purged and rebuilt from the ground up