-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
Summary and audio linked here.
Chicago’s political leadership is floating a pension buyout program as evidence it is seriously addressing the city’s thirty-six-billion-dollar unfunded pension liability, but Mark Glennon, founder of the Illinois policy research organization Wirepoints, said that the proposal moves debt from one column to another rather than reducing it, and that the broader fiscal picture facing the city continues to deteriorate across every measurable dimension. Audio here.
Expect no retraction or apology. This what they do.
The state’s existing buyout program for its own pensions is the precedent for Chicago, which should be a warning: Look out for similar exaggerated claims and shoddy analysis.
Full interview and summary linked here.
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UIUC should be run for in-state students, not out of state students. That would correct a LOT of the access issues. Require that no more the 10% of the students at UIUC be from out of state.
We create a hierarchy of values based on empirical data. No absolutes, but kids do better in two-parent families; grown-ups do better if they have gone to college. Then we devalue the institutions of marriage and family by celebrating single mothers. We devalue a college degree by awarding diplomas to everyone as if the piece of paper or parchment signifies achievement. We are now in the process of devaluing work while devaluing the currency. As we race to make everything worthless, we destroy our cities, states and nation. Anarchy SERVES groups like the Taliban and Isis. Having destroyed Chicago we… Read more »
Politicians in Illinois making a degree from a state university useless, worthless, junk. At the job interview, “I’m a graduate from the U of I”, NEXT!
That’s your take on the graduates from our historically highest-rank public university here in IL? My, my, what an inflated sense of ego you must have to make such judgments? Did you never learn there are nuances in the skill set of any person seeking employment regardless of the institution or college major in question? No boss or HR person worth his wages should be so outright dismissive of a job applicant based upon some near-sighted singe-issue criterion such as you’ve mentioned. People are far more complex and theoretically capable than such simplistic interviewer’s prejudices are willing to see.
Driving around in a modest 320 BMW with an orange “I” on the license plate seems to be a big deal for some privileged in Illinois – such fragile egos.
Hey, you’re gettin’ a little too close to home here for comfort. Back off ye grads of lesser-ranked state universities. Be satisifed being inferior.
“No boss or HR person worth his wages should be so outright dismissive of a job applicant based upon some near-sighted singe-issue criterion such as you’ve mentioned.” You’ve obviously never interviewed for a competitive high level job in the corporate or professional world. With two equal candidates, the perceived higher ranking degree (or at least a shared alma mater) is the candidate that gets the job. Try getting a programmer job at Google, or Apple, or a consultant job at McKinsey or Booz Allen, or an accountants job at KMPG with an EIU degree these days. They’ll laugh in your… Read more »
I don’t doubt the validity of your comment, but it shows to go you how shallow and lazy interviewers often can be. They “check off” your college on their personal set of priorities and that’s that for your desired place of employment. I guess you’d tout that as the way it should be, social ranking at its finest. I think its pathetic and stupid to hire anyone based upon such superficial shallowness. Geeks are treasured for their mental capabilities but are often reviled for their lack of social skills is but one example of what’s possible in store for a… Read more »
This legislature doesn’t say no to any bill, no matter how crazy…
Stupid.
Eliminating the use of national test scores to help determine who is admitted to a given college will make it easier for those of limited intellect and aptitude to glide through the school system and get degrees from decent schools. These people won’t become go-to engineers, scientists, doctors, lawyers, etc., but they could become highly paid bureaucrats, leeching off the taxpayers and making poor decisions affecting their citizenry because they (the bureaucrats) are, you know, of limited intellect and aptitude.
Colleges that admit students of limited intellect and aptitude lose their distinction of being decent schools. It’s not like U of I teaches a different biology class than EIU. It’s the same material; the difference is the academic achievement of the students in the classroom.
Equity may be the pretext to waive the ACT/SAT, but the real reason is precipitously falling student attendance at most schools. Our public higher education system is so terrible we can’t attract enough academically qualified students. Other than UIUC (and maybe UIC), the average SAT of an accepted student is about average anyways, and by removing the testing requirement, they intend to accept many more unqualified students. The rep who brings this is completely full of $hit when he says that high school GPA is a better indicator of college graduation than test scores. This is about lowering the standards… Read more »
This problem is easily remedied through grade inflation. Only downside is that some of these bootstrapped phi-betes will get into law school and/or politics.
Also, if national test scores aren’t used, GPAs will be weighted more in the admissions process. That would be would be unfortunate, because high school teachers, just like everyone else, have certain biases or agendas in place. These biases or agendas could cause teachers to grade certain students higher than others. Anyway, this idea of not using national test scores in the college admissions process is just another example of the dumbing down of America.
Right, just trying to get more students into a failing system, qualified or not, and let them pile up student debt, earn a “degree” that may not qualify them for future earnings. To get a GPA, you have to be taking tests to get a grade in most courses. Same kind of “testing anxiety” when taking SAT or ACT.