Christina Hoff Sommers

An invitation to hear Christina Hoff Sommers! Ms. Sommers specializes in research regarding the feminist movement. She is the author of Who Stole Feminism? and The War against Boys.

She will be speaking at the University of MN this Friday, April 3, at the U of M McNamara Alumni Center (200 Oak Street, SE, Mpls). Tickets are $5 in advance, $10 at the door. To purchase tickets in advance, please email MnScholars@umn.edu, then send a check and contact information to: MAS, POB 14531, Minneapolis, MN 55414. Advance purchases must be made by end of day, Wednesday, April 1.

This is an excellent opportunity to hear one of the nation's best known and knowledgeable speakers on this topic. We hope to see you Friday.

Job Outsourcing and Education

After 40 years of continually declining standards, academic and behavior wise we now have a situation where our students are having trouble managing their "anything goes" attitude in the workplace. The following paragraph from Parade Magazine, July 1, expresses the ramifications very well.

How Safe Is Your Job?
You could lose your job to a foreign worker—not because he’s cheaper but because he has better workplace skills and discipline. That’s the message Labor Secretary Elaine Chao hears from U.S. executives who are worried about America’s competitive future. While losses are low thus far—one study estimates that only 280,000 jobs in the service industry out of 115 million are outsourced each year—that could change. Beyond the cheaper cost of labor, U.S. employers say that many workers abroad simply have a better attitude toward work. “American employees must be punctual, dress appropriately and have good personal hygiene,” says Chao. “They need anger-management and conflict-resolution skills, and they have to be able to accept direction. Too many young people bristle when a supervisor asks them to do something.”

Perhaps this information can provide backbone to those instructors who still believe that standards, knowledge, discipline and real achievement are valid.

When Standards Are Ignored

Regardless where you stand on affirmative action, telling students they can compete in X environment when they have not learned enough to succeed in X environment is misleading at best, lying in the middle, and setting up too many for failure at the worst.

Data from The Chronical of Higher Education (subscription required) raises serious questions about admitting under-qualified students to particular universities. This article is reviewed by Anthony Paletta under the title: The Performance Gap, at Minding the Campus, Reforming our Universities. As Mr. Paletta states, the data in the study indicates why minority students get lower grades and drop out of college at a disproportionately high rate.

My personal experience has been that when standards are set and explicitly defined, students who cannot meet them or do not want to put in the effort to do well drop the course. One may say this is unfair but for those students who stay and meet my standards, regardless of outer wrapping, it is extremely rare that they complain. They learn and appreciate the demands made of them, often doing more than they thought they could do - by their own admission.

Universities that push diversity for the sake of diversity without explaining standards and expectation are doing a disservice to all students. This behavior breeds skepticism and cynicism for most parties and is grossly unfair to all involved.

Jeff Jacoby - test for MAS members

To All, I will be writing about various articles on the MAS website. You will be notified of a post via the MAS email. This is a test so I can make sure I am doing the notification correctly.

Thanks for you patience.

Janet