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The Political Causes of the College Enrollment Crisis

themissingdatadepot.substack.com

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Re: The Political Causes of the College Enrollment Crisis

#41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey. Man here. I grew up with 4 sisters. They're remarkable, smart, capable, and accomplished. I was sold a line that I thoroughly believed well into my 20s that because women can do everything a man can do plus childbirth that my existence was both unnecessary and unwanted. Girls around me in high school wore shirts saying things like "Menstruation. Menopause. All our problems start with men." I'm not in their heads…

And for thousands of years the problems women faced have been caused primarily by men. Now there is “liberation” in some western countries and men have a problem. They think, incorrectly, that they are oppressed or otherwise being discriminated against. It is laughable that this view exists. It’s like whites in the South decrying blacks no longer being slaves and thinking as a result of the new reality that they are…

My dude, take a breath. Two wrongs don't make a right. Let's grow together, not at the expense of each other. Find someone and ask for a hug. Your hurt is showing.

Re: The Political Causes of the College Enrollment Crisis

#42
post #2

Look I lean pretty far left. But some times I feel like my fellow lefties are blind to their right leaning peers. Someone needs to clue the author in to middle skill jobs. Plumbers, electricians, machinists, elevator repair... There are a lot of people going into industry's because of parents or extended family gave them a foot in the door. Because many of them started young and by 18 are already "middle skilled". Yo…

> Candidly I would grant for many of them skipping school makes more sense than getting a degree that amounts to under water basket weaving when it comes to job prospects. If you have a degree and give people this advice then you're probably not a good person

> If you have a degree and give people this advice then you're probably not a good person

I can point you to plenty of people with no college and middle skill jobs who are happier with what they do and make more than people with degrees.

They also have way less debt.

There are plenty of smart people who have knowledge and training that allows them to do things most college graduates would be baffled by. Looking down on them because they have dirt under their nails was a mistake we made 50 years ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ve1aWWDNJ60 This is middle skill labor in action. They make more than most people who get history degrees for good reason. We only NEED one of them. (And I fuckin love history so..)

Re: The Political Causes of the College Enrollment Crisis

#43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Candidly I would grant for many of them skipping school makes more sense than getting a degree that amounts to under water basket weaving when it comes to job prospects. If you have a degree and give people this advice then you're probably not a good person

> If you have a degree and give people this advice then you're probably not a good person I can point you to plenty of people with no college and middle skill jobs who are happier with what they do and make more than people with degrees. They also have way less debt. There are plenty of smart people who have knowledge and training that allows them to do things most college graduates would be baffled by. Looking down…

Why history major vs trades? Isn't that sort of a false dichotomy? Would you present it this way to your kids? Or just other people's?

Re: The Political Causes of the College Enrollment Crisis

#44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And for thousands of years the problems women faced have been caused primarily by men. Now there is “liberation” in some western countries and men have a problem. They think, incorrectly, that they are oppressed or otherwise being discriminated against. It is laughable that this view exists. It’s like whites in the South decrying blacks no longer being slaves and thinking as a result of the new reality that they are…

My dude, take a breath. Two wrongs don't make a right. Let's grow together, not at the expense of each other. Find someone and ask for a hug. Your hurt is showing.

There is no expense of each other. Men are not oppressed. They are not discriminated against in any meaningful way. The crisis they are going through is self inflicted. It is annoying to hear the false cries of victim hood. Boo hoo for you that you heard some women say they don’t need men.

Re: The Political Causes of the College Enrollment Crisis

#45
post #21

There's a 500 pound gorilla in the room: Young men have collectively checked out of a society that has nothing but contempt for them. When the supermajority in academia have nothing good to say about you, opine about how "toxic" your existence is, and openly deride your struggles... who would want to spend four years and tens of thousands of dollars to be "lectured" by those people? When men are suffering from record…

Oh please, let's lose the persecution complex. If there is any discrimination against men happening in academia it's in the clown show departments that no one cares about anyway. As for "struggles", study history. The minor struggles that modern men in developed countries deal with are nothing compared to what our ancestors faced. I was never drafted and sent to assault the beach at Normandy.

