Time for Virginia Tech to take 'Tech' out of their name.

[Michael Press]

Time for Virginia Tech to take 'Tech' out of their name.
People have different talents. Many intelligent people
just cannot learn the hard sciences. Not a defect; just a fact.

Or perhaps the grant is for lab monkeys. Last paragraph.

<http://dailycaller.com/2017/06/15/virginia-tech-awarded-1-million-to-boost-diversity-and-inclusion-in-stem/>

| A medical institute awarded a Virginia school $1 million to
| foster diversity and inclusion in its science, technology,
| engineering, and mathematics departments, according to an
| announcement Wednesday.
|
| The Howard Hughes Medical Institute awarded Virginia Tech $1
| million to use for its Inclusive Excellence program, which
| focuses on funneling students who transferred from community
| college and first-generation students into STEM jobs.
|
| “As we looked at which students were participating and which
| students were not, we identified several faculty and departments
| that were already making some bold steps to reform their
| pedagogy, or the curriculum in their department to promote
| diversity and inclusion,” said Jill Sible, the undergraduate
| education associate provost at Virginia Tech and director for the
| grant.
|
| The school hopes to increase the amount of “inclusive teaching”
| and “inclusive curricula,” but did not elaborate on the nature of
| the changes in content.
|
| “[Transfer and first-generation] students, in simple terms, just
| have different backgrounds, needs and expectations,” said Sarah
| Karpanty, a fish and wildlife conservation professor who will
| also help manage the grant. “It’s really explicitly being aware
| of that in the classroom, in your mentoring, and how you design
| the curriculum.”
|
| “The trick will be to modify curricula so transfer students can
| complete science degrees in a timely manner and still learn
| material needed to be competitive in the job market,” explained
| Karpanty. (RELATED: Prof Receives Over $200,000 To Study
| Microaggressions)
|
| The Daily Caller News Foundation reached out to Virginia Tech for
| more specifics regarding plans for the grant, but received no
| comment in time for publication.

--
Michael Press

[michael anderson]

On Friday, June 16, 2017 at 12:50:35 PM UTC-5, Michael Press wrote:
> Time for Virginia Tech to take 'Tech' out of their name.
> People have different talents. Many intelligent people
> just cannot learn the hard sciences.

and many(more) just don't want to.

[Some dued]

You two scientists should know.

[Michael Press]

In article <adcd62af-535d-472c...@googlegroups.com>,

A man has got to know his limitations.

--
Michael Press

[unclejr]

It seems that differentiating between William and Jefferson is just one of yours.

[Michael Press]

In article <d3b4b124-d6bf-494d...@googlegroups.com>,

The difference that makes no difference is no difference.

--
Michael Press

[plai...@gmail.com]

That's profound, Bill.

[michael anderson]

for many of those people those limitations in going into a 'hard science' are that they would prefer to make a lot more money doing something else.....


>
> --
> Michael Press

[Michael Press]

In article <c1d7af6f-31ea-410d...@googlegroups.com>,

michael anderson <miande...@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Saturday, June 17, 2017 at 5:21:36 PM UTC-5, Michael Press wrote:
> > In article <adcd62af-535d-472c...@googlegroups.com>,
> > michael anderson <miande...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > > On Friday, June 16, 2017 at 12:50:35 PM UTC-5, Michael Press wrote:
> > > > Time for Virginia Tech to take 'Tech' out of their name.
> > > > People have different talents. Many intelligent people
> > > > just cannot learn the hard sciences.
> > >
> > > and many(more) just don't want to.
> >
> > A man has got to know his limitations.
>
> for many of those people those limitations in going into a 'hard science' are that they would prefer to make a lot more money doing something else.....

You have absolutely no idea how easily money can be made
with an education in mathematics or physics, for two.
You know all those mathematical trading programs?
Invented by mathematicians and physicists. Sure,
a freshly minted PhD does not necessarily have riches
showered upon him, though many do. You really have no idea.

Claude Shannon wrote a dull paper titled
_A Mathematical Theory of Communication_.
Using his ideas he made a fortune on Wall Street.

Edward O. Thorpe. Does that name ring a bell?

| Since the late 1960s, Thorp has used his knowledge of probability
| and statistics in the stock market by discovering and exploiting
| a number of pricing anomalies in the securities markets, and he
| has made a significant fortune. Thorp's first hedge fund was
| Princeton/Newport Partners. He is currently the President of
| Edward O. Thorp & Associates, based in Newport Beach, California.
| In May 1998, Thorp reported that his personal investments yielded
| an annualized 20 percent rate of return averaged over 28.5
| years.

With an education in a hard science there is no
reason for the holder not to build up a very comfortable
financial position.

