"Fuuuuuck you, buddy!"
The state of education in this state never ceases to amaze me.
So back in the 1980s, FIU made a name for itself in Miami (and maybe it wouldn't be too presumptuous to say "the state of Florida," but I could be wrong) for cranking out teachers like they were going out of style. I'm dead serious; more than half of my former teachers got their degrees through FIU, and the program is supposed to be one of the best in the state. This has been true since the College of Ed began growing back in the '80s.
Now. I told you all a little while back about the budget cuts and how fucking gay they were because they meant that us students were left with shit to sign up for, if that, for our Summer semesters, and probably our Fall, too.
Ah, for the days when that was the most worrisome news to come down the grapevine.
Today, the Board of Trustees is voting on whether or not to cut 22 degree programs at FIU, 9 of which are Education (as in the College of Ed, my old private hellhole). The Ed majors slated to be cut are as follows (FYI, those in bold are what Miami-Dade County Public Schools lists as "Critical Shortage" areas on their website): BA English Ed Teacher; MA English Ed Teacher; BA Social Studies Ed Teacher; MA Social Studies Ed Teacher; BA Science Ed Teacher; MA Science Ed Teacher; BA Mathematics Ed Teacher; MA Mathematics Ed Teacher; BA Music Ed Teacher (please notice that Physical Education isn't on the list). And I'm sure the Board will not fail my expectations of the outcome of that vote by voting in favor of cutting them.
This situation makes me intensely glad I no longer have any affiliation with the COE, because if I did, I would be "tremendo FUCKED." They're also doing away with some of our Engineering school (because that's totally smart) and the Institute for Children and Families at Risk (who needs someplace that helps out the community, honestly?).
I guess the Board doesn't think much of our Education program (among others), even though its what brought in money for FIU up to this point. But they have a new Medical School to worry about, so I suppose I can understand. I mean, it's not like Miami doesn't have a perfectly good medical school already, right? Those hacks at the University of Miami and their partnership with Jackson Memorial Hospital--who are they kidding, right? Oh! And let's not forget our brand spanking new football stadium! My my, won't THAT be a feather in our cap--a new football stadium to miserably fail in in front of God and everyone. Honestly, I couldn't think of a better way of using our budget ($10 mil was donated by Benjamin Leon, Jr, who owns all the Leon Medical Centers down here--all of it is for the Medical School, the opening of which has been pushed back several times because it's a money pit; Fall 2009 is when it's currently scheduled to open. We'll see, I suppose).
What a lot of people fail to realize is that no longer offering these programs at FIU means that, at least within Miami, your only viable options are now Miami Dade College, Barry University (which is private), and the University of Miami (which is also private). People go to FIU because they can get the same education they would have gotten at Barry or UM while paying substantially less for their degree in the long run; the article I attached at the end mentions that a huge portion of FIU's student population is able to attend by the grace of God and Pell Grants, which isn't saying much since Pell Grants haven't kept up with the rising cost of education. MDC didn't get certified as a College until fairly recently, all things considered, so for a long time, FIU was the only opportunity poorer students had to get a degree and not put their families in major debt--when I graduated in 2004, MDC was still MDCC. That didn't change until maybe 2 years ago, which means a lot of people who graduated before then who couldn't afford UM or Barry (never mind going away to UF, FSU, UCF, etc) ended up at FIU. And now they're trying to finish their degrees and they won't be able to, at least not at FIU.
At the rate we're going, if we haven't reached the astronomical costs of UM or Barry (and don't believe anyone who says they aren't expensive to attend, they're lying--any place that charges you almost $300 a year in parking fees ALONE better have parking spots lined with motherfucking gold, in addition to having enough for the student population--I'M LOOKING AT YOU, UM), we'll be there really soon. And while it's true MDC costs less than FIU, they can only admit a certain amount of people, just like anywhere else. At some point, there's a cap, and you have to start turning people away (By the way: MDC can award BAs--no one ever said they had a graduate [ie, Master's] program. Chew on that).
I've been sifting through some of the articles on the Miami Herald online, and some of the comments people are leaving are incredibly ignorant (although why I expected thoughtfulness from the denizens of this miserable shitpit, I will never know). No wonder there hasn't been any kind of reaction here--no one gives a shit. I mean, fine, I can see why no one would really care about cutting the BA for German (Language, I assume), those folks eager to get one aside, but shouldn't people be alarmed at the cutting of 9 Ed degrees? Our education system is a piece of shit--we rank 49th in the nation. I think we're one up on Mississippi--WHAT A FUCKING ACHIEVEMENT.
