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A generation of American men give up on college

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Re: A generation of American men give up on college

#641

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My opinion is that generalist interviews are difficult but not 'extremely'. For example, here is a problem I came up with at one company: Given a list of chapters in a video course, and a list of user bookmarks, write a function that groups the bookmarks by chapter. Chapters and bookmarks are defined as millisecond offsets from 0 (the start of the video file). I'd specify the data structures for junior devs and let t…

> then hacking the process by learning to solve algorithm and data structure problems is acceptable Have you considered that underrepresented candidates might not have the free time outside of university, family, and job responsibilities in order to compete with those whose families can support them to focus on only university and preparing for interviews? If HR wants their diversity numbers up, maybe HR needs to con…

The problem is that companies also want an objective hiring process, because otherwise employee bias will seep in. The fact that these two issues are in opposition (plus the general recruiting pipeline issues) are why this is such a difficult problem to solve.

Re: A generation of American men give up on college

#642
post #472

Earlier quoted context omitted.

LOL. I wish the government gave 0-interest loans. As it stands in the US, Stafford Loans are higher than most car loans [3.73% undergrad, 5.28% graduate, 6.28% PLUS]. Costs are skyrocketing despite government loans. It's not the working/middle class students asking for new buildings, new "centers of research", new dorms, etc. Colleges are building these things, giving you the bill, and your options are go:not go.

As the percentage goes lower the amount of debt will increase. The same thing happened in mortgages. The monthly payment stayed relative constant (plus inflation).

We're talking about teenagers, not adults with several years of household finance experience.

Re: A generation of American men give up on college

#643

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Read “How to be an Anti-Raciat” by Ibram X Kendi. It was a top selling book last year and he is a leading figure of the progressive left. His academic work is cited heavily in other progressive academic literature.

There's an interesting dynamic here where imo the silent majority of progressives don't buy his approach and think it's counterproductive, but any lone soul who says so is called out, which side are you on here anyways. So this guy gets to represent himself as a spokesman for the movement and nobody really wants to contradict it under their real name.

> the silent majority of progressives

Really, from what I can see all of current progressivism is compatible with his approach.

The silent majority of people who would have called themselves progressives a decade ago are silent because they are silenced and called racists or just right-wing if they question the new orthodoxy.

Ergo, the people you are referring to as a silent majority are no longer included as progressives.

Re: A generation of American men give up on college

#644

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> crosshairs of reactionary political ideologies You feel sorry for young white men because they have to deal with politics? "Ferrari owners pay an unfair amount of car insurance."

Ah yes, the notion that the white race holds the same vaunted position that Ferrari does among car makes -- held by racists and anti-racists alike.

haha not so much, feeling sorry for someone that can afford a Ferrari and then complains about the car insurance would be ridiculous. Similar to feeling sorry for white guys having to deal with politics, its warranted, not serious, and does not deserve more attention that many other REAL issues. But anyways, have a good day.

Re: A generation of American men give up on college

#645
post #294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not as extrem for me, but I was told by HR that all female/non-white applicants had to move automatically to the phone screen step, regardless of the resume.

I assume Chinese and Indians are not included in "non-white"?

I personally do count them as "non-white" when reviewing applications. Our DE&I group only reports "white vs non-white" and "males vs females" ratios, so I assume they are considered "asians" and lumped into "non-white".

Re: A generation of American men give up on college

#646
post #473

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That quote, in context, is available here. https://www.penguin.co.uk/articles/2020/june/ibram-x-kendi-d... I think it's pretty clear from the full text that he's not advocating for racism against past racists or their offspring (which, intentional or not, is what your use of the quote makes it sound like).

He's advocating for "anti-racism" which claims there is no such thing as "not racist" policy, only racist policy and anti-racist policy. But he jumps through hoops to redefine racism so that it can suit his argument that "not racist" doesn't exist. That if you don't consider race in literally everything then you are racist, by his definition. This is in direct opposition to the Civil Rights act of 1964: "Since the 19…

Right - he ignores that ‘in favor of’ one group means ‘to the disadvantage of other groups’.

Racial discrimination is inherently racist.

Re: A generation of American men give up on college

#647
post #643

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's an interesting dynamic here where imo the silent majority of progressives don't buy his approach and think it's counterproductive, but any lone soul who says so is called out, which side are you on here anyways. So this guy gets to represent himself as a spokesman for the movement and nobody really wants to contradict it under their real name.

> the silent majority of progressives Really, from what I can see all of current progressivism is compatible with his approach. The silent majority of people who would have called themselves progressives a decade ago are silent because they are silenced and called racists or just right-wing if they question the new orthodoxy. Ergo, the people you are referring to as a silent majority are no longer included as progres…

If all of my policy preferences code as progressive but I think Kendi and the white fragility lady are jackasses, what does that make me then under your definition?

Re: A generation of American men give up on college

#648
post #514

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That's not really a thing. Sorry, it is. I've worked in higher education and I've seen it happen. What other explanation do you have for the sales of these ludicrous "textbooks"?

It's not like there is a cheap alternative that the professors can switch to. All new edition textbooks are expensive. They can't specify out of print editions because then you can't guarantee that your students can get access to them, and the textbook companies update the problems in the books just enough to make using a different edition from the one specified impractical. Some publishers may incentivize using thei…

As a professor, create your own PDF and give it to all the students free, update it if there's a new development in the field, which is something you'd know as a professor.

It is really not that hard, these professors often write or collaborate on the textbooks themselves so they're writing them anyway. If the textbook is needed for learning and not just a way to get some extra money then this would be standard practice.

Re: A generation of American men give up on college

#649
post #643

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the silent majority of progressives Really, from what I can see all of current progressivism is compatible with his approach. The silent majority of people who would have called themselves progressives a decade ago are silent because they are silenced and called racists or just right-wing if they question the new orthodoxy. Ergo, the people you are referring to as a silent majority are no longer included as progres…

If all of my policy preferences code as progressive but I think Kendi and the white fragility lady are jackasses, what does that make me then under your definition?

Charitably, cognitively dissonant and more harshly, a useful idiot some would say. I’d assume an egalitarian person who means well and has started to become suspicious of the more illiberal aspects of progressive motivations.
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