MooPig Home School Department :: "Universities" PART ONE

Treatment by Pat Darnell | Apr 12, 2013 | Bryan TX

[Picture LINK]

The Practical University - NYTimes.com:
"What is a university for?

Are universities mostly sorting devices to separate smart and hard-working high school students from their less-able fellows so that employers can more easily identify them? Are universities factories for the dissemination of job skills? Are universities mostly boot camps for adulthood, where young people learn how to drink moderately, fornicate meaningfully and hand things in on time? (DAVID BROOKS. Published: April 4, 2013. LINK) ... "

'via Blog this'

" ... A recent article in the Washington Post began with the statement that today’s college students “may be part of the last generation for which ‘going to college’ means packing up, getting a dorm room and listening to tenured professors.” By using these three aspects of college life – packing up, dorm rooms, and tenured professors – the writer was able to clearly illustrate the ritualized process of traditional university education, setting the stage for major changes coming in the very near future.
In 2007 I released a paper on the future of education, culminating an 18 month effort to probe the likely evolution of a system that has become emotionally linked with many of our country’s and the world’s deficiencies. (By Futurist Thomas Frey. no date. LINK) ... "

Thomas Frey describes in his article deficiencies that come with dominant world powers. He relates dominant world power with a kind of tunnel vision mentality. The Romans, while in power, did not add much to mathematics because of their numbering system, Roman numerals. Because each Roman numeral was more of a "formula" than a "place holder" number. As a deficient numbering system, Roman numerals did not "promote" higher math.

" ... [What] made Roman numerals so inferior was that each number lacked specific numeric positioning, making each number more of an equation than a single integer. The added layer of complexity prevented people from doing higher math. (ibid. Frey, Thomas) ... "

Unfortunately, in our cataloging society, we are today, like the Romans, too deeply immersed in our systems:

" ... Most of these systems we take for granted – systems for weights and measurement, accounting, banking, procurement, traffic management, and food labeling. With each of these systems we are much like the Romans, immersed in the use of these systems to a point where we seldom step back and question the reasoning and logic behind them. ... "

Universities traditionally are the "conveyors of wisdom and culture from generation to generation." Human intelligence, still not fully understood, might be genetically passed on from parent to child -- but memory of how we became intelligent must be relearned by each child. Memory is not passed on genetically in humans.

However, Universities are "about to find out" that our digital revolution with its "counterparts in education" will outdistance the pedantic task of passing on wisdom and culture.

" ... College 2.0 will witness a massive peeling apart process. Learning will become separated from the classroom. Courses will be created organically and formed around an on-demand, any-time, any-place delivery models. Professors will declare their independence and work for multiple institutions rather than just one specific college. Accreditation will shift from the Institution to the course and to the individual. And textbooks, the ink-on-paper version that we know today, will all but disappear. (Frey, thomas. ibid.) ... "

What MooPig Wisdom wants to pass on to its reader is that you don't have to wait for this to be perfected. Stay at home higher learning is here already, and effective as a source of educational advancement. It doesn't hurt to go ahead and enjoy the cost advantages of digital learning today; especially since it is how things are going to be. Just like libraries, music, newspapers, and broadcasters, Universities adapt to the digital era.

" ... An August 2009 study released by SRI International for the U.S. Dept of Education concluded that “On average, students in online learning conditions performed better than those receiving face-to-face instruction.” (ibid. Frey Thomas. [NY Times]) ... "

Meeting in classrooms, instead of driving to and from a location while supporting oneself, can be done online virtually. Room and board is no longer an added cost factor in educational pursuits.

" ... For colleges to survive and thrive, the coming years will find them searching for higher ground. Their struggle will be to transition themselves beyond regional objectives, political boundaries, and short-term thinking. ... "

" ... Cultural shifts: The perceived value is a core component of a college’s reputation, and that reputation is being continually re-defined in online communities.

• 81% of Americans age 18 and over use the Internet. (Harris Poll)
• On average, 245 million word-of-mouth conversations occur in the U.S. daily via e-mail, IM/text messaging or chat rooms/blogs, and 35% of advice givers in online conversations fall within the 13 to 17 age bracket. (Keller Fay Group)
• 64% of college student Internet users consider word of mouth the most useful type of advertising. (Alloy Media + Marketing)
• Many of the top attributes that teenagers value in a brand — community, collaboration, co-creation, empathy, real story and meaning — relate to authenticity. (ibid. Frey T. [Ypulse]) ... "

SUMMARY
" ... The problem is that as online education becomes more pervasive, universities can no longer primarily be in the business of transmitting technical knowledge. Online offerings from distant, star professors will just be too efficient. As Ben Nelson of Minerva University points out, a school cannot charge students $40,000 and then turn around and offer them online courses that they can get free or nearly free. That business model simply does not work. (DAVID BROOKS. Published: April 4, 2013. LINK) ... "


_____________________Reference
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/05/opinion/Brooks-The-Practical-University.html?src=me&ref=general
http://moopigwisdom.blogspot.com/2013/02/moopig-home-school-department-moocs.html
http://www.davinciinstitute.com/papers/the-future-of-colleges-universities-blueprint-for-a-revolution/

MooPig Places Department :: "Luckenbach Blues Festival 2013"

Retrieved by Pat Darnell   |  Mar 6, 2013  |  Bryan TX

Back To The Basics Of Love: Luckenbach Blues Festival 2013 – Randall Metting: "Quite simply, there’s few places in the world that I love as much as Luckenbach, Texas, located in the amazing lil’ hamlet between Johnson City and Fredericksburg, Texas that, honestly, if you blink, you’ll miss…and you DO NOT want to do that." (February 2, 2013 By Randall Metting)

'via Blog this'

Maybe we will get down there next year.

