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[mad_doctor]

Johhny Walker is a spectacularly bad scotch.  Start with Dewers and work up from there.

So, next you're going to tell me I should eat pizza with a fork and knife?  Granted, Johnny Walker isn't Laphroaig, but it's just fine for <ahem> "everyday" purposes.

[southerntransplant]

I think the real fall of education will not be from the tea party - that's a movement that will burn itself out in time (probably sooner than later). Rather, higher ed's downfall will be from the unsustainable model that it uses to perpetuate its existence. You can see the arrogance on these boards. Teachers have contempt for their students. They put their research interests and pet projects ahead of students' interests. That will be their down fall, not the policy of some short-term populist wave. And I think that this market 'correction' will occur much sooner than people think.

This is a pretty tired trope. The demands of teaching and research are so high that I can't imagine anyone who has a total contempt for a significant part of their job staying at it for very long.

[geonerd]

I think the real fall of education will not be from the tea party - that's a movement that will burn itself out in time (probably sooner than later). Rather, higher ed's downfall will be from the unsustainable model that it uses to perpetuate its existence. You can see the arrogance on these boards. Teachers have contempt for their students. They put their research interests and pet projects ahead of students' interests. That will be their down fall, not the policy of some short-term populist wave. And I think that this market 'correction' will occur much sooner than people think.

This is a pretty tired trope. The demands of teaching and research are so high that I can't imagine anyone who has a total contempt for a significant part of their job staying at it for very long.

Tired indeed, and ignorant to continue viewing teaching and research as two separate entities. In the sciences they are one and the same.

[jonesey]

The hits just keep on coming from Rick Scott...

Texas Governor Rick Perry's controversial higher education platform may be coming to a college near you -- if you're at a college or university in Florida. The Orlando Sentinel reports that Florida's governor, Rick Scott, has been sharing the philosophical framework for Perry's performance-based vision for public colleges and universities -- the Texas Public Policy Foundation's "Seven Breakthrough Solutions" -- with candidates he is considering for trustee positions. "It does get the conversation going," Scott told the newspaper, referring to ideas like creating "separate budgeting and reward systems for teaching and research, making it possible to reward exceptional individuals in each area," and allocating state aid through vouchers for students in place of institutional support. Faculty leaders in Florida are not excited about the potential export from the Lone Star State. "People are just mortified by it," said Tom Auxter, president of United Faculty of Florida, the statewide faculty union. "The devil is alive and well in those details."

So, teaching and research are separate, you got that, pointy-headed STEM folks?  What? You say that elected officials who barely graduated college shouldn't be in a position to tell you what your university needs?  Welcome to the New GOP, where Higher Ed = Vast Liberal Conspiracy.  

I swear, if the state legislature could just turn UF and FSU into minor league NFL camps and get rid of every academic department they would.

Here's another gem:

Instructors would get annual bonuses as high as $10,000 a class if they rated highly on student satisfaction surveys. Even the assignment of faculty offices and parking spaces would be based on their performance. Such reforms were designed to move Texas colleges toward more of a business model in which students are viewed as consumers purchasing a product — a college degree.

That's right, folks.  Students don't earn a college degree, they buy one. 

[chicago_48]

Well, if Governor Scott has his way.  Warning: Scott is what you get when the Tea Party is put in power. 

Florida Governor Rick Scott has started talking to appointees to college and university boards about embracing the controversial ideas being pushed in Texas to reform higher education, WCTV News reported. Governor Scott is a fan of Texas Governor Rick Perry, a fellow Republican whose allies are behind many of the reforms. Many of the Texas changes focus on measuring faculty work, and Governor Scott said that was a priority. "One of the things I really like about what he has in there is the fact that we should be measuring our professors," Scott told the News Service of Florida on Tuesday. "I believe students ought to be measuring the effectiveness of our professors because ultimately, it is the families' money paying for this. We really ought to have a measurement system [that is] student-centered."

Full story.

There needs to be an IQ test before voting, I swear to God.

I agree with your last line.  The problem is people are too lazy to vote.  They want to do it in the lap of their bedroom.  Our people are distracted by the Real Housewives.  We can vote American Idol and AGT, but we can't get out of our beds and walk a few blocks to vote.
I don't know how these dumb-a** governors got in office.  At least Gov. Christie has some intelligence, but Scott and Perry?  And what is Perry doing while Texas burns -- campaigning.

[parispundit]

Emigrate. Either north or over the water.

Alternatively, pull the blanket over your head until Election Day. After the Perry/Bachmann ticket wins, douse blanket in gasoline and apply match.

[jackofallchem]

Play to the choir in these instances:

(1) You are right, there is a lot of waste in academics.

(2) We need to focus on our core mission.

(3)  Our core mission is education (and research for research schools)

(4) Things not in the core mission need to be cut first.
     Things not in our core mission: Athletics, Administration, cushy housing, expensive recreational facilities

(5) Money freed up by cutting things not in our core mission will be applied to the core mission.

(6) Hire more faculty

(7)  Are you happy now?

[montrealer]

Emigrate. Either north or over the water.

Alternatively, pull the blanket over your head until Election Day. After the Perry/Bachmann ticket wins, douse blanket in gasoline and apply match.

Thanks. We might put in a test before you allowed to come here! Some research has shown that places in Canada with American emigration are more conservative than the rest of the country! On the other hand, emigration of Norwegian origin Americans from Minnesota and North Dakota helped launch the social democratic CCF in the 1930s!

Then, again, there is good news up here. The new premier of Alberta, a Conservative (though that is probably more akin to the Democrats down there) and a "Red Tory", ie a liberal, had as one of her campaign planks, the elimination of standardized tests for Grades 3 and 6! So, if Alberta can become more liberal, maybe there is hope for the U.S.?