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A few things have happend recently: 1. Covid was hard on education from kindergarten through college. Systems and processes that were already stressed to the m

A few things have happend recently: 1. Covid was hard on education from kindergarten through college. Systems and processes that were already stressed to the max became overloaded and everyone was asked to do more and sometimes take a pay cut or have reduced benefits while doing so. 2. Society stopped valuing education as much. While once educators traded lower pay for the prestige of being a professor they can’t really say it is a worthy trade anymore as a vocal minority do not value education at all. 3. Faculty no longer run colleges/ universities. Once faculty ran everything, but as regulations have tightened and colleges started getting sued for any number of things professional administrators started being required because the jobs got bigger. In theory this has created less work for faculty, but they now feel disconnected and impotent.

robwwilliams 4y ago
Perfect set of comments! Thanks.
sai_c 4y ago
"2. Society stopped valuing education as much. While once educators traded lower pay for the prestige of being a professor they can’t really say it is a worthy trade anymore as a vocal minority do not value education at all." I can totally see why that is the case. Raised in a classical worker family and observing how my peers from childhood are doing, I can imagine where this is coming from. Most of them were also raised as workers kids (i.e. both parents working in mindless jobs in a factory and earning barely enough to raise the kids), but some had the chance to go earn a BS or MS. Yet, they are financially struggling for severals reasons. Also, they have a hard time explaining to their parents why they can't afford a house, vacation, a new car and all the things their parents never had, but wanted their kids to have. So all the reasons their parents fought to get them a good education are nullified. I know getting a good education is of value in and of itself, but the reality is, that most parents want a good education for their kids because they want them to be financially successful, not for humanistic reasons (remember who attended universities in their beginning and why, it was aristocrats with a lot of time and money). So to play the devil's advocate, what value has this education, if my kids still struggle in life, just they way I am? And why should I have "high esteem" for the people teaching, if what they offer has so little practical value?

robwwilliams 4y ago

Perfect set of comments! Thanks.

sai_c 4y ago

"2. Society stopped valuing education as much. While once educators traded lower pay for the prestige of being a professor they can’t really say it is a worthy trade anymore as a vocal minority do not value education at all." I can totally see why that is the case. Raised in a classical worker family and observing how my peers from childhood are doing, I can imagine where this is coming from. Most of them were also raised as workers kids (i.e. both parents working in mindless jobs in a factory and earning barely enough to raise the kids), but some had the chance to go earn a BS or MS. Yet, they are financially struggling for severals reasons. Also, they have a hard time explaining to their parents why they can't afford a house, vacation, a new car and all the things their parents never had, but wanted their kids to have. So all the reasons their parents fought to get them a good education are nullified. I know getting a good education is of value in and of itself, but the reality is, that most parents want a good education for their kids because they want them to be financially successful, not for humanistic reasons (remember who attended universities in their beginning and why, it was aristocrats with a lot of time and money). So to play the devil's advocate, what value has this education, if my kids still struggle in life, just they way I am? And why should I have "high esteem" for the people teaching, if what they offer has so little practical value?