Comments for Cloud looms over German degree program at UL at http://www.theind.com , comment 1 to 11 out of 11 comments http://www.theind.com Tue, 21 May 2013 23:34:17 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.theind.com/news/indreporter/7387-cloud-looms-over-german-degree-program-at-ul#comment-13763 Obviously a place like Louisiana does not need language majors. It isn't a cultural center or anything. Why have colleges anyway. isn't high school good enough for most people? Just train people to do simple jobs, and your economy will turn right around. - Andrewski Thu, 06 Jan 2011 13:53:32 +0100 http://www.theind.com/news/indreporter/7387-cloud-looms-over-german-degree-program-at-ul#comment-12867 Re revenue/budget, the Stelly plan could be brought back for one thing, and there could be a more serious tobacco tax, as in other states. The UNO faculty senate has a great web page with many more suggestions, including state debt refinancing. http://senate.uno.edu/ltr_drive/UNO_Ltr_Writing.htm#Cliff_solutions - Leslie Bary Thu, 02 Dec 2010 02:47:10 +0100 http://www.theind.com/news/indreporter/7387-cloud-looms-over-german-degree-program-at-ul#comment-12864 For the umpteenth-millionith time: The budgetary fiasco at work is the result of protecting just about everything else in the budget constitutionally except for this part of education, as well as healthcare. This problem started before the current crop came into office, but their prior lack of corrective action is not excuse for slashing and burning these public needs. Or, as Leslie Barry indicates, we can all just go to Tulane and their outfits, and the state will just churn out tech employees. This whole attitude is why some of the best of our state leave our state and say good riddance. It is, this culture of atavistic aversion to anything that smacks of smarts that we don't like, or let's say perceived uppityness. Why is it that only left-brain education is favored? Why do we act like everything knowable and valuable is therefore testable and can be monetized immediately? Is our state not well served with people educated broadly and for all needs of this society and it's ecosystem? Is not a balanced approach one which helped our species survive the ice-age and other challenges throughout history? Oh wait, news flash: there was no ice-age and global warming is a hoax, we were walking around with dinosaurs 6,000 years ago. One final nugget of value: in KATC's report on the German program, at least incidentally the reporter spoke with a student majoring in business who was helped to get a job with a major employer in Germany, after graduation or internship. Surely valuable experience we should compound upon and see brought back to Louisiana. Did not the American car companies seek to learn from Japanese efficiency in the 80's and 90's? Maybe not. Again, the failing may have been in the culture. A Doctor friend of mine(no hard-core academic raving liberal stereotype you can conjur) proudly touted that he was "leading the Louisiana Brain Drain" on it's way out and something to the effect of so long suckers. - Jason D. Faulk Wed, 01 Dec 2010 21:27:58 +0100 http://www.theind.com/news/indreporter/7387-cloud-looms-over-german-degree-program-at-ul#comment-12860 "Do you have any suggestions? " I do. Double tuition for in state college tuition. I posted here very recently shoing how much lower LA college tuition is than state colleges all around us -- it was drastic. We could also reduce the number of colleges in the state. There's 15-20 state colleges? That's madness! Another thing we could do is hold our politicians' feet to the fire when they make campaign promises about these types of government giveaways and then expand them 5 years later. I recently heard that Mike Foster SWORE up and down that the whole community college system wouldn't add "brick and mortar", wouldn't need new facilities--no brick and mortar, no brick and mortar. Now here we are with not only a college in every town, but a second community college in every town, too. - ragin_cajun Wed, 01 Dec 2010 20:03:25 +0100 http://www.theind.com/news/indreporter/7387-cloud-looms-over-german-degree-program-at-ul#comment-12857 ">language programs don't quite turn out the tax base Is that the purpose of education -- to turn out high-wage earners?" _________________________________ It's sole purpose? No. But we are in a recession, with dollars short in the state coffers. The current tax base in Louisiana cannot effectively support the current Higher Ed structure, so some sort of consolidations and reductions must take place. Do you have any suggestions? - RCajunrunner Wed, 01 Dec 2010 17:25:27 +0100 http://www.theind.com/news/indreporter/7387-cloud-looms-over-german-degree-program-at-ul#comment-12840 >language programs don't quite turn out the tax base Is that the purpose of education -- to turn out high-wage earners? - Farrow Wed, 01 Dec 2010 14:51:48 +0100 http://www.theind.com/news/indreporter/7387-cloud-looms-over-german-degree-program-at-ul#comment-12837 4 seeking the BA and 4-6 seeking