______________________Reference
http://randallmetting.com/2013/02/02/back-to-the-basics-of-love-luckenbach-blues-festival-2013/#comments

A MooPig Re-Run -- FINAL Drafts :: MTC 14 for Blood: "Coming of Age in the Shoes of Another"

Hiro Gets Game by Mr. President

In Someone Else's Shoes by Stella

My Day As Al by Andy D

Coversations 5th of February, 1987 by MooPig

I Am A Woman Damned by Jayne d'Arcy - feel free to appreciate,

To vote: Go to the MTC Blog
___________________________________________________________________________


Conversations 5th of February, 1987

by Pat Darnell aka MooPig

"Today’s Quiz is: 'What do jack rabbits, buffaloes, sharps, cotton mouths, raccoons, and Westheimer have in common?'” was the survey over the radio this morning on Gulf Wind FM.

Begis divided his attention between the disc jockey, and the group of co-workers just outside his cubicle.

“The paving of Kirby will no doubt bring growth along the perimeter of West University Place,” said Bogota.

“When did the surveyors show up?” asked Rusty.

“They were there about 6 months before ground breaking,” said Paul Bogota, architect and owner of this association by the same name, Bogota Assoc. “What I don’t know is how they settled with the local businesses.”

“Hey, you guys, don’t you remember; KTRK 13 started broadcasting in Houston in November 1954,” hollered Begis from his cubicle.

They all looked at each other with dead pan poker faces to see who was going to call Begis’s bluff. No one did.

“Do you mean on Bissonett? We were talking about Kirby,” said Rusty.

Unabashed, Begis continued; “Old money, cotton money, has title to almost all the land where the SW freeway was built.” When no one spoke up, Begis said, “I think many developers have gone in but find area divided by the Railroad and the new freeway. Overhead high wires... all the negatives to create the buffer residents want... between them and any riff-raff that might try to squat on the border of WUP.”

“Wiff-waff? Eh, Begis? Where do you come up with this?” said Marjorie Bender. “And can you, uh, be quiet? ...How does he know all this stuff?” she whispered to the group.

“Like I was saying, I was reading Rinko’sª column this morning,” resumed Paul Bogotá, “he interviewed Mayor Welch, who said ‘the developments will likely dawn a new era for Houstonians.’”

“Duh,” said Mike.

Begis chortled at Mike, and cringed; then quit breathing as he burgled into a brain bubble thinking to himself; “That means the Triangle project will not survive the increases in land values due to environmental impact, water and sewer.... And , Yikes, it is now on the wrong side of the freeway also. What happens if we are the first high-rise in the area?”

Begis grabbed the phone to satisfy impulse and to call Claudia, “Do you want to go to the Hobbit Hole tonight?”

“Uh, sure but you have to pick me up after work in Sharpstown,” replied Claudia.
“At the shopping center; or at your house?”

“My house.”

“OK.”

The morning chat group had dispersed and all had gone to their own cubicles. Begis never stopped staring blindly at the pile of drawings on his drawing board. “No wonder the Triangle is not working out, all those soggy bottom types living right there in Montrose. And, developments nearby are dragging their twats. The plans are too tedious. How is Bogota going to justify all our time on this one?” all in Begis’ head. “I wonder what Stanley Tigerman would do with this site?” thought Begis to himself. “I wonder what the Chicago Seven would do.”

The following is how the mind of Begis functions on occasions like this; when a puzzle piece seems not to be part of the over all picture. His mind, having been pinched and augmented somehow, would launch into note-taking databases of information storerooms.

His body of work was a bramble of specifications tucked away to help in times of indecision. Experiential events that held significant amounts of information that support design decisions Begis would have to make. There were events in storage that would become authenticated on application. So he had to go into deep thought.


It was a backward, reverse sort continuum of vaults' opening from recent to past. It included his personal experiences; other history was sketchy in there. Begis sat sinking again more deeply in to himself, until he was in a state of inertia of an apparent stupor, instigated by his brain finding the shortest distance between correlations in his present state of cogitation: the brain of Begis had all metabolic systems supporting it, and it continued with humming something like this...


....During the 1970s, Booth joined the "Chicago Seven," a diverse group of architects that held a series of influential exhibitions and symposia to encourage new approaches to architecture in Chicago.....