Someone else was complaining about how raising taxes is ridiculous because what if you aren't paying for your kid to go to FIU, blah blah blah. Hey asshole, how about you expand your horizons a little bit, huh? The fact that you have a PUBLIC university in your backyard is a fucking boon. Why are you treating something that's there to give back to the community like a leech? Or maybe you don't realize that some of the teachers who made it possible for your kid to go to UM, UF, FSU, UCF, or anywhere else in the world GRADUATED FROM FIU.
Yeah, that FIU--not earning its keep at all, that waste of property.
I'm not saying we should raise taxes, make no mistake. What I object to is the attitude. Everybody's always screaming about how bad we look compared to other states. Well, shit like this is why. When you start fucking with the ability of the population to educate itself, you create the very situation you're so afraid of. But what do I know.
This is just here in Miami, of course. I can't speak for elsewhere in the state, but I know things aren't any rosier, and frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if things were just as bad elsewhere (I WOULD be surprised if it was worse elsewhere; from what I've read and heard, FIU ended up the worst off from the budget cuts imposed by the Legislature. I could be wrong, but I haven't been able to find an article telling me for sure one way or the other). I think I've got two or three Florida folks on my F-list; I'd be interested to hear about the state of things in your neck of the woods, if you know.
I guess the point of this is to say I'm so fucking glad I'm getting out, I feel bad for everyone still there, and I'm sad that I won't be able to look back at my alma mater with any fondness.
For those interested: Unreal answer to a real crisis: Cut and run.
ETA: 20 of the 22 degrees proposed to be cut got the axe today. Don't know which ones were saved, but I can take a guess. The Board also decided to phase the degrees out over a period of 3 years so that the students currently in the programs that are being done away with wouldn't be cut loose all of a sudden. The students are pissed: even if they finish their degrees, it won't matter--their diplomas are useless. I feel really bad for them. As I student I can sympathize with how much time and money they've put into their educations. Now, it's essentially wasted effort.
So back in the 1980s, FIU made a name for itself in Miami (and maybe it wouldn't be too presumptuous to say "the state of Florida," but I could be wrong) for cranking out teachers like they were going out of style. I'm dead serious; more than half of my former teachers got their degrees through FIU, and the program is supposed to be one of the best in the state. This has been true since the College of Ed began growing back in the '80s.
Now. I told you all a little while back about the budget cuts and how fucking gay they were because they meant that us students were left with shit to sign up for, if that, for our Summer semesters, and probably our Fall, too.
Ah, for the days when that was the most worrisome news to come down the grapevine.
Today, the Board of Trustees is voting on whether or not to cut 22 degree programs at FIU, 9 of which are Education (as in the College of Ed, my old private hellhole). The Ed majors slated to be cut are as follows (FYI, those in bold are what Miami-Dade County Public Schools lists as "Critical Shortage" areas on their website): BA English Ed Teacher; MA English Ed Teacher; BA Social Studies Ed Teacher; MA Social Studies Ed Teacher; BA Science Ed Teacher; MA Science Ed Teacher; BA Mathematics Ed Teacher; MA Mathematics Ed Teacher; BA Music Ed Teacher (please notice that Physical Education isn't on the list). And I'm sure the Board will not fail my expectations of the outcome of that vote by voting in favor of cutting them.
This situation makes me intensely glad I no longer have any affiliation with the COE, because if I did, I would be "tremendo FUCKED." They're also doing away with some of our Engineering school (because that's totally smart) and the Institute for Children and Families at Risk (who needs someplace that helps out the community, honestly?).
I guess the Board doesn't think much of our Education program (among others), even though its what brought in money for FIU up to this point. But they have a new Medical School to worry about, so I suppose I can understand. I mean, it's not like Miami doesn't have a perfectly good medical school already, right? Those hacks at the University of Miami and their partnership with Jackson Memorial Hospital--who are they kidding, right? Oh! And let's not forget our brand spanking new football stadium! My my, won't THAT be a feather in our cap--a new football stadium to miserably fail in in front of God and everyone. Honestly, I couldn't think of a better way of using our budget ($10 mil was donated by Benjamin Leon, Jr, who owns all the Leon Medical Centers down here--all of it is for the Medical School, the opening of which has been pushed back several times because it's a money pit; Fall 2009 is when it's currently scheduled to open. We'll see, I suppose).
