Cogito ergo sumo: I think therefore I am a huge fat wrestler.

I'm jealous of my younger brother who lives in Seattle and can visit our folks on a regular basis. I talked to them a couple of days ago and discussed my next trip to see them... in May. My dad and I are going to drive up to a dealership I discovered just north of them that sells classic cars. But mostly we'll just sit and visit.
I really miss my parents. The older I get the more I realize how fortunate I am for the love and lessons they've given me.

That police activity I mentioned in last night's post lasted for another two hours. The young gunman was never located and they think he may have stolen one of the victim's trucks to get away. An odd twist to the story: there was a 15 minute delay in calling the cops because adjacent shop owners heard the shots and locked their doors out of fear. They wouldn't let the lone survivor in for fear he was the bad guy.

I watched some of the Barrett-Jackson auction on TV last night before Pam got home. It's being broadcast live on SPEED TV. The auction has always started on Thursday and run through Sunday, but this year they've moved the start back to Tuesday night to get more cars in. More cars = more $$$ for B-J because they get 10% on top of the sale amount, paid by the buyer, plus seller's fees. It also means additional TV revenue for them. But there's a downside; more repeat sellers are leaving B-J and going to Russo-Steele, the second biggest of the six auctions here this week, because of the poor treatment from B-J. Both Pat (my painter) and a neighbor up the street who sells one car each year have moved to R-S this time rather than deal with B-J. Bigger isn't necessarily better.

When I'm President of the World I will issue an executive order requiring all clothes dryers to have an off switch and/or volume control knob for that BUZZ! that goes off twice, just before and then at the end of the cycle. No wonder so many people die of heart attacks.
My second official act will be to make plastic kitchen storage containers and their lids the coin of the realm. Overnight we will have Romney-esque wealth.

Police report that a severed human head has been found in a bag near the Hollywood sign. "Police are considering the case a possible homicide."
Ya think??
(No. The man went out for a walk and lost his head.)

(cont'd from previous posts)
University students here and elsewhere have demonstrated recently over rising tuition costs. State schools, which used to be the most economical way to get a college degree, are facing huge budget shortfalls, and increasing student fees is one of the few ways they have to address the problem. State legislatures aren't in a position to allocate more funds given the current state of the economy. I admit to getting irritated with 19-year olds who insist to the TV reporter that it's unfair for their costs to go up, even to the point that some of them can't afford to go to school this semester. I wonder what they'd say to the unemployed parent with three young mouths to feed.

But I also wonder if people understand the way large universities work. Or don't work.
The North Carolina University System recently reported to a request from the state legislature's financial division that the average professor's teaching load within the entire UNC system was...
wait for it...
3.37 courses per semester.
As baffling as that figure is, it gets worse. The John Locke Organization, a NC non-profit organization funded by a bequest from the late Mr. Locke, who was a UNC chancellor, saw that figure and thought it was fishy. Too high. So they did their own study and, based on figures published by UNC, concluded that the average is actually 2.03 classes per semester.

That number includes the courses listed as being taught by Professor A but actually taught in the classroom by a graduate assistant. It also includes courses that are the supervision of a doctoral candidate, a "course" that typically involves meeting with that student once per week or less. And no tenured professor does his own grading of papers, assignments or exams. That's what graduate assistants are for.

These tenured professors are at the top of the food chain getting paid the most money. And at state schools that's a handsome sum. Get a full professorship at a state school and your ticket is punched.

I suspect most people think a professor's job is to teach. Not at a state school. "Publish or perish" is the rule. Universities want reputations, reputations are earned in large part by the published works of their faculty, and student education is ancillary. In order to do research and write a professor's teaching load has to be kept ridiculously light, so adjunct professors and graduate assistants are paid to do the actual teaching.

Want to dramatically lower the cost of an undergraduate education at a state university? Get tenured profs out of their offices and into the classroom. Require a reasonable course load (the typical standard is 12-14 credit hours per semester). Reform the mission and objectives of state schools, returning it to education. Make research and publishing ancillary.
Legislatures should demand it and the President should understand it.
Or don't be surprised when students abandon state universities and look for other options.
(to be cont'd)