First of all, in 1976—we began in 1975—we were the Chicago Seven and that first book about Chicago architecture. How did that come about? [It was] as a resistance to that single overriding goddamned thing, the Miesian thing. I love Mies, but it was about the descendants…So we evolved to make a way for another move in Chicago."

Stanley Tigerman continues "When I joined the AIA ...years ago you couldn’t displace another architect without letting him know. You couldn’t undercut fees. You couldn’t market, you couldn’t brand. (Tigerman, S; Interview, nd)

Now you can undercut fees, you can market, you can brand. And the AIA forces it at their conventions by spending tons of time on shit like marketing and branding! I’m asking YOU the questions. But I think encouraging signature work in formalistic ways is discouraging to people who are trying to be responsible, say, environmentally. Where were architects in the leadership field? Where were architects when ADA loomed large on the horizon? Were they leaders in terms of sustainability; absolutely not? (Tigerman, interview)

...The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) [42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.] was signed into law on January 1, 1970. The Act establishes national environmental policy and goals for the protection, maintenance, and enhancement of the environment and it provides a process for implementing these goals within the federal agencies. The Act also establishes the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). The complete text of the law is available for review at NEPA net.

Notes to self: Timeline needed...

The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended ...Publication L 91-190, 42 U.S.C. 4321-4347, January 1, 1970, as amended by Pub L 94-52, July 3, 1975, Pub L 94-83, August 9, 1975, and Pub L 97-258, § 4(b), Sept. 13, 1982 ... establishment of a Council on Environmental Quality, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, that this Act may be cited as the "National Environmental Policy Act of 1969."


Begis was on a row, a bloody row of logic...

Purpose Sec. 2 [42 USC § 4321] ...The purposes of this Act are: To declare a national policy which will encourage productive and enjoyable harmony between man and his environment; to promote efforts which will prevent or eliminate damage to the environment and biosphere and stimulate the health and welfare of man; to enrich the understanding of the ecological systems and natural resources important to the Nation; ....

........ There was commotion at the front doors, enough to start Begis returning from his brain- bubble existence and he exclaimed to no one around:

“Those are all names of streets in Houston!” the answer to the morning’s radio quiz.

The front doors swung open and in walked store planning VP from Main Street Stores; Gary Zakiewicz, big farmer looking dude. Tall, young and long-armed; he always wore dark tailored suits and red themed rep ties; he always walked just like some actor he couldn’t place. He seemed to be... “Oh, now I remember: Andy Griffith.”

Zakiewicz wore big black shined Florsheims that accented his long heel to toe, giant, country stride. Begis was reminded of his former Tom Jones fan turned hippie-sister-in-law’s paranoiac assessment of Nark’ shoes: “That’s how you can tell if a Nark’ is around. Always look at their shoes,” she had said.

Begis thought back, "I think she liked to fantasize about size of men’s' feet. I don’t think it kept her out of trouble, though,” thought Begis to himself.

The way Zakiewicz dressed was obviously en vogue Vice Prez uniform at Main Street. He had single break, no cuff, no pleats pants; someone said he had been in the Coast Guard. From his cubicle Begis noticed Zakiewicz had more grey in his hair than last time he saw him six months ago at Bogota’s Christmas Party.

Zakiewicz got along with Rusty Speck, somehow, and as he marched pass Rusty’s cubicle, Rusty said, “Oh, oh... here comes trouble.” The funniest thing about it was that Rusty later began dressing like old, young man Zakiewicz.

Everyone else gave Zakiewicz the hairy eyeball. He was oblivious, of course, being at the top of his game. He marched right up to Carol. She looked up as if she had not noticed the entrance march and she said: “Hi, Gary. Paul will be right out.”

“Carol, did those plans arrive here from Headquarters?” asked VP Zakiewicz.

“Let me ask Begis,” she said and picked up the handset.

Begis answered, “Yes, they are in the conference room. Carol, I think Bogota has assigned Russell to head that team.”

Begis kept looking at the layout on his table while spitting his monotone into the phone; contemplating the mass of cement needed to pour the piers, and cast the basement walls. "Who's going to tie all that rebar off?"

“All that concrete -- too hot... it sucks,” he breathed a curse at the design. To make this design better would put Begis in the role of authoritarian. Begis is a very reluctant authoritarian.

“The famed Chicken ranch at La Grange ceases operations according to Mayor of that town. Much of the shut down has to do with Channel 13's reporter Marvin Zindler’s investigative report started way back on August 2, 1973,” blurted an announcer to his morning radio listening day-time crowd of Greater Houston and outlying areas.

Begis thought to himself; “I’ve got to get me some of those Florsheims." He took a deep satisfying breath, first of the day: "Maybe tonight before I pick up Claudia.”

---

ª Leon Rinko is a fictional columnist for the former Houston Post daily newspaper. Begis read his column every Thursday when it appeared and sometimes Sunday. It was one significant thing he and his owner/boss Bogota had in common. Begis also listened to Gulf Wind Radio public broadcasts that sometimes included interviews with Rinko.

Begis = Ray-gis only with a "b"