[deleted]

Re: The Political Causes of the College Enrollment Crisis

#46
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That white men in particular have a hard time dealing with a more level playing field is pathetic. All men want is a level playing field. Colleges have been discriminating against white and Asian men for decades. SCOTUS finally slapped them down, and colleges immediately started scheming to find ways to be covertly racist through proxies for race. Many colleges stopped using SAT scores, making admissions more subje…

I’m not a boomer. Born in the 70s. I’m a white a male who teaches in higher education. White men have a more or less equal opportunity in terms of going to college. Until recently college admissions were on the decline and most colleges were way less choosy than in the past. Men are not oppressed. They just aren’t coddled as much as in the past. Men don’t seem to be able to deal with living in a society in which they…

Ah, right. An early Gen Xer, my mistake. Still, you were part of a generation that actually benefited from sexist norms and policies. Have you considered resigning your position to make room for a more deserving diverse candidate? After all, it's quite possible that you only obtained your position because a woman was unfairly passed over.

Sarcasm aside, your performative self-flagellation gives me second-hand embarrassment. The DEI activists at your college will never like you, no matter how much you bash young white men.

Re: The Political Causes of the College Enrollment Crisis

#47
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I was in graduate school in the late 90s I took a flight home for the summer break. I was reading a math research paper during the flight. An elderly lady that sat next to me and asked if was reading a mathematics paper. I said yes. She said that she wanted to study math in college but in those days she wasn’t allowed to. She ended up in accounting. She was still upset over that injustice. That men can’t handle…

> That white men in particular have a hard time dealing with a more level playing field is pathetic. All men want is a level playing field. Colleges have been discriminating against white and Asian men for decades. SCOTUS finally slapped them down, and colleges immediately started scheming to find ways to be covertly racist through proxies for race. Many colleges stopped using SAT scores, making admissions more subje…

I'm a Gen-Xer. I teach at a university. My classes are almost entirely white males.

But I do admit my anecdotal experience might not be representative.

Re: The Political Causes of the College Enrollment Crisis

#48
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m not a boomer. Born in the 70s. I’m a white a male who teaches in higher education. White men have a more or less equal opportunity in terms of going to college. Until recently college admissions were on the decline and most colleges were way less choosy than in the past. Men are not oppressed. They just aren’t coddled as much as in the past. Men don’t seem to be able to deal with living in a society in which they…

Ah, right. An early Gen Xer, my mistake. Still, you were part of a generation that actually benefited from sexist norms and policies. Have you considered resigning your position to make room for a more deserving diverse candidate? After all, it's quite possible that you only obtained your position because a woman was unfairly passed over. Sarcasm aside, your performative self-flagellation gives me second-hand embarra…

I also can't speak for DEI everywhere, but at our school, the focus of DEI is entirely on hiring the most qualified person for the job.

Re: The Political Causes of the College Enrollment Crisis

#49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

for some reason in this culture, people think that working in an office, having a degree, living in a big metro area, etc makes them "elite". nobody ever called these people "elite" except themselves

That's part of the overproduction process, isn't it? That is, those at the top have those in the middle and midddle-top believing they're on the inside. Nah. They're the suckers. They're the exploited. They're where the wealth is being extracted from. Given human biases and blind spots, no one in that positions wants to admit they've been played. Geez, look at the article. Written by a leftie for The Left and "blamin…

the author isn't left...

> Conservatism and participation in its core institutions - marriage, church, and the military - are associated with better mental health

also anyone who's trying to argue that widespread educational attainment is bad for society deserves to be laughed at

Re: The Political Causes of the College Enrollment Crisis

#50
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m not a boomer. Born in the 70s. I’m a white a male who teaches in higher education. White men have a more or less equal opportunity in terms of going to college. Until recently college admissions were on the decline and most colleges were way less choosy than in the past. Men are not oppressed. They just aren’t coddled as much as in the past. Men don’t seem to be able to deal with living in a society in which they…

Ah, right. An early Gen Xer, my mistake. Still, you were part of a generation that actually benefited from sexist norms and policies. Have you considered resigning your position to make room for a more deserving diverse candidate? After all, it's quite possible that you only obtained your position because a woman was unfairly passed over. Sarcasm aside, your performative self-flagellation gives me second-hand embarra…

I don’t like the liberal do gooders in academia. The ones who think they are doing something meaningfully good by putting land acknowledgement statements in their syllabus are equally pathetic.

Usually there are a few equally qualified applicants for a given position. The goal is to not carry on the tradition of excluding those on the outside because they don’t “fit” with the current in group.

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