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South Dakota Lagging in Degree Production, Say Corporatist Regents

The most offensive words I’ve heard all week were the stream of f-words occasionally interrupted by other parts of speech with which my barley-enhanced neighbors awakened me at 2 a.m. the other night.

The second most offensive words come from departing Regental exec Jack Warner. Feel free to insert f-words:

While degree production has improved across the public university system, South Dakota still has significant ground to make up. It will be important to increase degree production, and especially bolster the number of graduate degrees, to develop the highly skilled workforce, research innovation, and technology transfer needed for successful economic development [Jack Warner, press release, South Dakota Board of Regents, 2015.06.11].

CorporateRegentsWarner makes these comments in the context of a new Regental report, discussed at the Regents’ Madison meeting last week, that finds South Dakota has about as many citizens carrying around two-year degrees as the national average but a few fewer South Dakotans holding bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate degrees.

I turn to the estimable Dr. Newquist for an f-word-less response:

in America, we have tried to give every person the opportunity to go wherever they wanted in terms of education. We did not channel them into educational tracks based upon what someone thought their vocational potential was and limit their ability to aspire to higher things. Most of the western world after World War II modeled itself on our system of education. But now we are adopting the notion of making education an indoctrination system for corporate business, not a personal resource of opportunity for every citizen [David Newquist, comment, Dakota Free Press, 2015.06.14].

“Degree production” is a corporate colonialist term if I ever heard one. Our universities serve Mammon, not the citizen or the soul. Neighbors, put down the canned barley and direct your f-words at that mindset.

10 Comments

  1. mike from iowa 2015-06-14 13:10

    During my halcyon high school daze(late 60s early 70s) us less than stellar scholars from poorer backgrounds were encouraged to look to trade schools to make our way into the job’s market.

  2. m c bauder 2015-06-14 13:25

    and one has to wonder WHY they are pushing degrees when the job market for them in south dakota is slim? remember …this is the state that overrode the minimum wage…so now teenagers make less than those 20 and older….paints a picture doesnt it?

  3. grudznick 2015-06-14 13:59

    We need more welders and truck drivers and slingers of hash here in South Dakota for economic development.

  4. Kurt Evans 2015-06-14 14:57

    Cory wrote:
    >“Our universities serve Mammon, not the citizen or the soul.”

    That generalization, tragically, can barely be called a generalization anymore.

  5. jerry 2015-06-14 16:33

    What the regents are proposing is the general fowling of the land and water by an uneducated class of servants. The regents, in their own cynical way, are declaring that degrees are needed for the wealthy class of overseers . The do not want any kind of funding to make a great university system as they feel more comfortable following the governor of Wisconsin’s strangulation of the higher education system there. Soon, we will all be servants to the princes and kings of the land just like we were before we came here to escape that mistreatment in merry ole England and the cannon fodder we were expected to be in western Europe. Dumb and barefoot so you can feed us just enough to fulfill the job of shoveling crap away from the beasts that provide real food for the banquets. Taters, taters, taters are delicious and easy to remember for whats for dinner when that is the whole menu. The only hope of changing that scenario would be to join the military to be cannon fodder for the endless war that must be waged to keep the fear alive. Sharia Law, yikes. Question, how can there be religious freedom without speaking Sharia Law??? Are not they both the same, just different religious fanaticism ? just asking as I see signs sometimes that declare that slogan while the chanters are wrapped in the flag of fascism.

    While we allow the politico regents to spew their drivel, we also allow our legislators to do the same thing by not providing the resources our educators need for a salary that provides the dignity and the substance to keep that education degree alive. In short, the whole politico bunch should walk the plank with us providing them the anvil for their sendoff.

  6. happy camper 2015-06-14 20:39

    Economic pressures are on. Sure, it would be wonderful to get a fulfilling education, but then what? You have to apply something in the real world and practicality dictates. Yes, it’s sad they think about Education in numbers, but we are years behind other countries. Dumb it down so everyone feels good about themselves. The cost is simply too prohibitive since they starting passing much of it down to the student. Too much like for-profit colleges.

  7. jerry 2015-06-15 08:58

    My apologies about the fowling instead of fouling. But you are correct in the fowling fouling of the water by a million or so chickens that we know of. How many more fowls will foul the waters and the lands.

    Our crack team of statisticians have been working on this for the last 3 minutes or so and have come up with the fowling (sic). It will actually take about 36 college degrees in hand, taxpayer paid, politically connected, operators to solve the fact that these birds are gonna croak. They will then take roughly 19 illegals (unfit for white men) to the site to begin the kill. The roughly 19 will then be joined by 3-4 operators to dig the hole (shallow of course) to put the stinking fowl in while covering the entire mess with approximately 4.763 inches of clay or whatever. Total cost to the taxpayers about 14 million dollars with approximately 13.45 million going to political connected republican guys that are in the millionaires fund for the governor and his lackeys of the junta.

  8. leslie 2015-06-15 09:43

    will that clay “cap” be compacted and protect the public water and environment “pretty well” meeting DENR standards?

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