Kragey
Well-known member
Quote:
The education system in PA is pretty much garbage. And yes, the food and the luncheons and the other bullcrap are in the budget, but all of a sudden, on-campus mailers have to be paid for. That's just one example of a really strange cut while something entirely unnecessarily stays in the budget.
I'm all about freedom of speech and whatnot, but it burns my ass that I pay a ridiculous amount of money every semester for a tech fee and I can't even get on to a campus computer for 5 minutes to print my work, all because a couple of douchebags are lounging around playing video games. Seriously? If there are a bunch of computers open, go on ahead, but if people are really trying to get actual work done, you need to check your goddamn Facebook for the fiftieth time some other hour. And I definitely don't like that every computer in the library has to remain on well past midnight for no academic purpose.
I wish I went to a university where the professors were less...smug, I suppose is the word? Maybe entitled? I have to work with them every day, and my God, they are worse than the medical doctors I worked with a few summers back.
Generally, though, the point I was trying to make was that we need to reform the actual education system and its spending before we worry about reforming other systems. Yes, they're all intertwined, but starting at the source and working your way out is a better way to ensure more stability. And yes, everybody is strapped, that's a fact of life, but let's get rid of stupid crap before we cut the things people actually NEED to, oh, I don't know, GET AN EDUCATION.
Then again, Pennsylvania is worse than most states when it comes to this happy horse-kaka, so I have a little more ire about the subject than most. My examples were pulled directly from my school and were therefor FOCUSED more at my school than the general HE system, although I know that similar things occur at other unis.
Originally Posted by blazeno.8
While I'm sorry that you've observed that much excess from professors around you, I have seen something quite different. If we need equipment, we either a) use what we've got, b) use what's in the lab which is used by all students (not just professors for one project), c) apply for a national or private research grant and include that in the cost (if it must be used off site), or d) finance it ourselves. From what I've seen our professors do the same. Many professors and faculty actually are taking pay cuts and this is the second time around that they've been faced with a cut salary. We know that next, there won't be a pay cut, just a job cut. I do agree that money is unnecessarily burned with electricity and heating, but over all I'm not sure how much it would offset our bigger budget issues if we were to change our habits in respect to that. There are usually lights on in the bathroom when no one's in it, but that's a mixed responsibility of students and professors alike to turn off the lights when no one else is around (only 3 stalls, not such a hard thing to do). The heater shouldn't be blasting at night and I shouldn't have to throw open the windows when I go into a room at 8:45 in the morning. While it does suck that people use the computers for non-research/academic stuff, many state schools and schools that accept federal funding might be hard pressed to find a way to argue that they can block use of certain websites because of privacy laws and someone will probably try to make an argument for freedom of information or something like that. And going after the candy dish? I don't know what it's like where you are, but here we all contribute to the goodies that appear in the department mail room. It's not included in our budget. I go out of my way to go to the store and grab a bag of candy with my own money or to make food at home for department lunches just as everybody else does. Sure we do budget for some things like cheese and bread after meetings that occur once every month and a half, but those are not very frequent nor are they full catered meals. In the weekly forums that I go to, someone offers to buy snacks for the group and we all rotate to share the burden of purchasing/supplying snacks and drinks. Now I definitely agree with you, there are just some people who should take responsibility and do their jobs correctly with a little less hypocrisy, but then again I would take it a little further and say that there are those who shouldn't be employed at the university in the first place. But this isn't for that... 
We are really strapped and even if we did cut some excess, we still would be strapped because of how the state chooses to allocate funds and there would still be a significant burden shifted onto the students. |
The education system in PA is pretty much garbage. And yes, the food and the luncheons and the other bullcrap are in the budget, but all of a sudden, on-campus mailers have to be paid for. That's just one example of a really strange cut while something entirely unnecessarily stays in the budget.
I'm all about freedom of speech and whatnot, but it burns my ass that I pay a ridiculous amount of money every semester for a tech fee and I can't even get on to a campus computer for 5 minutes to print my work, all because a couple of douchebags are lounging around playing video games. Seriously? If there are a bunch of computers open, go on ahead, but if people are really trying to get actual work done, you need to check your goddamn Facebook for the fiftieth time some other hour. And I definitely don't like that every computer in the library has to remain on well past midnight for no academic purpose.
I wish I went to a university where the professors were less...smug, I suppose is the word? Maybe entitled? I have to work with them every day, and my God, they are worse than the medical doctors I worked with a few summers back.
Generally, though, the point I was trying to make was that we need to reform the actual education system and its spending before we worry about reforming other systems. Yes, they're all intertwined, but starting at the source and working your way out is a better way to ensure more stability. And yes, everybody is strapped, that's a fact of life, but let's get rid of stupid crap before we cut the things people actually NEED to, oh, I don't know, GET AN EDUCATION.
Then again, Pennsylvania is worse than most states when it comes to this happy horse-kaka, so I have a little more ire about the subject than most. My examples were pulled directly from my school and were therefor FOCUSED more at my school than the general HE system, although I know that similar things occur at other unis.
