OUR BEEF - A Message to GWC

[cynic...@gmail.com]

I encourage everyone with a "beef" to post it here, below mine. And
please, be as specific as you can. (Though do not feel obligated to
reveal your identity, or the particulars of your circumstances, should
you wish to remain anonymous.)

I will begin with an overall summary of the innumerable instances of
"bad form" demonstrated by GWC. (A list rivaled only by infinity in
number.)

You claim objectivity and academic rigor, you lack both. You make
false promises, such as "breadth and depth," which is mathematically
impossible given a finite time structure, and you do so shamelessly.

The narrow nature of graduate education is essential, and reading a
lot of basic-level essays and speculative books, over a wide range of
topics, is no substitute for an advanced, hands-on education, even in
the humanities. And certainly not worth your absurd tuition rates,
despite all your propaganda and programming.

And the holy writ of the founders, no matter how many of their names
you invoke, is not the authority on human thought, not in this
century. (Pretending otherwise is voluntary ignorance.) Yes, read
them, yes, consider their ideas. But expand your reading material,
open your mind, and provide classes with structure, professors with
meaningful (and provable) expertise, grades and standards that force
students to work hard and be competitive. Regular exams that take
adequate time, and actually push the students to their limits, instead
of two-minute "comprehensive," vague, oral exams. Test on the
specifics, and expand your idea pool. Teach math and science just as
heavily as Locke and Descartes.

Reading pure philosophy, attending soft debates, and dabbling in art
is not an education which completely prepares students for the real
world awaiting them. Your school lacks diversity in both cultural and
academic ideas. Your atmosphere is purely conformist, and the so-
called objectivity is warped by religion, specifically Christianity.
The study of religion is useful, but a bias toward a specific set of
religious ideas is a distortion. And certainly not objective.

An unhealthy anti-establishment feeling prevails there, and distrust
for the government and society are awarded with high marks, with or
without substance, while progressive ideas are frowned upon and
rejected.

And to top the list, your degrees are fraudulent, and your optimistic
promises are shamefully thoughtless. Any institution that coaxes
impressionable young adults with silvery words and flattery, grabs
them by their unwitting, academic balls, and psychologically strong-
arms them, squeezing out every last drop, (from absurd fees and rates
to a loss of socio-cultural normalcy), forcing them to invest so
heavily into something that is completely empty. That is a great
shame.

And that is our beef.

We are the witnesses, we are those who’ve kept our distance, and those
who have been personally victimized. We see what is happening, and who
benefits and who doesn't. And the students are getting the very
profound shaft. Your school has no right to be considered legitimate
in the eyes of productive society in general, or academia in
particular.

You are a few self-proclaimed social experts and "professors"
networked together to spread your extreme political and religious
beliefs, and to live off the backs of sympathetic parents and ill-
informed students, whose futures are anything but bright.

How could we not have a beef?

I have answered your question, so I dare you to answer mine: How do
you sleep at night? Is it by ignoring reality and its inevitable
consequences? Or is it simply, you just don't care what happens to
your pawns? How do you look yourself in the mirror and keep from
laughing, or crying? Staring into your eyes, do you really see a world-
class expert? Someone worthy of the absurd, undeserved salary you are
taking? Do you truly believe you are legitimate? Did you expect your
"free-lunch" to go unnoticed?

It is sickening, plain and simple.

But if it's any comfort, I'm sure the people on you panel outnumber
the people in your listening audience, which lessens the impact of
your embarrassing attempts at wit.