--
Michael Press

[michael anderson]

On Sunday, June 18, 2017 at 11:16:05 PM UTC-5, Michael Press wrote:
> In article <c1d7af6f-31ea-410d...@googlegroups.com>,
> michael anderson <miande...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > On Saturday, June 17, 2017 at 5:21:36 PM UTC-5, Michael Press wrote:
> > > In article <adcd62af-535d-472c...@googlegroups.com>,
> > > michael anderson <miande...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > > On Friday, June 16, 2017 at 12:50:35 PM UTC-5, Michael Press wrote:
> > > > > Time for Virginia Tech to take 'Tech' out of their name.
> > > > > People have different talents. Many intelligent people
> > > > > just cannot learn the hard sciences.
> > > >
> > > > and many(more) just don't want to.
> > >
> > > A man has got to know his limitations.
> >
> > for many of those people those limitations in going into a 'hard science' are that they would prefer to make a lot more money doing something else.....
>
> You have absolutely no idea how easily money can be made
> with an education in mathematics or physics, for two.
> You know all those mathematical trading programs?
> Invented by mathematicians and physicists. Sure,
> a freshly minted PhD does not necessarily have riches
> showered upon him, though many do. You really have no idea.

sure I do....there are these things called surveys that are reported. You ought to check them out some time. We actually know what the average income for people who hold a phd in physics is. And quite frankly, it's not very good compared to many other fields....

Now are there some who take that and go on to make a lot of money with it and beat the average by 100x or more?(as you allude). Of course...but thats true in any field. In most every field there are people who make hundreds(even thousands) of times the average professional in that field....

For most people, the financial return is very poor compared to the amount of education involved relative to many other fields. It's only natural that a lot of smart people are going to choose to pursue something else for a more secure high earning future.

[Michael Press]

In article <227ec0e7-ee09-4919...@googlegroups.com>,

michael anderson <miande...@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Sunday, June 18, 2017 at 11:16:05 PM UTC-5, Michael Press wrote:
> > In article <c1d7af6f-31ea-410d...@googlegroups.com>,
> > michael anderson <miande...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > > On Saturday, June 17, 2017 at 5:21:36 PM UTC-5, Michael Press wrote:
> > > > In article <adcd62af-535d-472c...@googlegroups.com>,
> > > > michael anderson <miande...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > On Friday, June 16, 2017 at 12:50:35 PM UTC-5, Michael Press wrote:
> > > > > > Time for Virginia Tech to take 'Tech' out of their name.
> > > > > > People have different talents. Many intelligent people
> > > > > > just cannot learn the hard sciences.
> > > > >
> > > > > and many(more) just don't want to.
> > > >
> > > > A man has got to know his limitations.
> > >
> > > for many of those people those limitations in going into a 'hard science' are that they would prefer to make a lot more money doing something else.....
> >
> > You have absolutely no idea how easily money can be made
> > with an education in mathematics or physics, for two.
> > You know all those mathematical trading programs?
> > Invented by mathematicians and physicists. Sure,
> > a freshly minted PhD does not necessarily have riches
> > showered upon him, though many do. You really have no idea.
>
> sure I do....there are these things called surveys that are reported. You ought to check them out some time.

There are thousands of surveys. If you ever participated in one
then you would know enough not to trust them. Everybody shades
their answers. I do. Survey recently "shows" that 7% of people
asked think chocolate milk comes from brown cows. If asked I
would say so. You can find 7% to agree to anything.

> We actually know what the average income for people who hold a phd in physics is. And quite frankly, it's not very good compared to many other fields....
>
> Now are there some who take that and go on to make a lot of money with it and beat the average by 100x or more?(as you allude). Of course...but thats true in any field. In most every field there are people who make hundreds(even thousands) of times the average professional in that field....
>
> For most people, the financial return is very poor compared to the amount of education involved relative to many other fields. It's only natural that a lot of smart people are going to choose to pursue something else for a more secure high earning future.

--
Michael Press

[michael anderson]

Of course they are not precise and of course there are problems with who participates by nature, but thats true of any field. Just as some physics phds in the private sector underreport(or overreport), so do people in every field. combining that with all the other information(published govt salaries, published academia salaries, posted job listings, forum boards, etc) presents a more complete picture. But the surveys most definately mean something when comparing one field to another- if field A pays an average of x and field B pays an average of 2.5x, it's a pretty damn good bet that field B overall pays a lot more...even if the individual numbers for each arent that precise.
A physics PHD(or any hard science phd) is not a safe route to a guaranteed income in the top 3% or so. Especially when you look at the number of years involved. It's only reasonable that I lot of really smart people look at that reality and decide to do something else.

That's not to say most people with physics PHDs aren't really smart. I'm sure they almost all are. Just pointing out that a lot of other really smart* people opt not to study fields like that for financial and lifestyle reasons.

*I was not one of those as I couldn't pass calculus 2 without 3 attempts. I scored a 470 on my math sat. But in my med school class there were many 'hard' science and engineering types with graduate degrees in those disciplines(and engineering if that counts) who were at the top of their class/program but chose not to make a career out of it because of that reality.

[Michael Press]

In article <871bac5b-a8fa-4c5c...@googlegroups.com>,

I agree with most everything you say. People make choices.

One guy chooses a profession irrespective of financial
statistics. Later he can choose to make more money at it.
The statistics do not say he cannot.

Another guy first chooses based on finances. Later he can
choose to make his career more interesting to him.

--
Michael Press