Monday, November 9, 2020

11-9: The educated, liberal, & female strongly agree: "The humanities should be an important part of every American’s education"; BIDEN: “Please, I implore you, wear a mask.”

—Inside Higher Ed 
    Just over half (56 percent) of Americans agree strongly with the statement that “the humanities should be an important part of every American’s education,” while 38 percent “somewhat agreed” with the statement, according to a new survey of 5,015 American adults from the Humanities Indicators Project of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. 
     The survey found differences in attitudes across educational levels, political ideologies and gender. While 68 percent of college graduates strongly agree that the humanities should be an important part of every American’s education, just 47 percent of people without a college degree do. Liberals (70 percent) are more likely than conservatives (48 percent) to strongly agree the humanities are important. Women (60 percent) are also more likely than men (52 percent) to see the humanities as being an important part of every American’s education….  

President-elect has vowed to spend much more. The vice president-elect is an HBCU graduate and supporter. The next first lady is a community college instructor. 
—Inside Higher Ed 

—Inside Higher Ed 
     Researchers estimate that youth voter turnout increased by at least five percentage points from the 2016 to 2020 presidential elections. 
     An estimated 49 to 51 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds voted in the 2020 elections, and that figure could rise to between 53 and 56 percent as further votes are counted, according to an analysis from the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University.

Biden implores Americans to wear masks amid vaccine progress -- Will Weissert, Philip Marcelo and Aamer Madhani Associated Press Alice Miranda Ollstein and Quint Forgey Politico -- 11/9/20
     “We could save tens of thousands of lives if everyone would just wear a mask for the next few months. Not Democratic or Republican lives, American lives,” Biden said. “Please, I implore you, wear a mask.”

Coronavirus surge in L.A. County coincides with more large gatherings -- As throngs of political partiers and protesters took to the streets over the weekend, California public health officials again raised red flags, warning that crowded gatherings threaten to exacerbate the spread of the coronavirus at a precarious point in the pandemic. Luke Money in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/9/20 

Affirmative action failed on California’s ballot — but colleges commit to diversity goals -- After California voters rejected a measure to repeal the state’s ban on affirmative action last week, higher education leaders reiterated a commitment to diversify their student population by providing outreach and support to Latino and under-represented students. Kim Bojórquez in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 11/9/20

Californians eye Biden jobs after years of Trump attacks -- California is about to come in from the cold. After almost four years of President Donald Trump's taunts as a state that's "going to hell,'' California is poised to be powerhouse with a Biden administration. Carla Marinucci Politico -- 11/9/20 

University of California expands list of courses that meet math requirement for admission -- High school students planning to apply to the University of California now have a broader set of courses they can take to meet the math requirement for admission to the public university system. Sydney Johnson EdSource -- 11/9/20 

—NYT

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes, Donald it is over. Go to one of your golf courses (guess they are really not yours since you appear to owe so many so much money), crawl in the 13 hold and hunker down. AND stay there.

Anonymous said...

He needs to raise money before he concedes.

Anonymous said...

8:02 Biden said we have to unite..you're still full of hate! If he loses, he and his supporters will be back to hating! LMAO

Anonymous said...

My aunt was attending both credit and noncredit classes at your college. She dropped her classes because her professors were making them read the Washington Post, which she believed was not part of the curriculum. She is highly educated but needs to improve her English, and she told me that her professors were “worse” than what she had in her country (I guess in this regard).

Roy Bauer said...

Whatever else might be said about the Washington Post, its long-time reputation is that of being one of the two best newspapers in the country (for political coverage especially). Assigning articles from respected newspapers and magazines is a routine part of college instruction, and your Aunt's objection in this regard strikes me as wrongheaded at best.
I'm not sure what your aunt meant about her country's instructors being better than those at IVC, but I can assure you that the faculty at IVC, with some notable exceptions, are excellent. Maybe she got a bad sample. It happens.

Rebel Girl said...

The objection to The Washington Post made me recall a story my late mother-in-law used to tell. She arrived in the US as a war refugee in the aftermath of WWII ad eventually settled in Downey, a suburb of LA where she enrolled in community college and took an English class to improve her language skills. Among other texts, she was assigned to read Shirley Jackson's story "The Lottery," s story about a fictional town in which villagers eagerly observe an annual rite known as the lottery. While it is famous now, back then it must have still been stung with newness as it was only published in 1948. It's a story that slowly turns from celebration to horror with a hefty dose of social critique. My mother-in-law didn't like it. Didn't understand why someone would want to read stories like that, let alone write them. Dropped the class.

She, of course, had survived the lottery that was WWII in Poland.

I once told her that I taught taught that same story to my students and tied to explain why but I could tell that that initial horror had stayed with her so I let it drop.

Anonymous said...

Excellent story, Rebel Girl

Anonymous said...


After reading the posts here, I understood what that student meant by "her professors were 'worse' than what she had in her country."

Roy's obituary in LA Times and Register: "we were lucky to have you while we did"

  This ran in the Sunday December 24, 2023 edition of the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register : July 14, 1955 - November 20, 2...