About Me

In writing the "About Me" portion of this blog I thought about the purpose of the blog - namely, preventing the growth of Socialism & stopping the Death Of Democracy in the American Republic & returning her to the "liberty to abundance" stage of our history. One word descriptions of people's philosophies or purposes are quite often inadequate. I feel that I am "liberal" meaning that I am broad minded, independent, generous, hospitable, & magnanimous. Under these terms "liberal" is a perfectly good word that has been corrupted over the years to mean the person is a left-winger or as Mark Levin more accurately wrote in his book "Liberty & Tyranny" a "statist" - someone looking for government or state control of society. I am certainly not that & have dedicated the blog to fighting this. I believe that I find what I am when I consider whether or not I am a "conservative" & specifically when I ask what is it that I am trying to conserve? It is the libertarian principles that America was founded upon & originally followed. That is the Return To Excellence that this blog is named for & is all about.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

The Sky Is The Limit

Thanks to a subscriber to ReturnToExcellence.net for passing along this video & his comments : "If you are wondering why some folks are starting to question whether a college education is worth the cost, the video goes a long way towards explaining it. Recently, the University of Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL) and the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) sponsored two college courses: Introduction to Labor Studies and Labor Politics and Society, to be taught simultaneously through a video conference between the two campuses.

The Professors are Judy Ancel, Director of Labor Studies at UMKC and Don Giljum, business manager for the International Union of Operating Engineers at Ameren UE in St. Louis. (Bonus: he is a member of the Communist Party.)

In the class, the Professors not only advocate the occasional need for violence and industrial sabotage, they outline specific tactics that can be used. As one of our colleagues pointed out, its the matter-of-factness of it all that is so disturbing.

And yes, the schools, and the professors' salaries, are funded by taxpayers."

Now it does not have to be that desperate. On the same day I received this message from our subscriber (along with a ton of others on equally interesting topics) I also read the following letter in the WSJ written by a Professional Engineer who actually hires people of worth - much like I always thought I did when I managed engineering-construction projects all over the world. America has to choose between the sorry state outlined in the above video or the one described below where our properly educated young people, 23 years old, can command a $67,000 per year starting salary right out of college where the sky is the limit - for them & America.

Top Engineer Grads Should Get Good Jobs

Regarding "We Need Scientists and Engineers, and They Need Jobs" (Letters, April 20): I've been an engineer for 20 years, with bachelor and master of science degrees in mechanical engineering, and I manage an engineering business.

Engineering is built from the ground up with calculus and calculus-based physics. If students don't master these building blocks, they are not going to get anywhere with "real" engineering course work. Second, I don't know that engineering students need to have their loans forgiven or given massive tax deductions for their loan interest payments. Bachelor of science engineers pull down $58,000 in the upper Midwest, and master of science engineers pull down about $67,000 right out of college.

I don't understand the claim that engineers cannot find jobs out of school. We have hired engineers right through the depths of the recession, and competition for top talent while cooling a little remained hot.

We hire for strong engineering fundamentals with good communication skills. These qualities will always be in high demand. The bottom line: My experience is that smart and ambitious candidates are in high demand, but they had to be smart and ambitious back in their college days as well.

Jeffrey Ihnen, P.E.

3 comments:

  1. Speaking cynically, why would an individual spend years learning engineering skills for $58K when they can become a schoolteacher starting at Bridgewater for $65K? Unlike engineering, schoolteachers cannot be terminated for producing an inferior product. Go figure.

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  2. The United States will cease to exist if we keep funding activities and others like it. Do we know if Federal Funds are going to these schools? Is it State funded? Or Both?
    They have their 1st. Amendment rights, this is true but we DO NOT HAVE TO FUND THIS BEHAVIOR AND ACTIVITY...

    Despicable...

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  3. I certainly would not want my children exposed to that kind of brainwashing!

    ReplyDelete