What a lot of people fail to realize is that no longer offering these programs at FIU means that, at least within Miami, your only viable options are now Miami Dade College, Barry University (which is private), and the University of Miami (which is also private). People go to FIU because they can get the same education they would have gotten at Barry or UM while paying substantially less for their degree in the long run; the article I attached at the end mentions that a huge portion of FIU's student population is able to attend by the grace of God and Pell Grants, which isn't saying much since Pell Grants haven't kept up with the rising cost of education. MDC didn't get certified as a College until fairly recently, all things considered, so for a long time, FIU was the only opportunity poorer students had to get a degree and not put their families in major debt--when I graduated in 2004, MDC was still MDCC. That didn't change until maybe 2 years ago, which means a lot of people who graduated before then who couldn't afford UM or Barry (never mind going away to UF, FSU, UCF, etc) ended up at FIU. And now they're trying to finish their degrees and they won't be able to, at least not at FIU.
At the rate we're going, if we haven't reached the astronomical costs of UM or Barry (and don't believe anyone who says they aren't expensive to attend, they're lying--any place that charges you almost $300 a year in parking fees ALONE better have parking spots lined with motherfucking gold, in addition to having enough for the student population--I'M LOOKING AT YOU, UM), we'll be there really soon. And while it's true MDC costs less than FIU, they can only admit a certain amount of people, just like anywhere else. At some point, there's a cap, and you have to start turning people away (By the way: MDC can award BAs--no one ever said they had a graduate [ie, Master's] program. Chew on that).
I've been sifting through some of the articles on the Miami Herald online, and some of the comments people are leaving are incredibly ignorant (although why I expected thoughtfulness from the denizens of this miserable shitpit, I will never know). No wonder there hasn't been any kind of reaction here--no one gives a shit. I mean, fine, I can see why no one would really care about cutting the BA for German (Language, I assume), those folks eager to get one aside, but shouldn't people be alarmed at the cutting of 9 Ed degrees? Our education system is a piece of shit--we rank 49th in the nation. I think we're one up on Mississippi--WHAT A FUCKING ACHIEVEMENT.
Someone else was complaining about how raising taxes is ridiculous because what if you aren't paying for your kid to go to FIU, blah blah blah. Hey asshole, how about you expand your horizons a little bit, huh? The fact that you have a PUBLIC university in your backyard is a fucking boon. Why are you treating something that's there to give back to the community like a leech? Or maybe you don't realize that some of the teachers who made it possible for your kid to go to UM, UF, FSU, UCF, or anywhere else in the world GRADUATED FROM FIU.
Yeah, that FIU--not earning its keep at all, that waste of property.
I'm not saying we should raise taxes, make no mistake. What I object to is the attitude. Everybody's always screaming about how bad we look compared to other states. Well, shit like this is why. When you start fucking with the ability of the population to educate itself, you create the very situation you're so afraid of. But what do I know.
This is just here in Miami, of course. I can't speak for elsewhere in the state, but I know things aren't any rosier, and frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if things were just as bad elsewhere (I WOULD be surprised if it was worse elsewhere; from what I've read and heard, FIU ended up the worst off from the budget cuts imposed by the Legislature. I could be wrong, but I haven't been able to find an article telling me for sure one way or the other). I think I've got two or three Florida folks on my F-list; I'd be interested to hear about the state of things in your neck of the woods, if you know.
I guess the point of this is to say I'm so fucking glad I'm getting out, I feel bad for everyone still there, and I'm sad that I won't be able to look back at my alma mater with any fondness.
For those interested: Unreal answer to a real crisis: Cut and run.
ETA: 20 of the 22 degrees proposed to be cut got the axe today. Don't know which ones were saved, but I can take a guess. The Board also decided to phase the degrees out over a period of 3 years so that the students currently in the programs that are being done away with wouldn't be cut loose all of a sudden. The students are pissed: even if they finish their degrees, it won't matter--their diplomas are useless. I feel really bad for them. As I student I can sympathize with how much time and money they've put into their educations. Now, it's essentially wasted effort.