Internet & Cable Down. Xfinity's Issue. They Say It Will Take a Week to Get a Technician to the House. Give Me a Break. But Onward I Go.

At the dermatologist in the wee hours of morning, only remember to vote because of signs near the middle school by my home. Interesting conundrum in CT, as the Governor has been the same for years, and the man running against him is running on a teacher platform, but the teacher’s union backed more of the same. Not sure what any of that is about, but I am starting to realize how massive group think is, and how hard change is to make happen. I’m lucky…I’m in a State that pays better than most and who, at least on their outfacing platforms, like to side with K-12 public education.

I took Mateo Planas out for lunch, as he’s moving into Cornell Law School tomorrow. It’s interesting to hear an overthinking, highly successful, top-notch brain discuss his east and west coast experiences, the state of higher education, and his hopes & dreams with making change happen in courts. Always wonderful to hear a fresher brain than my own processing the craziness of it all, agreeing that higher education, upper-middle classes, zip-code apartheid, and the two Americas has been in a pressure cooker for a long time. With 16 years approach in my own academic job, I have a book of reforms and changes that need to be made. I just don’t think they ever will come, because it begins with the insanity of tuition and who can AFFORD a degree. 

It should be that if you meet the qualifications, you should continue learning, and the cost of this learning should be minimal to the students, themselves. We should be investing in intelligence and potential, but instead I think higher education is more interested in their own sustainability and ‘self-care.’ Instead of the ‘we’re all in this together’ mindset (Ubuntu), we have every institution competing for the students and what they are willing to pay...well, not them, but their families. 

I was telling Mateo that I made it through undergraduate classes without a loan because it was doable to pay tuition at the time (working part-time year-round in various jobs). All the Masters degrees and doctorate were also free to me…I only had to pay for books. and I know how privileged that is. 

And I also feel for people who continue education at $$$ only to go in more debt to realize it is unlikely to be paid back. I can’t believe the number of colleagues in my field are still paying back loans they took out to earn their doctorate. I could never do that, especially knowing what they charge for doctoral credits. I would be okay with the tuition costs if I knew that the money was being used wisely. I’m not sure that it is….with few tenure-track faculty being hired nation-wide, and the horrendous hypocrisy of using adjunct, visiting faculty, with low compensation, knowing that senior faculty members are spewing nonsense while working for institutions that are socially unjust by design. 

Ah, morning rant, still not knowing if the cable/internet service was restored. Amazing how interrupted a routine becomes when all your ways of connecting no longer are possible. I had to type this post offline in hopes it’d be restored by morning.