the minor, and THEN the people who are taking German out of interest and in order to fulfill the foreign language requirement, so this professor has a full load of filled classes. If we cancel German, then students who formerly took German for the language requirement would have to move into Spanish or French, which would mean opening more classes in those languages and paying someone to teach them. That would also cost money. You can major in German at Tulane. Current tuition and fees there are $41,884 per year. This is without living expenses. - Leslie Bary Wed, 01 Dec 2010 14:16:38 +0100 http://www.theind.com/news/indreporter/7387-cloud-looms-over-german-degree-program-at-ul#comment-12821 "artificial scarcity being induced by the state budget" There is nothing artificial about it. There is, and will be, less state revenue. So the state can either cut spending, run a deficit, or raise taxes--or some combination of the three. What do you mean by "artificial scarcity"? The state govt. is not really having this problem? The University doesn't really need to cut this program? Where do you see the lie in this? Why is Jindal the villain in your narrative? The man committed to the voters that he wouldn't raise taxes, and he is now refusing to do it. I respect that. Don't you? - ragin_cajun Wed, 01 Dec 2010 09:57:08 +0100 http://www.theind.com/news/indreporter/7387-cloud-looms-over-german-degree-program-at-ul#comment-12808 LSU recently had it's German major cancelled. I know, one of my good friends graduated from LSU with a degree (or concentration) in German and International Studies. I think Southeastern is seeing it's programs on the chopping block too. Teaching German might be a bit of luxury when we have French and Spanish, but not if your major is not offered at the school that keeps it. Furthermore, I could see German being highly useful for people majoring in International Business. We know Germany is one of top 10 economies in the world. We know that German car companies and steel mills have looked at Louisiana in recent years. I don't know which other schools have foreign languages offering German, but these are integral parts to all Liberal Arts based academic work. It is why we offer it in the high schools. It is why we are offering Immersion programs in early childhood education now (along with retaining a bit of our cultural French language here.) These same arguments are targeted at all the liberal art programs in the state. Generally, this schooling makes us better informed citizens, with a diverse set of problem solving and thinking skills. Foreign language schooling is one part of this. There is also a great deal of scholarly work out there which has never been translated. Ostensibly, being literate and fluent in a foreign language will open up more bodies of work to the researcher/scholar. It is also know to offer enhanced learning performance by being bilingual. Typically in the past, UL's German teacher also provided instruction in several other languages. Also, Dr. Huey may be teaching other students who don't choose to minor in German, but take it to achieve their foreign language requirements (less than a minor) in lieu of taking French or Spanish. So, I'd guess she is teaching more students than just 6 or 7. Also, one forgotten point here is that most of these liberal arts programs pay for themselves with tuition and basic state support and don't require expensive lab equipment and field work costs to operate. I don't say this to say 'let's dump biology' but on overall cost, these programs are reputed to be more affordable to operate. This whole false either/or choice is being dumped on us by the governor and his cohorts by virtue of the artificial scarcity being induced by the state budget and constitutional lockdown and the lack of leadership last year and this year to solve the crisis before it hits next year. This will get worse before it gets better. - Jason D. Faulk Tue, 30 Nov 2010 15:50:51 +0100 http://www.theind.com/news/indreporter/7387-cloud-looms-over-german-degree-program-at-ul#comment-12806 Is UL the only university in the state where this major can be obtained? If not, then Higher Ed in Louisiana needs to decide which university, or maybe which two, will carry this program. There is too much duplication of Higher Ed in this state to be effectively supported by our tax base. And frankly put, foreign language programs don't quite turn out the tax base in graduates that engineering, technology and business majors do. Harsh way to put it? Maybe. But we are in a recession and short on tax revenues. You need money to fund public higher education, and to get that money, you need taxpayers. - RCajunrunner Tue, 30 Nov 2010 13:36:19 +0100 http://www.theind.com/news/indreporter/7387-cloud-looms-over-german-degree-program-at-ul#comment-12802 "Four students seeking bachelor's degrees in German and four to six (which is it) students minoring in the language". And at what cost for these eight to ten students out of around 17,000? - Clint Reno Tue, 30 Nov 2010 12:51:01 +0100